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Medical Marijuana in the 1998 State Legislature UPDATE -- Senate Bill 6271 never made it out of the Senate Health and Long Term Committee. Senator Deccio, although we are sure he supports the issue, felt that not enough support existed in the Senate to pass the bill, especially in the wake of I-685. We now turn our focus to The Washington State Medical Marijuana Initiative, a narrowly drafted initiative focusing on medicinal marijuana recently filed with the Secretary of State. January 13th, 1998SEATTLE - One of the most interesting and controversial issues the legislature will tackle this year is medical marijuana. Today, Senator Kohl followed through on a promise made last December and introduced Senate Bill 6271. This medical marijuana bill has been referred to the Health and Long-Term Care Committee. As this session is a short 60-days, things will move fast. The bill will, among other things, reschedule marijuana as a schedule II substance, allowing doctors to authorize the use of marijuana by seriously ill patients. The bill is available in HTML format here. This is an opportunity to see if the legislature is ready to deal with the issue of medical marijuana. Should the legislature fail to pass adequate legislation, Washington voters will likely have a medical marijuana initiative to vote on in 1998. Both Dr. Killian of Citizens for Drug Policy Reform, and Joanna McKee, co-founder of the Green+Cross Patient Co-op have announced plans for a medical marijuana initiative if necessary. This page is dedicated to tracking medical marijuana legislation in 1998. It is also intended as a tool to help individuals better understand the legislative process, including how to effectively lobby.
Recent Events
The legislative process SB 6271, was introduced and referred to the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee. The bill must be reported out of committee before the February 6th cutoff date in order for it to stay alive. Sen. Alex Deccio Deccio supported the Controlled Substances Therapuetic Research Act in 1979 and has scheduled a hearing on the bill for Tuesday, Jan 20, from 7 to 9 PM. What that means is: Contact your Senator this week! Especially if your Senator is one of the following, as they are on the Health and Long-Term Care committee. At least four of these seven must support the bill to pass it out of committee.
If the bill gets acted on in all committees by the cutoff date, then it is referred to the Senate Rules Committee. The Rules Committee decides which bills get "pulled" to go to the Senate floor, where they are eligible for a full vote of the Senate. If it passes in the Senate, then it moves to the House to go through the process all over again. Each bill must get through three readings in both the House and the Senate to become law. For a more complete description of the process read Overview of the Legislative Process. Current Legislative supporters There are many known supporters of medical marijuana in the state legislature as well as the executive branch. This includes Lt. Governor Brad Owen, who voted as a Representative in 1979 for the Theraputic Research Act. In 1996, Senate Bill 6744 was introduced in the Legislature by the following four Senators. This resulted in $130,000 appropriation for medical marijuana research.
The Lobby Packet Part of being an effective lobbyist is the ability to provide support and resources to leaders seeking reliable information. Here are several documents that we think are helpful in making the case for medical marijuana. Read them yourself, then print a copy for your Senator and Representatives.
Additional Resources
Send questions or comments to news@hemp.net | |
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