Senate passes medical marijuana bill 18-3 in Delaware

[Sour Deez]

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110331/NEWS/110331038/Senate-passes-medical-marijuana-bill-18-3-?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home

DOVER – The Delaware Senate voted 18-3 today to legalize marijuana for limited medical purposes.The legislation decriminalizes parts of the state’s drug laws and allows individuals with debilitating diseases to get permission from their doctor to purchase marijuana from a state-licensed dispensary.
Fifteen other states and the District of Columbia have already legalized marijuana possession and use for medicinal purposes. Pennsylvania and Maryland lawmakers are currently considering similar legislation.
Under Senate Bill 17, individuals with qualifying illnesses would be issued an identification card and be limited to purchasing up to six ounces of marijuana each month. Marijuana could only be purchased from a dispensary and home cultivation would be prohibited.
During two hours of debate, the Senate added an amendment sponsored by Sen. Robert Marshall that would let individuals 18 years or older obtain medical marijuana . Marshall had sought to allow children to get access to medical marijuana with permission from their parents, but that amendment was withdrawn due to lack of support.
Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, the bill sponsor, had another amendment added that would protect doctors who refuse to recommend marijuana use from being sued by their patients.
“This is really out of compassion for people who have been suffering unnecessarily,” said Henry, D-Wilmington East.
Republican Sens. Colin Bonini, Joseph Booth and Dave Lawson were the three senators who voted against the legislation.
The bill now heads to the House, where’s its future is uncertain.

Its a start...
Sucks you cant grow your own meds though

 

[igrowone]

Sucks you cant grow your own meds though

this is what NY's will be like, if and whenever it gets through the process, no home growing
but like you say, it's a starting point

 

[ItsGrowTime]

So who exactly is gong to grow it?

 

[Sour Deez]

Here is another article..and here is a lil part from it explaining that..
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/04/01/business-us-de-medical-marijuana_8386072.html

Under the bill, qualifying patients would be referred to state-licensed and regulated "compassion centers," which would be responsible for growing, cultivating and dispensing the marijuana. The bill allows for one nonprofit compassion center in each county within a year of its passage, but does not limit the number of additional centers that could be registered later.

 

[AGBeer]

*Sigh* Everyone around us is making progress. Maybe someday Ill get out of the bible belt (even though Robertson spoke against prohibition)

 

[Greenwich Pope]

Congratulations to Delaware

A step forward in any direction is still a step forward

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

16 downs 34 to go. 10 more or so and federal decriminalization will be in sight

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Here is another article..and here is a lil part from it explaining that..
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/04/01/business-us-de-medical-marijuana_8386072.html

So one grower and distributor for each county? Whoever lives in DE better hop on that quick!

Something tells me there will be a nice sweetheart deal for someone politically connected in the DE legislature.

 

[Greenwich Pope]

So one grower and distributor for each county? Whoever lives in DE better hop on that quick!

Something tells me there will be a nice sweetheart deal for someone politically connected in the DE legislature.

It's my uderstanding that there are no limits set, as of yet, on the actual number of compassion centers.

The one per county is just a start

 

[Hydrosun]

this is what NY's will be like, if and whenever it gets through the process, no home growing
but like you say, it's a starting point

This is actually great news for growers of cannabis everywhere! The quality and price in a government run store is going to be crazy low quality for ridiculous price. If you doubt me compare the price of rum, gin, and vodka in places like VA and WA where you MUST purchase from the state to the prices for the same products in CA and AZ where you can buy your vodka from 7/11 or Costco.

So lets go DE and NY be like NJ and try to monopolize the cannabis market with your shit product, it will only serve to INCREASE demand for BETTER product

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

^go free trade capitalism! weeeeeeeeeeee

 

[Madrus Rose]

This might be on their minds --> " States budget crises push sentencing reforms "....
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/State...tml?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=
Greg Bluestein, Associated Press, On Saturday April 2, 2011, 11:32 am EDT

ATLANTA (AP) -- As costs to house state inmates have soared in recent years, many conservatives are reconsidering a tough-on-crime era that has led to stiffer sentences, overcrowded prisons and bloated corrections budgets.

Ongoing budget deficits and steep drops in tax revenue in most states are forcing the issue, with law-and-order Republican governors and state legislators beginning to overhaul years of policies that were designed to lock up more criminals and put them away for longer periods of time.

"There has been a dramatic shift in the political landscape on this issue in the last few years," said Adam Gelb, director of the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States. "Conservatives have led the charge for more prisons and tougher sentencing, but now they realize they need to be just as tough on criminal justice spending."

