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Full Council Unanimously Supports Committee Recommendations
Washington, D.C. – Earlier today, the Council of the District of Columbia unanimously approved the “Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative Amendment Act of 2010.” Prior to final passage, the Council voted down several amendments but approved an amendment to permit the Mayor to raise the maximum allowable amount of medical marijuana from 2 ounces to 4 ounces per month. The bill will now be transmitted to the Mayor for his signature.
Councilmember David Catania (At-Large), Chair of the Committee on Health, said that he was satisfied with the Council’s attempt to develop a common sense approach to this issue.
“The legislation approved today strikes the delicate balance of legalizing medical marijuana while guarding against its misuse,” said Catania. “Our intent is not to legalize marijuana for all uses. That is a question for another legislative body. Instead, we were charged with providing access to the demonstrated medical benefits of the drug for sick patients and developing a tightly regulated system that will ensure that we do not see the types of abuses that have occurred elsewhere. I believe that we have accomplished that goal.”
The legislation approved today also brings to fruition the preference of District voters as expressed through Initiative 59, the “Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative of 1998,” which passed with the support of 69 percent of District voters over a decade ago. Shortly after its passage, however, the United States Congress blocked its implementation by placing a rider on a District appropriations bill. This rider existed for a decade until December 2009, when it was lifted by the 111th Congress.
Wayne Turner, who co-authored Initiative 59 after the death of his life partner, also praised the legislation approved by the Council today.
“This proposal is truly the best chance of putting in place a medical marijuana program that serves the needs of critically ill patients in the District of Columbia and at the same time withstands Congressional scrutiny,” said Turner.
In the 11 years since District voters approved Initiative 59, a number of other states have implemented medical marijuana programs – some effectively, while others faced major problems after implementation. After surveying the best practices in the 14 states that permit the medicinal use of marijuana, Chairman Vincent C. Gray and Councilmember Catania and Councilmember Phil Mendelson (At-Large) introduced the “Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative Amendment Act.” The legislation seeks to avoid the problems experienced by other states while ensuring that the District moves forward with a medical marijuana program based on best practices. Key components of the legislation include:
· The legislation establishes a Medical Marijuana Program that will regulate the cultivation, distribution, possession, and use of medical marijuana.
· The bill also includes a prohibition on the public use of medical marijuana, including use in dispensaries and cultivation centers, though patients may use medical marijuana in health care facilities that permit it.
· In order to prevent contaminated medical marijuana from harming already seriously ill patients, the legislation requires the Mayor to create quality control standards for the cultivation of medical marijuana.
· To prevent the District from being inundated with dispensaries, the legislation caps the number of dispensaries at 5. In order to ensure that patients have adequate access to medical marijuana, the bill gives the Mayor the authority to increase this number to 8, if warranted.
· To ensure that the District does not attract doctors who recommend medical marijuana to virtually anyone who walks through the door, the bill requires that recommending physicians have a verifiable physician-patient relationship with the patient. The bill also authorizes the Board of Medicine to audit the recommendations made by physicians – with a required audit for any physician who provides more than 250 recommendations in 1 year.
· The proposal calls for the formulation of a Medical Marijuana Advisory Committee to make a recommendation to the Council and the Mayor on the issue of home cultivation by patients or caregivers by January 1, 2012.
The legislation also addresses problems that other states have neglected. For example, marijuana, like all types of medications, can interact with other medications in potentially dangerous ways. Since the systems that are designed to catch dangerous drug interactions do not include medical marijuana use, dangerous interactions involving marijuana are more likely to be overlooked. To protect already seriously ill residents from additional harm, the bill requires consumer education for medical marijuana patients about potentially dangerous interactions between marijuana and other medications.
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