Delaware Senate bill would legalize medical marijuana
28. May, 2009 
5 Comments
from the Delaware Sussex Countian
Delawareans afflicted with a variety of chronic and painful conditions would be able to legally use medical marijuana to ease their suffering under a bill now under consideration in the Delaware State Senate.
Sen. Margaret Rose Henry (D-Wilmington East), said her bill isn’t an outright decriminalization of marijuana and is aimed at balancing compassion for the sick with maintaining tight controls on access and the amount of marijuana a person can have.
“Modern science shows us that marijuana can have beneficial effects for people suffering from a number of conditions including cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and HIV-AIDS,” Henry said. “While we don’t want to encourage the use of marijuana as a recreational drug, it makes no sense at all to deny the comfort it can give to people suffering from truly debilitating and painful diseases.”
If passed, Henry’s bill would:
- Limit patients to six ounces of marijuana a month.
- Require patients, people designated as caregivers and personnel at the “Compassion Care Centers” where pot could be distributed to have state issued ID cards authorizing their ability to access marijuana. The non-profit centers could not be operated within 500 feet of an existing public or private school.
- Require that marijuana be cultivated in enclosed, locked facilities with security systems to prevent theft.
- Ban employers from firing an employee receiving medical marijuana if they fail a drug screening. However, employees could be fired for working under the influence of marijuana.
- Prohibit the use of marijuana in public places, on public transportation, in schools and in prison.
Dr. John Goodill, chief of pain and palliative medicine at Christiana Care, said he supports Henry’s bill because it’s based on a proven model that’s produced good results for patients.
“This bill follows a model that has worked well in other states to date,” Goodill said. “I think the medical evidence is compelling enough to add it to the list of options for relieving suffering in people living with serious illness and chronic pain.”
Joe Scarborough of Wilmington has used marijuana to ease the side effects of the drugs he takes to combat the effects of AIDS and to ease the pain in his leg and foot from nerve damage caused when a cancerous tumor was removed from his back. He praised Henry for taking on the issue and focusing it on using marijuana for medicinal purposes, instead of pushing for options, such as blanket decriminalization.
“Maybe, in a perfect world, you’d discuss total decriminalization, but I think Sen. Henry’s approach – just focusing on the people who can be helped by medical marijuana – is the right one,” Scarborough said. “I can tell you that, in my case, smoking marijuana has helped with the pain and nausea associated with the drugs I take for AIDS as well as chemotherapy and it has helped with pain caused by my nerve damage.”
If you enjoyed this post:
Click Here to Get the Free Tenth Amendment Center Newsletter,
I think efforts like this, and yesterday’s pass of another bill in the Illinois Senate, show how the left and the right can actually join forces on the principles of decentralization and federalism that the 10th amendment stands for.
too bad the right is more consistent in being pro prohibition, IE my governer vetoed medical marijuana in minnesota for the SICKEST DIEING this law wouldve been for no one but the dieing yet he had to be pro govt and pro corrput law enforcement
Josh, you make an important point. On many things, the left is supporting state sovereignty, and on many others the right. It’s my hope that people from all over the political spectrum can become allies in principle even if they’d normally oppose each other on individual stances.
The principle? the best government is the one that’s closest to home.
What I don’t understand is how the Government can tell people what to do and what not to do with a NATURAL GROWING PLANT, they don’t come rip your grass out of your yard and tell you that you may not have that. They don’t tell you that you can’t have Poison oak/sumac/ivy which all 3 are deadly if smoked? What does Mary Jane do again? Let me think, help cause cancer, well what else does that ummmmmm Cigarets? yea thats it… whers the difference, ummm hungry – those with weight issues – skinny people lookin for some pounds, sleep those who have trouble sleeping, and bad moods, smoke watch a movie – its funny…. Why don’t you people just make laws like you do with Drinking – Don’t Drive, who cares if you high in public your High, wtf does tylonel advil do, gives you a high that takes away pain. Because they can’t tax it they don’t want to legalize it.
I wish Wisconsin, my home state, would take a lead in legalizing marijuana for medical purposes.