The Fight for Better Limits

Bob Young writes in the Seattle Times about Hempfest yesterday, and in particular, the ongoing battle over the medical marijuana limits:

Activists irate about a proposed state limit on medical marijuana urged crowds Saturday at the pro-pot festival to rally at an Aug. 25 Department of Health hearing in Tumwater.

Their target is a new state rule that would limit the 60-day supply for medical marijuana to 24 ounces and six mature pot plants.

"Every single patient I know will not be in compliance with the 60-day rule. It's not going to work. It's driven by law enforcement, not science," said Douglas Hiatt, a lawyer who represents medical-marijuana users.

The panel that Douglas and others sat on Saturday at noon was an interesting one that featured people from all over the spectrum on this issue, from pro-Gregoire to anti-Gregoire. It was rare to see such contention at a Hempfest panel, but it was also somewhat refreshing. We're fighting real battles now, not just expressing wonderment at how public perception is so off from reality (as most of these panels tend to be).

Having spoken to the Governor herself this past Tuesday, my take on what's happening hasn't changed much. The Governor just isn't engaged on this issue enough and isn't aware of how serious it is. She continues to publicly insist that she's pro-medical marijuana, but on Tuesday she also repeated the lie that there's no good science to go on here. That's actually wrong on several counts - not only did medical professionals testify at the workshops around the state, but the science around how many plants would be needed is very well known, and it's probably the most egregious problem with the draft limits. Whether or not one thinks that Gregoire's failings on this issue stems from lack of interest, incompetence, or blind allegiance to law enforcement tends to determine how people are viewing her these days.

According to Hiatt, there have already been two instances in Spokane County where medical marijuana providers were raided for being over the plant count specified within the draft limits. The main question that wasn't addressed in this panel was, why doesn't this happen in Oregon? They have the same limits. The reason is that Oregon has a registry system that protects its patients, and from what I've been told from those down there, many patients and providers are over their plant count limits, but are not bothered by the police. Why this can't be done in Washington isn't clear to me at all.

This is the reason why I asked Gregoire what I did on Tuesday, because with where we stand right now, it's looking very likely that our registered patients are still not going to be protected. It's possible that gains will be made at the hearing on the 25th, but I'm not expecting much, and I'm certainly not expecting the 71 ounces and 99 plants that some of the panelists were pushing for (nor do I even think that limits that high are necessary). Either way, if after this process plays out, patients are still being arrested, the process has failed and the Governor should be held accountable for that failure. She intervened with the process at a time when it was close to reaching a fairly reasonable solution (35 ounces and a 100 sq ft growing area), and we ended up with the much shakier one we have now.

In a state where hundreds of millions of dollars of marijuana has been seized in the Yakima valley just this summer, the idea that we have to err on the side of arresting sick people with a few too many plants in their garage is the height of stupidity. The Governor should know better, and hopefully there's still time to fix this.