Washington House Overwhelmingly Approves Ban on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Last night the Washington House of Represenatives

approved a bill that would abolish medical marijuana
dispensaries, a.k.a. “collective gardens,” and impose new
restrictions on patients who use cannabis for symptom relief.

H.B. 2149, which passed by a vote of 67 to 29, would thereby
eliminate some of the unregulated competition for the
state-licensed pot stores that are expected to start opening this
summer under I-502, the legalization initiative that Washington
voters approved in November 2012. Supporters of the bill, which was
introduced by Rep. Eileen Cody (D-West Seattle), hope
that banning
dispensaries will help maximize tax revenue and mollify the
feds.

The bill requires patients to buy their cannabis from the same
stores that serve recreational customers, which would be the only
legal sellers of medical marijuana as of May 1, 2015, when the
provision allowing collective gardens would be repealed. Patients
could continue to grow marijuana for their own use, but the maximum
number of plants would be reduced from 15 to six (three of them
flowering). The ceiling on possession by patients would be cut from
24 ounces to three. The bill instructs the state Department of
Health, together with the Washington State Liquor Control Board
(which is charged with regulating marijuana growers, processors,
and retailers), to produce a report by November 15, 2019, on the
question of whether it is appropriate to continue allowing home
cultivation. 

Cody’s legislation would create a “patient recognition” system
that would allow cardholders to buy up to three ounces at a time
(as opposed to one ounce for recreational customers), avoid paying
sales taxes (a privilege addressed in a separate bill), and claim
immunity from arrest for possession or cultivation within the
limits set by law. Currently there is no central record of
qualified patients. Patients with doctor’s recommendations have an
affirmative defense against marijuana charges, meaning they can
still be arrested, although not convicted. H.B. 2149 would
eliminate that affirmative defense, effectively requiring qualified
patients to register with the state if they want to be recognized
as such.

“I think that we can satisfy some of the patients,” Cody said
after the vote. “I don’t think that all of the medical marijuana
community will be happy.”

That might be an understatement. “Our cowardly legislators voted
to effectively end medical cannabis here,” says Steve Sarich,
executive director of the Cannabis Action Network, who opposed
I-502 partly because of the impact he expected it to have on
medical consumers. “Patients are in shock…. If the Senate
votes to pass this bill, Washington will be the first state to end
medical cannabis.” All but three of the 29 votes against Cody’s
bill came from Republicans. “The Democrats, who supported I-502,
were behind this, along with the governor,” Sarich says. “Who would
have thought it would be the Republicans trying to protect the
rights of patients?”

The bill now goes to the state Senate, which is considering
several measures that address medical marijuana. The 2014
legislative session ends on March 13.