Why is there no REAL discussion of 5073?!

For those of you who haven't been paying attention to the bill, there have been some heinous amendments proposed... If it passes with these amendments, this is what will happen:

- People will no longer be able to participate in collective gardens.
- There may only be one dispensary per county.
- Dispensers must forward records of who gets their meds every month to the DOH. Who gets access to this information?
- â??Authorizes DOH and DOA to produce, process, and dispense all cannabis for medical use in Washington.â?� This is the PRIVATIZATION of the medical cannabis industry in Washington State. They also have the right to put whatever price they want on the medicine. Patients who can barely afford it now will be priced out of the market. It will not be cheap... guaranteed.
- If you have children, you can no longer use cannabis for medical purposes.
- If you arenâ??t on the registry they can do whatever they want to you, because the only thing the law will check is your registration. They will not validate your paperwork before they take you to jail.
- Makes it a misdemeanor (not a civil infraction) to visually have medical cannabis in public, whether you are using it or not.
- â??Removes the protections from searches for qualifying patients registered with the Department of Health (DOH). Removes the protections from being taken into custody or booked into jail for qualifying patients with valid documentation, but who are not registered with DOH (retains the affirmative defense).â?�
- Disqualifies anyone with ANY kind of felony to work in the cannabis industry, even if itâ??s cannabis-related.

So basically, they will PRIVATIZE MEDICAL CANNABIS IN WASHINGTON STATE and can treat you like a sex offender (and if you don't register you get treated like a criminal.) This isn't all they are proposing, so go educate yourself if you know what's good for you. I don't even live in WA state and I still think this is horrendous.

SB 5073 - 2011-12

Go to the bottom of the page and click on each indented amendment individually. It's a travesty.

Socialize might be a better word.

As usual, the people elected have their own agenda, funny thing is no one seems to remeber who these people are at elections and keep electing them because they recognise the name....Like I said earlier, I believe they will create more criminals than they free with this one.

We all knew this was going to happen. Back to the intiative to legalize. The same thing will happen to the intiative after 2 years, but atleast we can have 2 years of being left alone.

Silly me... I forgot the most important part!

One of the proposed amendments, says you can no longer grow your own medicine. This is the same amendment that says it will be a privatized government business. You will be FORCED to pay their prices if you want to be legal.

SSB 5073 will become law or fail on Tuesday, it's getting a little late for discussion this year:

Sens. Jeanne Kohl-Welles and Jerome Delvin urge the Legislature to pass a medical-marijuana bill.

By Jeanne Kohl-Welles And Jerome Delvin





Related

WASHINGTON easily adopted medical marijuana by initiative in 1998, with 59 percent of the vote. That strong public support remains today. A recent poll found that 84 percent of Washington voters favor "allowing patients with terminal or debilitating conditions to possess and consume marijuana if their doctors recommend it."

Unfortunately, the law is not working as the voters intended. This is why Senate Bill 5073 â?? currently under consideration in the Legislature â?? is so important and needs to be passed by the state House. If it doesn't pass by Tuesday, the bill will die.

This bill would comprehensively license and regulate the production and dispensation of marijuana for medical use, and provide clarity to both law enforcement and patients about how to comply with the law. Patients, law enforcement and communities all will benefit from its passage.

Fixing Washington's medical-marijuana law is a separate issue from the legalization debate. It is important we put our opinions on legalization aside and fix the state's medical-marijuana law now. The current situation â?? a chaotic proliferation of dispensaries, unprotected patients and confusion for law enforcement â?? is simply unworkable.

Under current law, authorized patients and designated providers receive no protection from arrest and prosecution and may only raise the law as a defense in court. This is a costly and inefficient system for law enforcement and puts some patients through incredible hardships. Individuals with terminal and debilitating illnesses are still being arrested and prosecuted for trying to exercise their rights under the law.

SB 5073 would fix this problem by ensuring that qualifying patients won't be taken into custody and providing full protection against arrest for patients who register in the state's secure registry. These changes will also provide law enforcement with bright lines for determining who is a legitimate patient.

Another problem is that there is no system for patients to obtain a safe, secure and reliable source of marijuana for medical use. As a result, patients are forced to take on the difficult and expensive task of growing marijuana for themselves or turning to gray-market dispensaries popping up around the state. This is bad policy and has led to tremendous confusion.

Two recent court cases illustrate the problem. A Spokane man was found guilty on drug charges for operating a medical-marijuana dispensary. A week later, a Yakima man was found not guilty for operating a collective garden at his residence. Further, several cities have set up moratoriums prohibiting dispensaries until the Legislature passes the bill, while others continue to allow them.

SB 5073 will end this confusion by setting up a system of state-licensed and -regulated producers, processors and dispensaries overseen by the departments of Agriculture and Health.

Our state is not alone in addressing this issue. Thirteen other states plus the District of Columbia already have passed laws setting up regulated systems for making marijuana available to qualifying patients for medical purposes. And the federal government has let them do it â?? the Department of Justice directed federal law enforcement not to interfere in medical-marijuana states so long as the state's laws are being followed.

Failure to pass SB 5073 would mean that Washington patients will be forced to live another year in fear that they may be arrested and prosecuted, and still have no reliable way to obtain their medicine. It also means law enforcement and local governments will be faced with unnecessarily difficult choices about allowing gray-market dispensaries.

SB 5073 provides a comprehensive solution for dealing with medical marijuana in our state. Let's pass it now.
Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, chairs the Senate Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection Committee. Sen. Jerome Delvin, R-Richland, is a former officer for the Richland Police Department.

"SSB 5073 will become law or fail on Tuesday, it's getting a little late for discussion this year:"

The "it's too little too late" issue is what got the bill to this point in the first place. Where was the discussion when there was time?!

