RI Senate overwhelmingly backs medical marijuana stores
Published: June 9, 2009
Updated 5 months ago
Whether the Republican Governor of Rhode Island likes it or not, medical marijuana patients in his state will likely soon be able to purchase their medicine from retail shops that specialize in cannabis and cannabis-infused medicinal products.
Tuesday night, the Rhode Island State Senate approved the legislation by a vote of 30 - 2. Rhode Island has already approved medical marijuana and has licensed about 680 patients, according to local news station WPRI, but never actually legalized the plant’s sale.
“State lawmakers approved the use of medical marijuana in 2006, however they never legalized the sale of the drug. Under the current bill, Rhode Island would be the third state in the country and the first on the East Coast to approve marijuana dispensaries for medical patients,” the station reported.
State Senator Rhode Perry (D-Providence), who sponsored the bill, told WPRI: “Sick patients and their caregivers shouldn’t have to risk their safety and deal with criminals to get the relief they need. Rhode Island was compassionate enough a few years ago to recognize the benefit of marijuana for those who are suffering, and I’m proud that we’re now taking the next logical and necessary step and recognizing that patients need a safe, legal means to get it.”
Gov. Donald Carcieri, a Republican, who has been a longtime opponent of efforts to allow critically ill patients access to medical marijuana, “is widely expected to veto the measure –confirming in a brief interview Tuesday that he will ‘do the same thing I’ve done with it in the past,’” reported local news Web site Projo.com. “A year ago he vetoed a compromise plan to study the concept.”
Projo.com reporter Cynthia Needham adds: “But both chambers have enough votes to override a veto. The House in May approved the legislation in a 63-5 vote, with seven members absent. Senate sponsor Rhoda Perry, D-Providence, said that both chambers would likely override a veto, if necessary, before the session ends in the coming weeks.”
In Jan. 2006, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed the temporary legalization of medical marijuana over the governor’s veto. The assembly later made the law permanent, again over the governor’s veto.
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Any surprise that a REPUBLICAN governor would have so little regard for his fellow citizens that he would actually veto a measure that could make life BETTER for hundreds if not thousands of them? What kind of a stark raving scum would you have to be to do such a thing?
Kudos to the senate of RI. They at least showed enough compassion to get their heads out of their asses and do the RIGHT thing.
God, I HATE republicans. What a mean spirited bunch of slime they are.
Shut-up, you partisan hack.
No, I will not, you asshole.
It isn’t the Republicans (this time!). Look, I’m a life long Democrat. It is not the Republicans that are the problem on the cannabis issue. It is mainly the Democrats. If you don’t think so, then look into the Clinton years and drug laws. Who do you think started threatening M.D.’s for simply mentioning it? Taking away their write to even SPEAK freely to patients?
The problem is that the common Democrat simply assumes that their representatives would be more liberal on cannabis. If YOU don’t write them, they will go on obstructing a scientific FDA determination on the classification.
Want to observe rabid, nazi-like behavior on Med Marijuana? Look at what Donna Shalala did. She was Clinton’s HHS director. Look at the BS crap she wrote. It is ignorant and full of lies. She’s the one who sent troops into bust Berkley Med Marijuana outlets.
If the other Clinton had gotten the presidency, the oppression would have been 100 fold.
Think Obama, or most Democrats in office are on your side on this?
Think again!
You MUST write your representatives. It is easy. just google “write my representative.” Then prepare to be shocked at the response you get.
Oh, believe me, I have. And I don’t give the dems a break on this, either, because they are just as stupid as the republicans are, especially on this. In THIS case, however, it IS a republican piece of mean spirited crap who would rather that people die in unbelievable pain than to just let them use a PLANT. And the fact that he didn’t even want to allow any discussion about it tells me that he is an authoritarian piece of crap, too. HE knows what is best, to hell with facts or anyone else’s opinion.
There are many things I don’t forgive Clinton for, cannabis prohibition being one of them, along with NAFTA, the media consolidation act, etc, but what do you want from a guy who was bought out almost immediately by the big money boys? He was as much of a DINO as one can imagine.
As to the dems now days, they have moved for far to the right that they are the republicans of 30 years ago. The republicans are unrecognizable as anything American, at this point, and there is NO real left in this country anymore. Hell, our leftists are far to the right of Europe’s rightists. We have NO effective left in this country, so there is no one left to speak up for the PEOPLE, here, just for big money.
