Medical Mj Win Undone By Parliamentary Trick

[Chev]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE APRIL 28, 2004

 

 

Medical Marijuana Win Undone by Parliamentary Trick; Committee Vote Thursday

HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT -- The medical marijuana bill, H.B. 5355, passed the Connecticut House of Representatives today by a vote of 75 to 71, but a parliamentary maneuver sent the bill back to committee, where its fate is uncertain.

 

    Immediately after the bipartisan vote, Rep. Arthur O'Neill (R-Southbury) rose to make a parliamentary inquiry. O'Neill argued that because the bill had a fiscal note, it should go to the Joint Finance Committee. To the shock of patients and other supporters who believed they had won a historic victory, Speaker Moira Lyons (D-Stamford) agreed. A vote in the Finance Committee is now set for 11 a.m. Thursday.

 

    "We are dismayed that the bill is not immediately advancing to the Senate," said Neal Levine, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "In its floor vote, the House recognized what ordinary people in Connecticut and across the nation have understood for some time: It makes no sense to subject patients battling cancer, multiple sclerosis or AIDS to arrest and jail for simply trying to relieve some of their suffering. We remain hopeful that the Finance Committee will support this common-sense protection for the sick and suffering, and that the full House will then send the bill on to the Senate."

 

    H.R. 5355 is similar to laws now effect in Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. It would permit seriously ill patients who have their doctor's approval to use, possess and grow limited amounts of marijuana to relieve pain, nausea, appetite loss and other symptoms caused by illnesses such as cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis, with no criminal penalties under state law.

 

    This is not the first time that Connecticut legislators have addressed the issue of medical marijuana. A 1981 law intended to allow medical use was never implemented because it required a physician's prescription, which is not permitted under federal law. H.B. 5355 solves this problem by making medical use of marijuana legal under state law with a physician's recommendation -- the same approach taken by the other states with effective medical marijuana laws. As Rep. Penny Bacchiochi (R-Somers) noted during debate in the Judiciary Committee, "Our Connecticut legislature did have the intent of allowing medical marijuana usage more than twenty years ago."

www.mmp.org

Edited April 30, 2004 by Oz Stoner

[Tom]

Typical of politicians, especially in the US, wonder how many of them were bribed or pressured by the DEA and Bush administration? The speaker for sure, a law banning medical mj would probably have been fast-tracked and not side-tracked.