States in the U.S that have legalized Medical Marijuana. - GreenPassion.org - Dedicated to Medicinal Cannabis Cultivation and Education

freetolive · #1 (**permalink**) 12-13-2008, 11:30 PM

Thirteen states have enacted laws that legalized medical marijuana.

Alaska
Alaska

California
California

Colorado
Colorado

Hawaii
Hawaii

Maine
Maine

Michigan
Michigan

Montana
Montana

Nevada
Nevada

New Mexico
New Mexico

Oregon
Oregon

Rhode Island
Rhode Island

Vermont
Vermont

Washington
Washington

Here is a mpp.org PDF on the legal states also:
http://www.mpp.org/legislation/state...uana-laws.html

Two states have passed laws that, although favorable towards medical marijuana, did not legalize its use.

Arizona
Arizona

Maryland
Maryland

Hope this helps everyone in need!

I will do my best to edit this as it evolves...please let me know if something isn't working right, or inaccurate!

States that have pending debates are posted below. Once legal...they will be put on the list above.

Peace.

Storm Crow · #2 (**permalink**) 12-14-2008, 04:33 PM

Medical marijuana pondered in Jersey - Breaking News From New Jersey - NJ.com

Medical marijuana pondered in Jersey

by Susan K. Livio/Star-Ledger Sunday December 14, 2008, 8:46 AM

Three years after it was introduced in the Legislature, the proposal to legalize marijuana for medical use in New Jersey gets its first test in a Senate committee tomorrow in what is expected to be a contentious process that will spill into an election year.
New Jersey would become the 14th state to create a sanctioned medical marijuana program, although the upcoming vote in the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee is just the first step. The prime Senate sponsor of the bill (A804/S119) said he feels confident.
"This is groundbreaking stuff, and I'm excited about the prospect of taking the next step," Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) said.
The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act would require the state Department of Health and Senior Services to evaluate requests from physicians who recommend marijuana to their patients to help alleviate a "debilitating medical condition," defined as cancer, glaucoma, HIV and AIDS, or chronic illnesses that cause "wasting syndrome, severe or chronic pain, seizures and severe and persistent muscle spasms."

Medical marijuana
For Scott Ward, the only relief he gets from his MS is medical marijuana. Will New Jersey be the next state to legalize pot? (Video by Brian Donohue)

Patients the health department deems worthy would receive a state identification card verifying their enrollment. Patients, and their primary caretakers who do not have a history of drug convictions, "shall not be subject to arrest, prosecution or penalty" provided they possess the card and no more than six marijuana plants and 1 ounce of "usable marijuana."
Opponents refuse to concede medical marijuana has wide support anywhere -- in the Legislature or among the public. They intend to argue lawmakers ought to be concerned from a consumer standpoint.
"Legislators, out of the goodness of their hearts, listen to these people," said David Evans, an attorney and executive director of the Drug Free Schools Coalition, a national group. "But many people don't look beyond the compassion argument."
The bill up for a vote tomorrow has been changed to reflect concerns about how patients would legally obtain the drug, which would remain an illegal substance in all other circumstances.
The bill allows the state health department to license "medical marijuana alternative treatment centers," a new entity that would cultivate and deliver the drug to participating patients, according to the amendment.
Otherwise, patients might choose to grow their own or "go to the black market," said Roseanne Scotti of the Drug Policy Alliance of New Jersey, one of the major proponents of the bill. These licensed growing centers have worked in Oregon, she said.
Scotti, whose organization also was a major supporter of needle exchange legislation that passed after 13 years of lobbying, said she expects this bill to be a much easier sell.
"Legislators understand anyone can be in this position and have one of these diseases," Scotti said. At public hearings held in June 2006 and May 2008 "regular people testified. ... They said 'I do this because this is the only way they will have a quality of life.'"
Gerry and Don McGrath of Robbinsville will testify, as they have before, about how their son, Sean, regained his appetite and reduced his suffering before he died from cancer four years ago.
"I strongly believe that once members of the Senate Health Committee listen objectively to stories like ours on Monday, they will vote yes on the bill, bringing it closer to becoming law and help those currently suffering in New Jersey," Don McGrath said.
Evans said some people may attest to marijuana's nausea- and pain-curbing abilities, but this is no substitute for Food and Drug Administration approval. "They may feel better, but you have to make sure it is safe. There are no proper studies about dose, how many times do you take it," Evans said. "Once this bill is approved, you can smoke your head off all day long."
The FDA has approved Marinol, a pill made from a synthetic version of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana found to relieve nausea and vomiting. "This is approved for medical treatment, so what's the problem?" John Tomicki, executive director of the League of American Families. "I doubt whether this bill will ever see daylight."
The movement to expand medical marijuana laws has been slow but steady, activists say.
Michigan voters recently approved a ballot initiative in November permitting a medical marijuana program, becoming the 13th state to legalize the practice.
Medical marijuana programs are also legal in Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Storm Crow · #3 (**permalink**) 12-14-2008, 04:54 PM

