April 14, 2010 – Tennessee legislation legalizing the medical use of marijuana by qualified patients was considered by the House Health and Human Resources Committee on Tuesday.

But the legislation’s projected price tag during tight budget times — and not moral or legal considerations — could bring it down.

After the committee heard testimony, the bill was deferred for one week at the request of its sponsor, state Rep. Jeanne Richardson, D-Memphis.

She insisted the legislation was all about compassion.

“It is really up to everyone to know this is no longer a fringe issue…” Richardson said while presenting the bill. “Cheech and Chong smoking a bong. … That is not the issue here. … We will eventually pass this bill.”

She said polls are showing 81 percent support for medical marijuana.

In 1996, California voters passed Proposition 215, making that state the first in the union to allow for the medical use of marijuana. Since then, 14 more states have enacted similar laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).

Still, at the federal level, marijuana remains classified as a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act, making distribution of marijuana a federal offense.

However, in October 2009, the NCSL said President Barack Obama’s administration sent a memo to federal prosecutors encouraging them not to prosecute people who distribute marijuana for medical purposes in accordance with state laws.

Medical marijuana advocate Bernie Ellis testified the American Medical Association urged a re-evaluation of that Schedule I classification last year.

Under the Tennessee bill, those medically eligible to use marijuana would include cancer and Alzheimer’s patients, HIV and hepatitis C patients, people with chronic pain, and anyone having a medical condition resulting in hospice enrollment.

“We want cannabis available to very ill Tennesseans. … It should be allowed for use for very serious conditions…” said Ellis, who crafted the legislation. “There are 300,000 sick Tennesseans who would thank you (if the legislation passes).”

The bill would also establish a program to allow a patient to receive a prescription for medical marijuana from a practitioner, and the patient would need a program identification card from the Department of Health.

Participating pharmacies would distribute medical marijuana, and the cost to the patient would be about $60 an ounce. Licensed farmers would grow it, Ellis said.

“There would exist a presumption that a qualifying patient is engaged in the medical use of marijuana if the qualifying patient possesses a program identification card and possesses an amount of marijuana that does not exceed a one-month supply,” the text of the legislation said.

Neither patients nor practitioners would be subject to arrest, according to the bill.

The legislation would also require the legislature to appoint a 13-member select oversight committee on medical marijuana.

State Rep. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, pointed out a number of drugs go through controlled studies and still have serious issues.

“People use (marijuana) for the high they get. For me, that’s the problem,” noted Hensley, a physician.

Richardson’s request to defer the bill was to work on an amendment calling for the state Board of Pharmacy to be the administrator of the medical marijuana program.

The state’s Fiscal Review Office estimated that after the program’s second year, at least 10,000 patients would be registered.

But the office also noted the Departments of Health and Agriculture would need additional staff people during the program’s gradual implementation. Its recurring cost was estimated at about $1.5 million.

For more information go to www.capitol.tn.gov. The bill’s number is HB 2562. By Hank Hayes. Source.

July 11, 2009 – In New Hampshire today, Governor John Lynch (D) exercised his veto power over the state’s medical marijuana bill, which had been passed last month by New Hampshire’s legislature with a vote of 232-108 in the House and 14-10 in the Senate. Clearly the majority of the People of New Hampshire, presuming the state legislators vote with some latent desire of keeping their jobs, have indicated their approval of the medical use of marijuana for patients in their state. Apparently however, Governor Lynch cares less about the People of New Hampshire than he does about keeping his job. Maybe he is thinking Sarah Palin made that commercial fishing look good. I am sure many Americans would readily agree with him, at least on that point.

Now it is up to the New Hampshire’s legislators to step back up to the plate and speak loudly for their constituents. With Governor Lynch’s veto, a House vote of 267 in favor is now required, with 16 votes now needed in the Senate. Looks like a few more “public servants” in New Hampshire are going to have to toe the line for the People. Otherwise, another clear message is sent that those in power too often exercise their personal agendas over the rights of the People.

Here in Tennessee, this past legislative session produced two companion bills for medical marijuana in both bodies of the Tennessee legislature. Both were essentially tabled to be resumed at a later time. One can only hope the break will give its sponsors time to put some real teeth into the resolutions and provide help and hope for those suffering from non-life threatening illnesses known to be quite treatable with medicinal cannabis.

Over a dozen states now permit medical marijuana patients to obtain this herbal treatment that has been a medicinal staple of mankind for at least four thousand years. California, after several years of medical cannabis proliferation, despite the recently reduced federal harassment that went with it, is now seeing so much benefit that serious contemplation of full legalization is being considered as an economic aid desperately needed by the state’s government.

One only needs to research our history to see that legal cannabis in America would not be unprecedented. Many are unaware that in addition to being legal in America on more than one occasion, at one time, you could even pay your taxes with cannabis/hemp. They say that money doesn’t grow on trees. Well at one time in America, it did. Even more interesting, is that today, the United States is the only country in the civilized world to ban its farmers from growing industrial hemp. It is certainly no secret that hemp itself has been a staple of mankind since the dawn of agricultural cultivation. Some even suspect that hemp may have been the first member of our botanical world to be cultivated by man. Yet American farmers continue to be driven off of the land many of their families have farmed for generations, unable to compete against Big Ag in more traditional markets and banned by law from pursuing profits growing a product less harmful than tobacco.

Yet today, here in America, land of the free, home of the brave, where you and I are free to peruse any number of “legalized sin” from alcohol and tobacco to strip tease and bunny ranches, God’s most perfect botanical wonder (yes, I actually wrote God’s name like He has something to really do with all of this) is withheld from the People of the United States, due in no small part to the misguided dark fantasies about a drug many like Governor Lynch have no personal use or desire for. The People aren’t asking for a law that mandates all Americans must now start using cannabis. Just abolish the laws that prohibit those who do have good and viable uses for it. Most importantly, as with other vices allowed by law to legal adults today, allow the People the freedom to choose for themselves.

The state by state marijuana debate provides just one example of the myriad of resources and strategies that could and have been successfully implemented right here in America to build our economy and our nation. Why then, does the government, consistently at every level across the country, continue to make decisions that, when measured by common sense, repeatedly fail to measure up? Why, despite the outcries of growing numbers of angry citizens, do our so-called leaders continue to make choices like Governor Lynch, choices that oppose the clear desires of the People?

Cap & Trade, gay marriage, just war, fiscal irresponsibility, too big to fail. When will the men and women who claim a legacy of “public service” actually serve the public?

Legislators from Nashville to Sacramento to Washington DC and everywhere in between need to return the power to its rightful owners and serve selflessly, casting aside their personal agendas. If they can’t do that, maybe they should consider a job with MSNBC. Source.

By MsRedEye