As a community, medical cannabis patients need to be more proactive! If you're not, this is what will happen to your mmj laws. If this passes, mmj in Washington state will be effectively dismantled, and that's their main goal.

I'm not a patient, I'm just an extremely concerned U.S. citizen. State governments will take over everything the mmj community has worked hard for unless something is done about it!

This bill might "provide clarity" to the law, but I promise it is NOT the clarity you want.

SSB 5073 will fail by Tuesday, the final flurry of amendments including the pizza joke amendment were a signal of that.
Next year something workable may be introduced or something may be sprung on us again, so hopefully we have learned to be watchful
of those who say they wish to help us...
There may well be a flurry of activity with the failure of SSB 5073, not with amendments but with the enforcement of existing law.. ;)

Do you think failure is still an option after today's house vote?

Apparently I may wrong, it PASSED the House today, in amended form and may actually become law,
I can live with it but we'll have to see, it has to go back to the Senate for approval and possible change
before making it to the Governor's desk.

EFFECT: Specifies that the documented relationship between a
qualifying patient and health care professional may either be newly
initiated or existing and in the capacity of either a primary care
provider or a specialist.
Specifies that for qualifying patients in the registry to receive
search, arrest, and prosecution protections and qualifying patients not
in the registry, but with valid documentation, to receive custody and
booking and an affirmative defense at trial, the investigating police
officer must not have observed evidence of specified circumstances,
including an unlicensed cannabis operation, theft of electrical power,
other illegal drugs, numerous short-term visits consistent with
commercial activity, and noncannabis-related crimes.
Removes the prohibition against opening a package of cannabis or
consuming cannabis in a public place in a way that presents a
reasonable risk of another person observing and identifying the
substance. Restores current law that prohibits the use or display of
medical cannabis in a manner or place that is visible by the public and
makes it a class 3 civil infraction instead of a misdemeanor.
Specifies that, prior to January 1, 2016, the maximum number of
licensed dispensers in a county shall be based upon a ratio of 1
dispenser for every 20,000 residents. Provides that, on or after
January 1, 2016, the Secretary of Health may adopt rules to adjust the
method of determining the ratio to consider other factors.
Limits the requirement that a licensed dispenser contact a
qualifying patient's health care provider prior to selling him or her
cannabis, to contacting the health care professional once in a one-year
period.
Adds certain persons supervised by local governments and jails to
exemptions from search, arrest, and prosecution protections and the
affirmative defense for certain persons supervised by correctional
agencies and departments in cases of (1) possession of cannabis for
medical use exceeding legal limits, (2) possession of cannabis for
Official Print - 5 5073-S2.E AMH CODY H2591.2medical use without registration or the presentation of valid
documentation to police, and (3) possession of cannabis for medical use
by nonresidents.
Removes the requirement that local governments coordinate within
each county to meet the licensed dispenser allocations of the
Department of Health (DOH). Authorizes cities and towns to adopt
zoning, business licensing, health and safety, and business tax
requirements related to licensed producers, processors, and dispensers.
Authorizes counties to adopt zoning, business licensing, and health and
safety requirements related to licensed producers, processors, and
dispensers. Specifies that local government zoning authority is not
limited, except that they may not preclude licensed producers,
processors, or dispensers from siting within a jurisdiction.
Requires the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee to
conduct a review of the cannabis production and dispensing system in
the event that the federal government takes action to authorize the
medical use of cannabis.
Adds certain persons supervised by local governments and jails to
exemptions from participation in collective gardens and private
unlicensed cannabis production, possession, and transportation for
certain persons supervised by correctional agencies and departments.
Adds certain persons supervised by local governments and jails to
exemptions from licensure as a producer, processor, or dispenser of
cannabis for certain persons supervised by correctional agencies and
departments.
Adds law enforcement officers to the entities that may receive
cannabis from dispensers. Authorizes the sale of cannabis to the
University of Washington or Washington State University for research
purposes as specified elsewhere in the bill.
Applies the requirement that a peace officer make efforts to
determine a person's registration in the DOH registry prior to seeking
a search warrant to only nonvehicle search warrants, rather than all
search warrants.
Eliminates redundant references. Corrects grammatical errors.

5073-S2.E AMH HURS BLAC 073 553 Hurst Floor Pg 12 Ln 11 ADOPTED 04/11/2011

EFFECT: Removes the protections from searches for qualifying
patients registered with the Department of Health (DOH). Removes
the protections from being taken into custody or booked into jail
for qualifying patients with valid documentation, but who are not
registered with DOH (retains the affirmative defense).
Requires that a qualifying patient in the DOH registry not have
converted cannabis for medical use to personal, nonmedical use or
benefit in order to receive arrest and prosecution protections.
Requires that a nonresident not have converted cannabis to personal,
nonmedical use or benefit in order to assert an affirmative defense.
Exempts certain persons who are under the supervision of a
corrections agency or department, including a local government or
jail, from relying upon arrest and prosecution protections and
affirmative defenses related to the medical use of cannabis in a
proceeding regarding supervision revocation or violation.

5073-S2.E AMH KLIP BLAC 092 643 Klippert Floor Pg 19 Ln 19 ADOPTED 04/11/2011

EFFECT: Specifies that hotels and motels are not required to
accommodate the on-site smoking of cannabis for medical use.

5073-S2.E AMH MCCU MORI 081 610 McCune Floor Pg 26 Ln 22 ADOPTED 04/11/2011

EFFECT: Requires licensed dispensers to ensure that no
cannabis or cannabis paraphernalia may be viewed from outside the
facility.