Proposal to Drastically Alter WA’s Medical Cannabis Law Approved by Senate Committee
A proposal to drastically
alter Washington State’s medical cannabis law has been approved 11 to 2 by the Senate Health Care Committee, and is scheduled for a public hearing today at 3:30PM in the Senate Ways and Means Committee, where its passage will set it up for a full Senate vote.
If approved into law, Senate Bill 5052 would combine the medical and recreational cannabis systems, would shut down all currently operating medial cannabis dispensaries and would establish a patient database, requiring all patients who wish to receive arrest protection to submit to a mandatory registry (which has been opposed by activists in the state for years given it would require patients to put their name on a list admitting to a federal crime).
Recreational cannabis retail outlets would be given the opportunity to apply for a medical cannabis endorsement to demonstrate that they’re “knowledgeable in the medical use of marijuana”. The Liquor Control Board would be named to the Liquor and Cannabis Control Board, and would have the authority to determine the number of cannabis outlets throughout the state, as well as establish regulations for the cannabis industry.
Senate Bill 5052 would reduce the amount of cannabis a patient can cultivate from fifteen to six, and would reduce the amount they can possess from twenty four ounces to three. It would also require those in possession of cannabis concentrates to prove that it was purchased at a licensed cannabis retail outlet; if they can’t, they’ll receive a civil infraction (under seven grams), a misdemeanor (seven to twenty eight grams) or even a felony (over twenty eight grams).
The full text of the proposal can be found by clicking here.
– TheJointBlog
Sara
I am a military veteran with chronic multi-symptom medical conditions due to my military service. I shouldn’t have to show authorities how much medication I have. I shouldn’t have to go to a liquor store to purchase my medication. I should be able to cut costs by growing my own or purchasing directly from the source. I am allergic to all pharmaceuticals, medical cannabis is the only medication I can take. This bill will forever change any possibility of medical insurance companies ever allowing a subsidy, medical cannabis belongs in a pharmacy.
claygooding
As WA legislators attempt to monopolize the marijuana market and fix prices the Native Americans are stepping into the arena and guess what,,no state will make any taxes off of them nor be able to put their foot on the necks of marijuana users like WA state has attempted.
Chris
Hadn’t considered that! Let’s see it!
2buds
That may be a great way to get the remaining states to legalize.
I came from Iowa where Indians were the first to open Casinos when gambling and Lotto were illegal. Then the lawmakers whined that the Indians were getting all the money and weren’t having to pay taxes. Then they passed gambling laws to allow what the Indians had already legalized and profited from. Opening up State run Casinos. Some greedy cuss is always feeling left out. Pushing there snouts up to the Cannabis trough to get their cut of the loot.
I’m related to Goodings that go back hundreds of years. Hey Cuz!
GofuckyourselfWA
Good job, you’ve just aided the black market, and for more than just marijuana sales.
Anonymous
Well stated! Theyre theives. the 900 lb elephant in the room is the lousy pot theyre trying to shove down peoples throats at 3x top shelf prices. the thing they cant handle is we already have a perfectly good system in place. Butl, they can make any money off that. Steal from the sick to sell to the healthy hiding behind the guise of eliminating the black market. You betcha. Fuck that!
Leanne
WE, the People, VOTED this in !!! WE ,THE PEOPLE !!!!!!!!!!! HOW can it be taken away ????? THIS IS INSANE !!!!!
Adam Carter
This Sen. Bill cannot go thru!! I woukld seriously be screwed not having access to my medical cannibas. I wish they would see how stupid this bill is. They want to screw people around and then wonder why some folks go “postal”? Please please please do not let this happen!
Warren S. Levine
I just made a VERY impassioned call to Sen Doug Ericksen”s office expressing my refusal to be forced to take DEADLY opioid pain killers for my daily intractable pain. i told the aide Alderwood Nursing Home (in his /my District) almost killed me with a fatal overdose of Oxycontin last year, and that I refuse to take POISON OPIOID pain-killers pushed on my by some foreign for profit corporation when I now legally use cannabis to SAFELY kill the pain in my REPLACED KNEE, REPLACED SHOULDER, REBUILT FOOT, and neuropathic legs, and I WILL NOT GIVE UP MY RIGHTS, and I don’t expect HIM as my elected representative to vote to take my rights AWAY, at which point idiot aide wished me a great day. At which point I asked him, Does it SOUND like I’m having a great day? Just you make sure your boss doesn’t make it any worse? OK?
