Medicinal Marijuana Bill Filed; Pot for Severely Ill Was Backed on Ballot By 5 Towns in Region
Posted on: Friday, 3 December 2004, 18:00 CST
Patriot Ledger staff
A Massachusetts legislator plans to refile legislation that would legalize medicinal marijuana in the state, an idea that has garnered support in some South Shore towns.
The push by Rep. Frank Smizik, D-Brookline, comes at the same time the U.S. Supreme Court is considering the issue. Justices heard arguments yesterday on whether the federal government can prosecute patients who smoke pot with a doctor's permission in states that allow the practice.
Eleven states have passed medical marijuana laws since 1996: California, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
The Massachusetts Legislature approved a research program in 1991 that would allow patients to use marijuana to alleviate pain from certain illnesses, such as glaucoma, asthma or nausea from chemotherapy. But the state Department of Public Health never established the program because a federal ban on marijuana left officials without a legal source of the drug.
Smizik's bill would allow the program to be established without federal approval.
The idea of medicinal marijuana use won support from voters in five local towns in the November elections. Residents in Abington, Whitman, Canton, Stoughton and East Bridgewater passed a nonbinding ballot question that asked, "Shall the state representative from this district be instructed to vote in favor of legislation that would allow seriously ill patients, with their doctor's written recommendation, to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana for their personal medical use?"
The Food and Drug Administration classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug, meaning it has a "high potential for abuse" and no legitimate medical use.
Material from the State House News Service was used in this report.
Source: Patriot Ledger, The; Quincy, Mass.
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