KQXT-FM The New Q101.9 San Antonio, Texas USA

4607016
Nation's Most LIberal Medical Marijuana Law Proposed in Texas

Would forbid prosecution of anybody who has pot on a doctor's orders
By Jim Forsyth
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
An Austin lawmaker has proposed legalizing marijuana in Texas, if the marijuana has bee prescribed by a doctor for medical purposes, 1200 WOAI news has learned. It would be the most liberal medical marijuana bill in the country.

Democrat Eliot Haishtat's proposal would forbid any law enforcement officer from arresting or charging a person for possession of marijuana, if the person 'possesses marijuana as a patient of a physician licensed to practice medicine in this state pursuant to the recommendation of that physician for the amelioration of the symptoms of effects of a bona fide medical condition.'

"This would not legalize the use of marijuana or any other drug," Naishtat told 1200 WOAI news. "This is specifically related to the medicinal use of marijuana for a person with a bona fide medical condition."

Under Naishtat's bill, you wouldn't even have to be sick to legally smoke pot. The bill simply says a person would require a 'written or oral statement' from a doctor that 'thje potential benefits of marijuana would likely outweigh the health risks for a particular patient.'

But the Texas Medical Association says it does not believe that marijuana is a legitimate narcotic for the treatment of disease or disease symptoms, and TMA President Dr. Josie Williams says her organization will not support Naishtat's proposal.

"We have no idea what dosage marijuana would be needed," she says. "There seems to be a huge variation in the potency and quality of what patients would actually get. There is no information on how the impact of marijuana on a patient varies with the patient's weight," she said.

She said marijuana would still be illegal under federal law, and even though Naishtat's bill protects doctors from state prosecution, they would still be breaking the law.

Dr. Williams said there would be no controls on where the patient would get the marijuana, allowing the patient to obtain it from street dealers.

"It is still very dangerous to use it in an over the street, illegal way," Dr. Williams said. The bill does not set up any marijuana production or distribution activities, meaning patients with marijuana 'prescriptions' would have to buy the drug on the illegal market.

Doctors and activists have long argued about the value of marijuana, hashish, and other herbal substances in the treatment of disease and the lessening of pain.

A handful of states, including California, have attempted to legalize medical marijuana, with mixed results.

Dr. Williams says she wants to see a full and peer reviewed examination of the medical use of marijuana conducted by the American Medical Association before she would support any effort to consider marijuana to be a medically valuable substance.

Storm Crow · #4 (**permalink**) 12-14-2008, 04:58 PM

Medical marijuana debate to return | argusleader.com | Argus Leader

November 23, 2008

Medical marijuana debate to return

Proponents of new state law cite support in '06 election

TERRY WOSTER
twoster@midco.net

PIERRE - Advocates of a medical marijuana law in South Dakota, buoyed by 48 percent support for an initiated measure in 2006, are preparing to ask the next Legislature to debate the issue.

If the Legislature would take up the issue, its members would have an influence on the final form of a law allowing marijuana to be used by patients undergoing cancer treatment, dealing with glaucoma or experiencing severe or chronic pain or nausea, said Bob Newland of Hermosa.

If lawmakers don't take advantage of the opportunity to help craft such a law, it likely will be taken to the ballot, where it lost in the 2006 general election by a 52.3 to 47.7 margin, Newland said.

"That 48 percent is a pretty big hammer to take to the Legislature," he said.

"They can be involved in writing the final law."

The 2005 Legislature killed a medical-marijuana bill. After that, Newland and others went to the ballot with an initiated measure in 2006.

The 2005 bill, sponsored by Rep. Gerald Lange, D-Madison, failed on an 11-1-committee vote.

Opposition from attorney general

Attorney General Larry Long's staff opposed the bill in 2005, arguing that it would open the door for more illegal marijuana use and noting that even if South Dakota passed such a law, growth, possession and use of marijuana still would be illegal under federal law.

Asked on Friday for the attorney general's current views on medical marijuana, Sara Rabern of Long's staff said, "Larry said his opposition has not changed."

Newland said he's convinced that if the issue returns to the ballot, voters will approve it. That makes it likely that legislators will be more receptive to a real debate over the issue than happened in 2005, he said. He also said in written updates on the issue that advocates will have "medical cannabis patients and their doctors ready to testify in legislative hearings.

Lange said he introduced the 2005 bill at the request of a constituent who failed to appear to testify.