As for the thousands more of you in the dozens more Senatorial districts, FOLLOW THE ABOVE LEAD, whatever your situation is. We have a lot of voices to raise today!
Anonymous
But don’t yell and scream people or they won’t even record your call! Make only one or two succinct points and be respectful if you want your opinion to count. Which is the whole point of your call, not to boost your ego.
Anonymous
All bad.
Babette
I am a Diabetic and I suffer from, Diabetic Neuropathy, Fibromyalgia, Carpal Tunnel, and arthritis. I’m in pain about a 7, out of a 1 thru 10 scale, every day, some days are worse than others. If I didn’t have my medical marijuana, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to walk at all. Please don’t pass this law! And let the people alone. Pay more attention to alcohol witch has killed 5 of my friends and family, marijuana hasn’t killed anyone I know. So just leave it alone! You already have your hands in the sweet cookie jar, so why does it need to change?
solvents
So will this be on a ballot in which the people vote either yes or no? Or is it totally out of our hands?
Chris
Make no mistake, this is all about money. Recreational stores aren’t doing well because they’ve not priced in line with anything remotely sane. The only people recreational stores appeal to are folks who haven’t dabbled in years, have no connections and now think it might be cool to try out since it’s pseudo legal. They’re willing to pay $30-40/gram. But that’s outrageous and no regular user, medical, recreational, or otherwise, is paying that kind of scratch. Totally stupid. Rather than bring the recreational prices in line and draw the clientele they seek, they’re gonna “F” everyone. So dumb. So short sighted.
ErisX
Ru sirius? I live in CO and recreational prices are apx 45 an 8th. Which I think is expensive.
Kunfu Panda
ErisX – The quality of ours in WA is exrtemely poor for that price. Analytical 360 which does all the testing for I502 had to change there formula last summer so that results would be higher. You can verify that with them. The reason our prices are so high are because ridiculous taxation. This is all about money…Accept our state is going to grasp the opportunity make another mistake. They think limiting the plant count and putting peoples name in a database is going to stop the black market sales when all it will do is send it that way. The direction they are going is so in the wrong direction it really does make me think they have been influenced by corporate lobbiest. This isnt about the patients at all. If it was they would be focusing on testing and regulation in order to (no pun intended) weed out the people who are doing it all wrong. If they tested for pesticides, taxed vendors, taxed dispensaries and lowered the tax on I502 it would even out the prices and cause patients to go to I502 dispensaries more often rather then once just to see what its like. They do not care about doing the right thing….thats why our liqour control board and Washingtong state on the whole never gets talked about on the national news. Three weeks ago 60 minutes did a piece on MMJ and Rec and you know what they said about Washington…nothing.
DragonTat2
All of a sudden, you can’t make your medicine. I have minimal need, so these restrictions wouldn’t be awful for ME. But for people treating cancer or retractable pain… or any number of other conditions, those levels are not nearly what they need. And don’t get me started on having continuous access to the same strain.
It certainly appears that they have no real understanding of the needs of a cannabis patient. Who are their Medical and Horticultural advisers? I get the distinct impression they have none.
George
We need to look into a class action suit against these greedy people and the way they ignore the voices of the people over the corps and pharmas they are lobbying for. We need to get them out of office if they can’t do what we are telling them, or hit them in their pockets where all the money goes anyway. There’s a deficit and these guys talk about living in poverty and give themselves pay raises expecting to make their money off our pain. Remember who voted against us iin November.
Vicki
Lawmakers: the people voted in the legalization of marijuana. Had they known you would legislate it to death, or down to virtually nothing, maybe they would have voted you out while they were voting marijuana in. What is your justification for further restricting the access to both types of marijuana? Are the cartels paying lobbyists to help change your minds and line your pockets? I can’t think of any other reason because this bill is totally unreasonable.