Most of the proposals circulating in at least 22 state Capitols would not affect current state prisoners, but only future offenders.

Republican governors and lawmakers pushed for many of the policies that put low-level drug offenders and nonviolent felons behind bars and extended sentences for many convicted criminals. But with the GOP in control of more financially strapped state governments, a growing number of Republican elected officials favor a review of the sentencing laws that contributed to a fourfold increase in prison costs over two decades.

The total cost of incarcerating state inmates swelled from $12 billion in 1988 to more than $50 billion by 2008.

more...

 

[mayan]

Massachusetts currently has a medical bill with 30 co-sponsors and some Senate leadership behind it. It strains credulity that the Umbilicus of Western Medicine As We Know It is lagging. I think the momentum has shifted though. Maybe this will be the year. Yeah, it's decriminalized...you just can't grow it or buy it - if a stork flies in the window and deposits some on your lap, however, you are golden.

 

[Hydrosun]

you just can't grow it or buy it - if a stork flies in the window and deposits some on your lap, however, you are golden.

They call that the Perpetual Income Act for Western Growers (PIAWG).

Nothing wrong with a little PIAWG love. Pronounced PeeWack, we love that shit.

 

[Sour Deez]

This is actually great news for growers of cannabis everywhere! The quality and price in a government run store is going to be crazy low quality for ridiculous price. If you doubt me compare the price of rum, gin, and vodka in places like VA and WA where you MUST purchase from the state to the prices for the same products in CA and AZ where you can buy your vodka from 7/11 or Costco.

So lets go DE and NY be like NJ and try to monopolize the cannabis market with your shit product, it will only serve to INCREASE demand for BETTER product

I understand what your saying, but do you really think the quality would be that low?? I know i heard in NJ there is a cap on the level of thc allowed, which is 10%. Which i think is dumb, i dont even consider that medicinal

 

[Hydrosun]

I understand what your saying, but do you really think the quality would be that low?? I know i heard in NJ there is a cap on the level of thc allowed, which is 10%. Which i think is dumb, i dont even consider that medicinal

Do you think the quality of service in the DMV or Post Office or TSA is that low?

Yeah no fucking doubt the quality will be that low. If they put a self imposed level of 10% on themselves and the sell oz at $300 EVEN FUCKING BETTER because the 20% shit from us unregulated clowns will OWN that market, that is why I had such a happy grin to begin with, didn't know they wanted to fuck themselves to 10% max. EVEN BETTER.

 

[Sour Deez]

I agree that a 10% cap is just plain stupid, patients are gonna want actual medicine. But how are they suppose to get it when the state ran dispensarys are only selling shitty product? My 80 year old grandpop isnt gonna go buy it off the street?

 

[Hydrosun]

I agree that a 10% cap is just plain stupid, patients are gonna want actual medicine. But how are they suppose to get it when the state ran dispensarys are only selling shitty product? My 80 year old grandpop isnt gonna go buy it off the street?

Then he is fucked, but for the fact that he knows someone like you..... Hip and down with the 20% So all is good for him.

Unfortunately not everyone has as cool a connect as you so the state straight F's them.

 

[ijim]

It is a start for the people of Delaware. It is a foot in the door. If people don't abuse the system then it will be easier to make amendments like cultivation. Unfortunately just like some other states the dispensary prices will prohibit those that have debilitating illnesses and are disabled from affording Cannabis medications. If you cant make Cannabis affordable to those that need it most then you are inviting abuse and doing nothing to solve the black market.

 

[Hydrosun]

It is a start for the people of Delaware. It is a foot in the door. If people don't abuse the system then it will be easier to make amendments like cultivation. Unfortunately just like some other states the dispensary prices will prohibit those that have debilitating illnesses and are disabled from affording Cannabis medications. If you cant make Cannabis affordable to those that need it most then you are inviting abuse and doing nothing to solve the black market.

How would one abuse the system? By growing their own? By trading with friends? I don't really see a way to abuse the system short of robbing the state run store.

While most people with illnesses have less money than the average bear (because of health care costs), that is not true of all disabled or ill people.

What makes you think any of these bills wish to "do something to solve the black market?" Why would one need to be saved from the black market? Do you believe the quality of cannabis found on the black market is poorer than that in a state run store? I have been using cannabis for decades now and the quality is getting nothing but better and the price is getting nothing but cheaper.