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CANNATOPIA
DOVER -- The Delaware House on Thursday approved use of marijuana for medical purposes, but tacked on additional restrictions requiring the drug be distributed in tamper-proof containers and prohibiting smoking cannabis in buses and vehicles.The House voted 24-17 on Senate Bill 17, which now must go back to the Senate for the upper chamber to consider the House's changes.
Senate Majority Whip Margaret Rose Henry, the bill sponsor, said a final vote could happen as early as Tuesday. "They're fine," Henry said of the amendments. "It's not a problem."
The legislation allows Delawareans with cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, post-traumatic stress disorder and other debilitating diseases to get a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana to treat their pain, nausea or illness. Qualified patients would be issued a state identification card.
Three state-regulated not-for-profit dispensaries would be established in each county to sell and distribute medical marijuana to qualified patients and caregivers. Only licensed dispensaries would be allowed to grow marijuana; home cultivation would remain prohibited under the bill.
Patients would have to get a doctor's recommendation to smoke, ingest or use a marijuana vaporizer after other medical treatment or prescription drugs failed to treat their illness, said Rep. Helene Keeley, D-Wilmington West.
"Whether you are diagnosed with cancer, whether you are diagnosed with MS, you must have tried other drugs," Keeley said. "Those drugs must fail first."
In negotiations with the Delaware Medical Society, Henry agreed to remove glaucoma, Crohn's disease and early stages of hepatitis C from the list of qualifying illnesses from the bill to help ensure its passage, Keeley said.
Under the bill, qualifying patients also would be allowed to designate a person to serve as their caregiver and pick up their medical marijuana for them.
Since the bill was introduced in January, lawmakers have heard countless testimony from individuals with debilitating diseases about how marijuana, used illegally, has eased their debilitating pain and helped treat nausea caused by cancer and HIV drugs.
Link-http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110506/NEWS02/105060346/House-OKs-medical-marijuana?odyssey=tab|mostpopular|text|FRONTPAGE
Senate Majority Whip Margaret Rose Henry, the bill sponsor, said a final vote could happen as early as Tuesday. "They're fine," Henry said of the amendments. "It's not a problem."
The legislation allows Delawareans with cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, post-traumatic stress disorder and other debilitating diseases to get a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana to treat their pain, nausea or illness. Qualified patients would be issued a state identification card.
Three state-regulated not-for-profit dispensaries would be established in each county to sell and distribute medical marijuana to qualified patients and caregivers. Only licensed dispensaries would be allowed to grow marijuana; home cultivation would remain prohibited under the bill.
Patients would have to get a doctor's recommendation to smoke, ingest or use a marijuana vaporizer after other medical treatment or prescription drugs failed to treat their illness, said Rep. Helene Keeley, D-Wilmington West.
"Whether you are diagnosed with cancer, whether you are diagnosed with MS, you must have tried other drugs," Keeley said. "Those drugs must fail first."
In negotiations with the Delaware Medical Society, Henry agreed to remove glaucoma, Crohn's disease and early stages of hepatitis C from the list of qualifying illnesses from the bill to help ensure its passage, Keeley said.
Under the bill, qualifying patients also would be allowed to designate a person to serve as their caregiver and pick up their medical marijuana for them.
Since the bill was introduced in January, lawmakers have heard countless testimony from individuals with debilitating diseases about how marijuana, used illegally, has eased their debilitating pain and helped treat nausea caused by cancer and HIV drugs.
Link-http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110506/NEWS02/105060346/House-OKs-medical-marijuana?odyssey=tab|mostpopular|text|FRONTPAGE
