Washington State Medical Cannabis Law Safe This Session

Washington State Medical Cannabis Law Safe This Session

Washington’s Legislature has failed to pass a proposal altering the state’s medical cannabis law before the end of the session (March 13th).

Medical cannabis advocates have been ferociously fighting two proposals – House Bill 2149 and Senate Bill 5887 – which would significantly alter the state’s medical cannabis law by shutting down collective gardens, reducing the amount of cannabis patients’ can possess and cultivate, and by bringing forth a mandatory patient registry.

Despite House Bill 2149 passing the House of Representatives with a 67 to 29 vote, and despite Senate Bill 5887 passing the Senate with a 34 to 15 vote, both bills failed to advance further, and are now officially dead.

The nonprofit organization Sensible Washington called the death of these measures a “major victory” for patients in the state, and has vowed to continue working towards the passage of legislation aimed at strengthening the state’s medical cannabis law by adding defined arrest protection for patients, and for safe access points that obtain a business license from the state. They introduced House Bill 2233 this session (written in conjunction with Americans for Safe Access), which stalled in committee; a similar proposal will be filed in 2015, according to the group.

– TheJointBlog