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LATEST NEWS

The Hearing - Feb 26, 2010

By Michael Rigby - MD Safe Access Now! Blog

The last week has been a blizzard of activity, culminating in today’s hearing in front of two committees comprising more than a quarter of the entire Maryland House of Delegates. There were more than two dozen witnesses, and many more written testimonies.

It was a huge gathering of energy, marshaled by Dr. Dan Morhaim, Delegate from Baltimore’s 11th district. And the forces behind Medical Marijuana were so rampant, so overwhelming, that the only harms our side suffered were self-inflicted. But let us not dwell on small things – today went very well for us.

Dr. Morhaim introduced his legislation to the world, and to us, about a month after we sent the legislature our first batch of 600 postcards in support of medical marijuana. The bill, described by Dr. Morhaim as the most restrictive medical marijuana law in the country, was not to our liking for a few reasons, but its absolute prohibition of patient cultivation was simply unacceptable. We did, for a time, consider shelving this objection, but the MMJ patients and activists in Maryland were almost monolithic in their support for the right to grow, and thus we determined to offer only conditional support for Dr. Morhaim’s bill.

When the bill was introduced, with 47 cosponsors in the House, and 10 in the Senate, it is reasonable to assume that part of the reason for the huge number of cosponsors was the 2166 postcards, from every single district in the state which had, by then, been received by the Delegates.

We never met with Delegate Morhaim until yesterday, although our friends at MPP did inform him, and the lead sponsors in the Senate (Sen. Brinkley & Sen. Raskin) that the right to grow was a deal breaker for us. And he had certainly been hearing that from ASA consistently. So it cannot have been a surprise to Del. Morhaim that we chose to announce our provisional support, conditional on such an amendment, when we contacted the entire Delegation on Wednesday morning. Several of the committee members had already each received upwards of a hundred and fifty postcards from constituents with our logo and website plastered across the front (under where it said “Cannabis kills cancer cells.”)

Very shortly after sending this letter, Del. Glenn invited us to a meeting with Del. Morhaim in her office, the following morning, at eight-thirty am.

Damien called Neill Franklin of LEAP and asked him to come with us. Something about Major Franklin, (Ret). adds a certain gravitas to the crew. Maybe his twenty five years as a police officer in Maryland. Whatever, we introduced ourselves to Dr. Morhaim – he already knew Neill.

The meeting was extremely business-like. Dr. Morhaim told us how he was going to deal with our objection. It was in no way a negotiation – Damien and I barely spoke – and Dr. Morhaim asked us no questions, nor did he even solicit a response – he was perfectly clear - this is what you can have – take it or leave it. He also said, that giving this up might cost us the bill this year, and if we don’t get a favorable report out of the Judiciary committee, then we will be back in the same position next year. He was clearly not happy to be giving this up, but Dr. Morhaim is a practical man, he knew he was less likely to succeed without our help. So we got our main thing – the right to grow. The other objections, while real and valid, are all really second tier concerns by comparison.

For the rest of the day we made phone calls, collected testimony, and generally prepared for our trip to Annapolis.

We had to deliver 70 copies of the written testimonies by noon. Some of them needed a bit of tidying up when they arrived, but we were in Annapolis at 11:30AM with seven times seventy testimonials, ASA also had a bunch, and there were umpteen witnesses who registered to speak. As the hearing came together in the huge committee room in the Legislative Services building, we were feeling nervously confident.

The TV people interviewed Barry Considine just inside the committee room, and I think there were at least two TV teams, as well as someone from the Gazette newspaper. Lots of the seats were full when Chairman Vallerio asked the bill sponsors -- Delegates Glenn and Morhaim, and Senator Brinkley -- to take their seats at the witness table.

For three hours witness after witness, generally in groups of four, took their allotted three minutes to share their expertise, their suffering, their pleas to the Delegates to please pass this legislation, (frequently saying also with an amendment to allow patients to cultivate). Only two witnesses raised an objection to the bill itself. And both of these based their objection on controversial research suggesting cannabis as a causative agent in schizophrenia. The only cops who spoke, spoke in support.