So you are right, entirely so, that WE must speak up for ourselves. If we don’t, then there will never be anyone to do it for us. WE must be the ones who shout louder and if necessary, threaten to undo the damage done to the country by ourselves. And that does mean writing, emailing, calling, and in other words badgering those who claim to represent us, and when that fails, do it again and again and again. When they STILL ignore us, we have to put together a constitutional amendment to make buying of politicians a capital crime. Public financing of ALL elections is the ONLY way that anything will EVER change in this country. Until money is no longer an issue to each and every election, we will never get any meaningful change.
And for the record, I am not a democrat, either. I am and have always been a registered independent. I don’t trust democrats, but I detest republicans. After all, it was the republicans who declared war on ME, not the other way around.
The cannabis issue is religious and ignorance. Party affiliation doesn’t override either.
Republican veto overide-overide: See Scott Roeder’s Wiki-How
Push for the Legalization of Hemp products for the environment, the economy and lots of other reasons. Consider the high quality of the many Hemp products. Consider the ViewPoints of this site:
http://jackherer.com/index.html
Napoleons’ Hemp War of 1812!
Speaking as a Rhode Islander I cannot wait till we have a new governor. Honestly Carcieri seemed like a real moderate at the start of his first term and presented a decent reform platform. Unfortunately that’s been an abject failure. I hope our state’s Democratic party learns their lesson and drops the decades of corruption that has hurt our state. ‘Cause I’m about as far left as Noam Chomsky but I’ve voted for Republican governors in the past just to have a check on the cronyism rampant in the State House.
Now maybe we can get to work on legalizing gay marriage next? It would be nice to have laws that are representative of our supposed liberal population.
Is Lil’ Rhodie more corrupt than Louisiana or equally corrupt?
Wonder how long it would take me to bike 238 miles from Philly to RI.
Good idea! If you don’t already have a medical condition warranting it’s use the 200+ mile bike ride might just do it.
Michigan voters passed allowing medical marijuana. It shocked the powers that be in Lansing (state capitol). Now the Repubs in Lansing are trying to make it harder for patients to get with putting road blocks in the way.
Wake up Michigan! You have enough problems. Don’t create more.
Enough of the Medical Marijuana nonsense…
Equality and equal treatment has always worked out best for the People.
Fantastic medical claims are also made about St. John’s Wort. No real proof other than anecdotal evidence, EXCEPT the hypocrisy of accepting one set of suspicious medical ‘proof’ for this, while at the same time rightly pointing out the deficiencies of the medical ‘proof’ for things like Voixx.
So long as the production is illegal, the distribution will still favour organzied crime and it’s vast military police prison complex. It’s outrageous if you think about how the State will still reserve the right to jail people who simply USE marijuana because they DON’T have an ailment they can use for an excuse for their USE.
Enough of gutless politicians and their enablers who haven’t been any more successful with this questionable approach than they have been endorsing any other ‘piece meal’ ‘go slow’ garbage that is formulated simply because of ‘maximum’ political return as opposed to what is right.
If anything it’s worst, as charlatans and snake oilers have used this as a cover to promote unproven medical treatments in much the same way Mexican Laetril clinics worked the cancer crowd by appealing to their genuine criticisms of frustrations with existing cancer treatments.
Let the People decide for themselves…
Do some historical research. Cannabis has been used medicinally for over 4700 years. It was the basis for over 50% of all medicines used in THIS country until the advent of the pill industry. In 1937, when there were federal hearings on the prohibition of cannabis, the AMA was one of two groups to testify AGAINST the ban. In fact, over the first three years of cannabis prohibition, over 10,000 doctors were jailed for continuing to prescribe it to their patients. It wasn’t until the AMA promised that it wouldn’t prescribe it anymore that the arrests of doctors stopped.
There are many conditions that cannabis works at least as well as if not better than the corresponding pills, is far less expensive (even in it’s illegal form) than the pills, and has no deadly side effects. When you consider that prescription drugs kill 200,000 Americans every year, you can’t say that this prohibition is due to people’s health being endangered. No one has EVER died from smoking cannabis.
The REAL reason it’s illegal is so that they can put as many people into the criminal justice system for PROFIT. It started out as a racist plan to control minorities, and now it’s just a profit device. Any surprise that the drug war happened at the same time as the privatization of the jail system? Shouldn’t be. That is why we have more people in prison and on probation than any other country in the world. Yet another way in which we are number one… how interesting that we are supposedly still the most free country in the world, isn’t it?
FREEDOM doesn’t need excuses or medical conditions.
ABOUT TIME!
this is significant because it’s right down the block from the white house.
we’re Knockin on Yer Door guys!
“A year ago he vetoed a compromise plan to study the concept.”
So, people who govern in the willful ignorance of lack of facts. Nice. Don’t need none of that stinkin’ science or knowledge or facts, just let god tell ya what to do! right?
the right-wing disgusts me.