Governor seeks for greater controls of medical marijuana

By John Howell
Posted 3/31/16

In a shift of emphasis from a source of revenue to balance the budget to more effective controls, Gov. Gina Raimondo called on legislators Tuesday to work with her to improve the state’s medical …

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Governor seeks for greater controls of medical marijuana

Posted

In a shift of emphasis from a source of revenue to balance the budget to more effective controls, Gov. Gina Raimondo called on legislators Tuesday to work with her to improve the state’s medical marijuana program.

Even before a letter she wrote to Rep. Raymond Gallison, chair of the House Finance Committee, was released, legislative leaders saw little chance for passage of the governor’s proposal to tax marijuana plants with a $150 tag for a single plant grown by licensed patients and $350 for caregivers.

Rep. Joseph McNamara of Warwick and Cranston, chair of the House Health, Education, and Welfare Committee, said he has difficulty taxing medicine for a population that can’t afford it and must grow their own medical marijuana.

“Right now,” he said, “it’s overly burdensome for this population that needs it. We really need better monitoring of the plants and who’s growing them.”

McNamara thought a “minimal fee” might be attached to the program, but nothing like what Raimondo first proposed. The governor projected the tag fee as raising $8.4 million.

“My bet is that the tax goes away,” said Rep. K. Joseph Shekarchi of Warwick, who chairs the House Labor Committee. “I don’t think there’s a strong appetite for it … there’s an appetite to regulate it.”

On the issue of legalizing marijuana for recreational use, which was also discussed by legislators Tuesday, Shekarchi said: “My guess, it is going to be on the ballot as a non-binding referendum.”

It was the possible taxation of medical marijuana that had a group of about 50 placard-carrying people chanting “we have pain, we have cancer, taxing us is not the answer,” outside the State House. Between chants, members of the group organized by the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition spoke about their dependency on the drug to cope with seizures and pain.

“There’s nothing I can turn to except this medication. We want to be able to continue to grow,” said Ellen Smith, who left her wheelchair to speak from a bullhorn held by JoAnne Leppanen, executive director of the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition. “This is what keeps me alive.”

Leppanen said one of the first things Smith and her husband did after she went on the program was to reach out and help other patients. She said the marijuana they grew went to patients who otherwise would not have been able to pay for the medication at compassion centers.

Leppanen said about 13,000 people are licensed for medical marijuana. Most are low income, and at least 4,000 are on Medicaid, SSI, or SSDI.

Bobbie Brady-Cataldo, who has multiple sclerosis, said she probably wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for the program. She said she was given six months to live in 2007. At the time, she had gained 130 pounds and was under extreme stress as the mother of five. She went on the program, started losing weight and got herself under control. Like others, she turns to the community for help.

“The only way to get medicine is through donations,” she said. “We’re already paying enough by being sick.”

The Department of Health regulates the medical marijuana program, but according to the governor it lacks the resources to adequately do the job.

“No one knows precisely how many plants are in our communities, if they are grown safely, if they are treated with hazardous chemicals, or if they are processed with dangerous materials like butane,” she writes. She further notes there are no standards for testing and labeling and “patients have no way of knowing what they are putting in their bodies.” She also noted the potential that the medicine is ending up on the black market.

The governor said over the past three months, her staff has met with members of the medical marijuana community, speaking to patients, growers, compassion centers, clinics, and law enforcement officials.

She says “one thing is clear from everyone involved: we need better information, regulation and accountability across the entire program.”

Raimondo writes that the overall goals of an amended Article 14 “are to bring order to a chaotic system.” She says it will allow to buy medicine from licensed compassion centers. Currently, the state has three. The article still includes a section allowing for patients and caregivers to grow marijuana.

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