This Washington
Group Files Medical Marijuana Referendum
In April, Governor Chris Gregoire took a veto pen to parts of Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles' (D-36, Ballard) medical marijuana reform legislation, striking key provisions including arrest protection for patients, a patient registry, and a section regulating distributors and dispensaries. Lawmakers went back to the drawing board to try and patch up
the remaining parts of the legislation, but failed to receive support from Republicans.
Now Steve Sarich, founder of patient advocacy group CannaCare, has filed a referendum on the vetoed piece of legislation — set to go into law on July 22nd, 2011. He admits his measure is confusing—saying "for us to win we have to get people to vote 'no.'"
The law as it stands allows patients to set up collective gardens of up to 15 plants, confirms criminal protections for patients who use medical marijuana, and creates other patient rights, but leaves a grey area with regard to dispensaries.
"There is nothing good and nothing workable in that bill," Sarich told PubliCola this afternoon, arguing that the vetoed legislation actually makes the system worse off. Sarich says that Gregoire's veto makes things more difficult for patients and because the definitions section is vetoed, "nothing else in the bill makes any sense."
"We need to go back to square one," he says.[pullquote]"There is nothing good and nothing workable in that bill," Sarich says.[/pullquote]
Sarich says his group also "vehemently opposes" the registry provision included in the Kohl-Welles bills. The "voluntary" patient registry was intended to provide arrest protection medical marijuana patients, but it was gutted from the original piece of legislation out of concerns that it would expose state employees to prosecution. The ACLU has also expressed concerns over that provision as well (who say it is prone to leaks), but it was still written into the follow-up legislation in the special session, but never made it out of the senate.
Sarich's group also has concerns over the status quo in Olympia, saying that "we keep letting the ACLU and Jeanne Kohl-Welles write laws that give more power to law enforcement and take it away from patients."
I asked Sarich why he wasn't writing an initiative instead. Turns out, he "absolutely" is—a medical marijuana reform act written by patients — which he expects to write in the next couple months.
We have a call in to the ACLU to see where they stand on the referendum.
Meanwhile, Rep. Roger Goodman (D-45, Kirkland) has his own legislation in the house (which he's waiting until next session to push) that would clarify the state's medical marijuana laws. That bill would simply require patients to carry and identification card to ensure arrest protection and would rely on local dispensaries and non-profit collectives to produce marijuana. Today, Goodman, who has hit Attorney General Rob McKenna in the past on states' rights, asked McKenna whether he supports current medical marijuana laws, and whether he supports further legislative action to clarify those rules.
Now Steve Sarich, founder of patient advocacy group CannaCare, has filed a referendum on the vetoed piece of legislation — set to go into law on July 22nd, 2011. He admits his measure is confusing—saying "for us to win we have to get people to vote 'no.'"
The law as it stands allows patients to set up collective gardens of up to 15 plants, confirms criminal protections for patients who use medical marijuana, and creates other patient rights, but leaves a grey area with regard to dispensaries.
"There is nothing good and nothing workable in that bill," Sarich told PubliCola this afternoon, arguing that the vetoed legislation actually makes the system worse off. Sarich says that Gregoire's veto makes things more difficult for patients and because the definitions section is vetoed, "nothing else in the bill makes any sense."
"We need to go back to square one," he says.[pullquote]"There is nothing good and nothing workable in that bill," Sarich says.[/pullquote]
Sarich says his group also "vehemently opposes" the registry provision included in the Kohl-Welles bills. The "voluntary" patient registry was intended to provide arrest protection medical marijuana patients, but it was gutted from the original piece of legislation out of concerns that it would expose state employees to prosecution. The ACLU has also expressed concerns over that provision as well (who say it is prone to leaks), but it was still written into the follow-up legislation in the special session, but never made it out of the senate.
Sarich's group also has concerns over the status quo in Olympia, saying that "we keep letting the ACLU and Jeanne Kohl-Welles write laws that give more power to law enforcement and take it away from patients."
I asked Sarich why he wasn't writing an initiative instead. Turns out, he "absolutely" is—a medical marijuana reform act written by patients — which he expects to write in the next couple months.
We have a call in to the ACLU to see where they stand on the referendum.
Meanwhile, Rep. Roger Goodman (D-45, Kirkland) has his own legislation in the house (which he's waiting until next session to push) that would clarify the state's medical marijuana laws. That bill would simply require patients to carry and identification card to ensure arrest protection and would rely on local dispensaries and non-profit collectives to produce marijuana. Today, Goodman, who has hit Attorney General Rob McKenna in the past on states' rights, asked McKenna whether he supports current medical marijuana laws, and whether he supports further legislative action to clarify those rules.
