MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – The House Thursday gave preliminary approval to a bill that would allow people with certain life-threatening illnesses to use marijuana to relieve pain and nausea without fear of arrest and prosecution.
“This bill does not legalize marijuana,” said Rep. Thomas Koch, R-Barre and chairman of the House Health and Welfare Committee.
The House bill is more restrictive than a version passed by the Senate last year. The bill would allow someone suffering from cancer, AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses, with intractable symptoms and no success with other treatments, to posses one mature marijuana plant and two immature ones, as well as two ounces of usable marijuana.
It also requires users to register with the Department of Public Safety, not with the Department of Health, as called for in the Senate bill. That person would have to pay a $100 fee.
The 79-48 vote came after about four hours of debate. The Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project said it was the first time a Republican-controlled state legislative body had endorsed such legislation.
During the debate some appealed to the medical science and to data about what effects passage of medical marijuana laws has had in the eight other states that have done so.
Rep. David Brown, R-Walden, who recently lost a close friend to cancer, said his friend had urged him “not to vote on emotion but to listen to the debate and make up my mind.”
He said that when he heard another House member say, in Brown’s words, “this is perhaps the only chance we have to help our friends … suffering from that pain, that’s the data I needed.
“I hope this bill passes as written, and I hope so for our sick friends,” Brown said, struggling to keep his composure. “My friend will be buried … on Saturday. Please support this bill.”
Critics of the legislation said it would send the wrong message to Vermont’s young people.
“What message are we sending to our young people regarding illegal drugs and respect for law?” asked Rep. Virginia Duffy, R-Rutland. “Never has it been more important to just say no.”
Gov. James Douglas has said he is opposed to the legislation. But he called the House changes a move in the right direction from the Senate-passed bill.
“The governor is pleased that the House amendment is much more narrow and allows for more controls than the Senate proposal,” said Douglas’ spokesman Jason Gibbs. “He remains very concerned, however, that any measure would still violate federal law and send an inappropriate message about the availability and risk of marijuana to young people.”
Others argued that it would be a violation of the oath lawmakers take to vote for a bill putting Vermont at odds with the federal government.
Rep. Anne Donahue, R-Northfield, sought to allay fears about the bill by noting that aside from not making marijuana legal, the bill also does not declare it a medicine. She said the bill merely acknowledges that some people “find it useful for relieving their symptoms.”
One oversight was pointed out during House debate: No provision is made in the bill for someone to acquire the seed from which to grow a first marijuana plant. Rep. David Zuckerman, a Burlington Progressive and the bill’s chief House backer, acknowledged that getting started as a marijuana user under the bill’s provisions would involve an illegal act.
Zuckerman said after the debate that, while an amendment he offered to move the bill more toward the Senate version failed, he was still satisfied with the endorsement given the measure.
“It’s a move in the right direction,” he said. “I feel it could be improved so it can work better, but I’m pleased with the vote.”
If the House gives the bill final approval on Friday, as is expected, a conference committee would be appointed to work out differences between the House and Senate versions. That may be difficult with just a few days remaining in this year’s legislative session.
AP-ES-05-13-04 1958EDT
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