Adam Brisbine
Washington, Oregon and BC have a new President. The people you think are in charge are no longer in charge and in Cascadia all plants are legal.
Rlynn
http://app.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2015&bill=5052 You can comment on this bill now on this committee website. Let your voices be heard.
Cherie
I sent them this: I do not partake,but have had numerous patients that have huge success stories with MMJ. Please do not handicap them. I think I’m more opposed to the fact that you are taking away their rights. This is pure manipulation for profit and control, where and when do I get to throw the tea into the sound to show you that I’m tired of being told what is right and wrong in YOUR eyes. Please leave these people alone, let them grow what they need, make what they need, as much as they need, without the big pharma or corps taking control. You will still have your bijillions of profit from recreational MJ. Leave the patients that need the CBDs, made the way THEY like them and know they are safe. Just like tobacco, they don’t need 7000 chemicals added to it, they just want pure unadulterated, home-grown MMJ, not big brother telling them what they need. Please stop this ludacrist bill NOW. Enough is enough, stop trying to manipulate the public, this whole process was thought out years ago I’m sure.
Tim Bowles
People should quit whining about LEGAL POT. Tell it to rhe people in Texas. Equal access for all people is fair. You shouldn’t have to prove your’e sick enough to use cannabis or to lie about it.Medical was a tactic but not that important once you have legal pot.With 502 you can use cannabis medically if you want without the damn paper.
DaveJ
Actually Tim, from the patient standpoint, people that really are sick need closely regulated cannabis, because it is medicine that is being taken most of the time by people that have little or no immune systems to fight any contamination that will occur along any point of the way before the patient actually buys it. So, yes, they can use it from a (likely contaminated) recreational dispensary, but I don’t know any patient that is willing to get sick or die because their medicine wasn’t properly regulated and separated from recreational cannabis.
Anonymous
The needs of medical patients cannot and will not be met by recreational dealers, they will not carry certain strains that are developed to treat certain illnesses, i.e charlottes web, a CBD strain named after a little girl who cannot control her seizures without a tincture made out of that certain strain.
eddie
These legislators NEEED to listen to the people and quit walking all over them.
David
Medicinal is different because the cannabis doesn’t come from mainstream big companies. Which use harmful pesticides and synthetic nutrients. THE MAIN reason medicinal patients need MEDICINAL cannabis is for the concentrated CBD products. We don’t care about getting “high” we care about staying healthy.. Cannabinoids that are medicinally beneficial. Recreational is gonna turn medicine into poison. Taxing un fairly and monopolizing the system.
Anonymous
This undermines so many people’s way of life and goes to show what the real plans are behind the curtain. Our citizens should get to vote on this, not just The house and senate. Disappointed.
Pat
Finally…common sense..the black market selling thousands of lbs from Oregon/California thru some medical storefronts.dealers will have to go back into the shadows.very dangerous. Nothing wrong with playing by the rules.marijuana good.black market bad. Federal intervention on registry..when Mars attacks..be real.has not happened anywhere for years and years
Ben
Pat, we can still play by the rules, but the rules are also made by us. We can change them if enough people agree. However if people choose to blindly trust government organizations’ decisions (without weighing the ramifications said legislation would have on ALL groups of people), someone’s eventually going to lose out big. A bit of skepticism every once in a while does the mind and body good.
john
Since the state is taking charge. Will insurance pay for your meds ? If the state wants control Obama care should pay for the prescription in full
Anonymous
This is fucking stupid if this law gets passed I’m going to be pissed
Pat
Hi Ben, please believe me I have plenty of skepticism. Nothing is perfect but things are so broken in the medical model. A very large percent of real patients have been mislead by the fear mongers/flat out very bad actors in the black market hiding under the guise of medical. If you read some of these posts people seem to forget ours is a wonderful nation with rules made to protect not only the weak but all of us. Perfect..hell no,better than any other nation on earth absolutely. The comfort of ignorance and denial is strong in many.
Anonamous
Does anyone know what the House Ways and Means Committee decided on Wednesday February 3rd regarding bill 5052?
Army retired
I’m just curious what the pricing would be. They say they want to stop black market, but prices would have to drop, but then again that doesn’t stop the black market. What do all of you think pricing would be?