There were a few Delegates who identified themselves as opponents by their questions – two were openly hostile - they will be getting a few more postcards I expect. Also, I think we might send a newsletter to the rest of the Delegation expounding our infinite wisdom with respect to the questions that perhaps remain open – and I might look into that schizophrenia thing a bit more. If is true, then Doctors should be made aware of the need to check for a family history of psychosis before recommending cannabis to patients.

In what was one of the most dramatic moments, one of the speakers from LEAP made public a bit of police practice from his past experience. Matthew Fogg explained that his strong objection to the clause excluding felons from jobs in, or ownership of, medical marijuana dispensaries, was due to the fact that narcotics police routinely, and intentionally, made more busts in poorer parts of town, because it was harder for the victims to lawyer up and beat the rap. And because poorer areas are very frequently places with a high concentration of minority groups, this policy was racist then, and to perpetuate it with this exclusion, is racist now. I found this argument persuasive. Delegates who may have benefited more from this revelation seemed otherwise occupied when the point was raised. Perhaps this matter could be further explored in a newsletter to the Delegates.

The committee members will now retire to consider their votes, and to make such amendments to the bill as seem appropriate. The Judiciary chairman has been an absolute roadblock in the past, and so I wouldn’t be surprised if we were presented with a compromise that reverses this week’s gains. This would be progress indeed. And if we must fight for our amendment again later in the process, then so be it. We have three more chances after today. And we keep getting stronger.

Jan 27, 2010 - 2 bills would legalize medical marijuana

By Kelly Brewington | kelly.brewington@baltsun.com

Hoping to make Maryland the 15th state in the nation to legalize medical marijuana, legislators introduced a pair of bills Tuesday in the General Assembly that would let doctors approve access to marijuana for their patients and sanction dispensaries, and even pharmacies, to distribute the drug.

The legislation would allow the use of marijuana by patients who have a "debilitating medical condition," such as seizures, severe chronic pain or severe nausea as a result of cancer treatment. They would have to register with the state and obtain marijuana from state-licensed dispensaries and pharmacies that might be interested in supplying it.

"The overarching goal is to make medical marijuana available, as would be any other serious drug to help patients, with the same protections and judicious use," said Del. Dan Morhaim, a Democrat from Baltimore County and an internist and emergency medical physician, who sponsored the legislation in the House of Delegates. Sen. David Brinkley, a Republican from Frederick, is the bill's sponsor in the Senate.

Patients would need approval from doctors with whom they have a long-standing relationship and would not be permitted to grow marijuana on their own.

Morhaim said those two elements make Maryland's measure more stringent than laws passed recently in other states, which allow people to grow their own pot and have come under pressure from critics who say doctors permit use of the drug too easily.

Maryland is the latest state to try to increase access to marijuana following the Obama administration's loosening of federal policy on marijuana enforcement last year.

The measure builds on a little-known 2003 Maryland law that allows defendants charged with marijuana possession leniency if they can prove medical necessity.

That law, however, does medical patients a disservice, said Sen. Jamie B. Raskin, a Montgomery County Democrat, during a news conference Tuesday attended by supporters of the legislation, including two people who said they used the drug to cope with their illnesses.

"We are implicitly inviting people who are sick to go out and find illegal drug dealers to procure what for them is medicine," he said. "That is not acceptable in a civilized society."

Debby Miran, 55, of Towson said she has struggled for years with leukemia, and smoking marijuana helped her cope for four months after a bone-marrow transplant. After the transplant, she lost her ability to taste, suffered severe nausea and at one point weighed less than 100 pounds. Marijuana was the only thing that worked, she said.

"My goal was not to get high, but rather to stimulate my appetite," she said. "There are many Marylanders suffering a variety of illnesses. I know; I've been there. We should make medical marijuana available to them."

MEDICATION NOT INCARCERATION!

MD Safe Access believes that patients should have a safe and legal supply of medication. Our goal is to protect patients with a doctor's recommendation from arrest and prosecution, and ensure safe access to medicine. Qualified patients need amnesty from police encounters and safe access to a quality controlled supply of medication. The momentum nationwide is very much in our favor, we just need to mobilize the people of Maryland to be loud and clear. Marylanders need medical marijuana!