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Lawmaker addressing medical marijuana
2/1/08|Honolulu Star-Bulletin| by Helen Altonn

Although marijuana for medical purposes is legal in Hawaii, patients authorized to use the plant are being hassled by law enforcement agencies and others, said Maui Rep. Joe Bertram III.

The major problem is patient access to marijuana, a gray area in the seven-year-old law, Bertram (D, Makena-Kihei) said yesterday, announcing legislation to "tighten it up with better management."

One of his measures (House Bill 2678), being heard today by the House Health Committee, would authorize the state Department of Health to develop a secure growing facility on Maui for medical marijuana. A facilitator would make space available to patients or caregivers for a total of as many as 98 plants at one time.

A second bill, HB 2675, would allow a qualified patient to use marijuana for medical purposes with written certification from another state instead of a certificate from Hawaii's Department of Public Safety.

Keith Kamita, chief of the state Narcotics Enforcement Division, which administers the medical marijuana law, said a growing facility would violate federal law.

Also, because the bill mandates the DOH to control the facility, he said in an interview, "Now it's a state agency sanctioning marijuana. Say there's a bad batch and people die or get sick, the state would be liable for distributing a contaminated product."

Marijuana is still a Schedule 1 controlled substance, with no medical use allowed under federal law, and growers would have to obtain a research permit from the federal and state governments, he said.

Kamita also noted that more marijuana is showing up in schools, possibly because of its use for medical patients. "Kids can go see Grandpa and go see a harvest. We've just got to be very careful with this."

He said the problem with recognizing certification from another state for a person to use medical marijuana is that each state could have different qualifying conditions and rules.

Twelve other states have legalized marijuana, he said. "Our main concern is the differences between those states and Hawaii. There would be no way for law enforcement to verify the validity of that certificate (from another state)."

As of Wednesday, Kamita said, 4,047 Hawaii patients had received medical marijuana cards, and 368 caregivers and 124 physicians are participating in the program.

Joining Bertram at a news conference at the Capitol were Alan Doherty, a Big Island disabled veteran; Joseph Rattner, diagnosed with HIV 15 years ago; and Brian Murphy, executive director, Maui County Citizens for Democracy in Action and Patients Without Time.

Doherty, 84, said he comes to Honolulu at times for treatment at Tripler Army Medical Center and brought some marijuana with him on a recent trip because of pain in an injured foot.

It was seized at the airport, and six months later Hawaii County prosecutors charged him with transporting a detrimental drug, he said. He received a six-month suspended sentence and is on probation, he said.

He said the law restricts use of marijuana to a person's own house. "You can't take it or get it any place. I certainly hope that will be corrected so we can get our medical marijuana without all this hassle."

He said county prosecutors and the police "ignore marijuana as a medicine. They consider it to be a detrimental drug. That is a bad misnomer."

Rattner, president of West Hawaii Hope for a Cure Foundation, said growing marijuana "is a science in Hawaii," and a seriously ill person is not able to grow his own medicine.

 

Buzzby

Considering that in 5,000+ years of recorded history, marijuana has not caused a single death, that seems pretty unlikely. Short of coating it with poison, I don't see how you could get a "bad batch". The worst you could do is produce a batch not up to expected potency.

I don't see any reason why a state should produce and distribute medical marijuana. States don't produce or distribute any other drugs. Why should marijuana be any different? Historically, state produced (US federal and Canadian) weed has been substandard and rejected by most medical users. Competition between suppliers results in a better product at a better price.

I suppose that anything is "possible", but I'd like to see some evidence before giving such a statement any credence. The passage of medical marijuana laws has little or no effect on recreational use. Places with very liberal marijuana laws, like The Netherlands, often have much lower usage rates than places with very strict ones.

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BillieBudd

This Kamita guy is worried about his overtime that's all, as are most of law enforcement. They give the boiler plate reasons why the laws should remain and try to make the unthinking masses believe they burn with the passion to better the world and keep the evil substance off the streets. I would bet that if you offered this guy directorship of the farm at twice the salary he would have a sudden change of heart about the whole idea....