PA - State To Consider Medical Marijuana Use

State To Consider Medical Marijuana Use
Posted by CN Staff on April 29, 2009 at 09:31:20 PT
By Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Source: Post-Gazette

Harrisburg, PA -- A state legislator from Philadelphia said today it's time to get rid of the decades-old negative image surrounding marijuana and replace it with "a new, honest image."

How? By legalizing the use of small amounts of marijuana for medicinal purposes, such as reducing pain for sufferers of cancer or multiple sclerosis, helping people with glaucoma and assist with insomnia and mental disorders such as manic depression, said Democratic Rep. Mark Cohen.

He introduced House Bill 1393, which would put Pennsylvania in a league with 13 other states that permit a person, with a doctor's recommendation, to apply to the state Department of Health for a "registry card" that would allow the patient to purchase or grow one ounce of marijuana at a time.

"The only thing blocking this bill's passage is the old image that marijuana has from the 1930s," Mr. Cohen said. "It's time to create a new image, as a form of treatment that, when prescribed by responsible doctors, could help thousands of patients in Pennsylvania."

People with state-issued registry cards could either grow up to six marijuana plants at their home or buy it at yet-to-be-created "compassion centers," legal dispensaries of medical marijuana. The sale of marijuana would be subject to the state's 6 percent sales tax, and Mr. Cohen claimed that the state could get up to $25 million a year in new revenue.

He appeared at a news conference today with Chris Goldstein, head of Pennsylvanians for Medical Marijuana, and Chuck Homan, a 58-year-old roofer from York County who was arrested last year for growing marijuana plants on his property. He uses marijuana to allow him one or two hours of sleep a night.

Without it, he said, he can't even sleep that long. He attributed his insomnia to suffering from depression. His legal case is still pending, he said, but now he has joined the effort to legalize medical uses for marijuana.

Mr. Cohen said he has six co-sponsors for his bill, far short of the 102 votes he needs in the House. The Senate, controlled by Republicans, many of them social conservatives, will likely be even tougher.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)
Author: Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Published: Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Copyright: 2009 PG Publishing
Contact: [email protected]
Website: Post-Gazette NOW
URL: State to consider medical marijuana use

i saw that in the paper this morning, i about fell out of my chair.

why can not they take reference of the states and country where marijuna is legal? Is that not enough for them to pass the bill.

Being a mental health therapist, I find it humorous that the representative wants to do away with an image that's "decades old"...and then he states marijuana should be used for help treat manic-depression. Yeah, manic depression doesn't exist anymore...it's called bipolar disorder. Just like Dissociative Identity Disorder replaced Multiple Personality Disorder. That terminology is also outdated.

Just found that funny. A little stoned right now....