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Carcieri Vetos Renewal of Med Marijuana Program
06-04-07|Associated Press

Gov. Don Carcieri vetoed legislation on Monday renewing Rhode Island's medical marijuana program, saying it would leave users of the drug open to federal prosecution and encourage them to buy their supply from unregulated and "illicit" dealers.

"This legislation would give vulnerable Rhode Island citizens a false sense of security regarding the legality and safety of producing, distributing and using marijuana, a substance which is neither legal under federal law nor regulated in any way by any government agency," Carcieri wrote in his veto message.

Rhode Island became the eleventh state in the country last year to legalize marijuana for medical purposes.

The program expires June 30 unless a bill extending it becomes law. The reauthorization passed by a veto-proof margin in both the House and Senate.

Under the program, patients with cancer, AIDS and other debilitating illnesses can possess up to 12 marijuana plants and 2.5 usable ounces of the drug to ease their symptoms. One change lawmakers adopted this year limits caregivers for multiple patients to not more than 24 plants and five ounces of the narcotic in usable form.

Lawmakers in the House and Senate easily obtained the three-fifths majority necessary to override Carcieri's veto of the original program more than a year ago.

 

Buzzby

Does this moron really think that people who need medical marijuana aren't going to use it because of some state law? All the law does is free them from the worry of state prosecution. People who just want it for recreational purposes pretty much ignore the law. And where does he think these illicit medical users obtain their medicine now? They either buy it on the black market or grow it in their "unregulated and illicit" grow ops.

It would give them a true sense of security from being arrested under state law. The federal drug authorities are, for the most part, interested only in large-scale commercial operations. Your chance of being prosecuted under federal law is about the same as your chance of being struck by lightning. I read somewhere that 14 people have been prosecuted under federal law for simple possession since 1996.

That makes the governor's veto a purely symbolic gesture.

"See? I'm 'Tough on Drugs™'." This has been an unpaid political announcement...

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