"I was left hanging out to dry at the committee," Lange said. '

"At the time, I collected quite a bit of evidence about the issue. I'm not likely to invest a lot of time on it again ... I think the mood (of legislators) is probably about the same as it was then."

Arguments for and against proposal

Under the proposal, a patient could use the substance if a doctor signed a recommendation saying that cannabis use would benefit the patient. The 2006 initiative limited a qualifying patient to no more than six marijuana plants and one ounce of usable marijuana.

During the 2006 campaign, a Hermosa woman and veteran of the Gulf War said marijuana relieved "the deep muscle pain that is caused by my exposure to nerve gas" during that war. Valerie Hannah wrote the ballot-pamphlet arguments in favor of the initiative. She said that complete protection from law enforcement wouldn't be assured until federal law changed, but 99 percent of marijuana arrests are state or local, so the initiative would "almost completely remove the chance that patients will be imprisoned for treating our illnesses."

Hughes County Sheriff Mike Leidholt wrote the opposing arguments. He said surveys of New Jersey and California high-school students indicated 60 percent said fear of getting in trouble with the law was a major deterrent to drug use.

"There are many other options for pain management that are legal and have met the stringent standards of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration)," Leidholt wrote. "Any attempt to legitimize the use of marijuana for any purpose will cause more use and abuse of the drug and increases in the societal problems associated with drug use."

Newland sees the issue as one of giving suffering patients access to medication.

Reach reporter Terry Woster at 605-224-2760. __________________

Storm Crow · #5 (**permalink**) 12-14-2008, 05:26 PM

Michigan's marijuana law may nudge Wisconsin | Postcrescent.com | Appleton Post-Crescent

Michigan's marijuana law may nudge Wisconsin

Residents' vote clears illegal drug for medical purposes

By Malavika Jagannathan • Gannett Wisconsin Media • November 8, 2008

GREEN BAY — People who support using marijuana for medical purposes in Wisconsin hope a Michigan proposition could have a ripple effect in the Badger state.

On Election Day, a two-thirds majority in Michigan voted for the proposition, which would allow people with serious or terminal illnesses to use marijuana if certified by a doctor. The law allows patients to possess 2.5 ounces of marijuana; they would receive a state ID card.
The law only recognizes patients with identification cards or their equivalent given out by states that also allow medical marijuana.
It's legal according to Michigan law, but federal law still prohibits the drug, even for medicinal purposes. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state laws allowing the use don't provide immunity from federal prosecution.
"The federal government has been hostile to these laws," said Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, D.C.-based group that lobbied for the Michigan law. "But a quarter of the country now allows it."
Twelve states and Michigan allow severely ill patients to use marijuana in their treatment.
Gary Storck, director of a nonprofit lobbying organization called Madison NORML, said he thinks the Great Lakes states would take their cue from Michigan.
Unlike Michigan, where citizens can place ballot referendums, a Wisconsin law would have to go through the Legislature and receive the governor's signature or be placed on a ballot for a referendum.
The Wisconsin Nurses Association and the Wisconsin Public Health Association support the legalization of medical marijuana.
Malavika Jagannathan writes for the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

A lot of folks are all saying the same thing! But all this means is that we have to double our efforts to get it legal, state by state! The more states with MMJ (or thinking of it) the better! We need to get and keep Obama's attention on this! Here's where to start-

http://change.gov/page/s/ofthepeople

Granny

freetolive · #6 (**permalink**) 12-14-2008, 11:32 PM

MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL PROPOSED IN OHIO
by Anton Hepler, News Staff Reporter, (Source:Mount Vernon News)

Ohio
-------
COLUMBUS - Ohio Sen. Tom Roberts, D-Dayton, unveiled details of the Ohio Medical Compassion Act on Tuesday, which if adopted, "would allow patients to use medicinal cannabis through a regulated system of quality health care."

If enacted, Ohio would join 12 other states that have currently de-criminalized the use of medicinal marijuana.

According to Roberts, the legislation would allow qualified patients and primary caregivers to use medicinal cannabis through a cardholder system.

Tonya Davis, a medicinal marijuana user who assisted in drafting the bill, said that under the proposed legislation, only a patient with a medical condition or illness that is sufficiently serious or debilitating, and who has the approval of his or her medical practitioner, will be able to use cannabis. Davis suffers from a host of debilitating medical conditions, including domestic violence-induced scoliosis, and is confined to a wheelchair.

"It's time that Ohio just look at the science and with it being well regulated, hopefully ... we'll be able to protect the patients more," Davis told the News.

Roberts' proposed legislation would call on the Ohio Departments of Health and Agriculture to establish an advisory board to regulate the use of medicinal marijuana. The program would be run under a cardholder system, and the board would be responsible for reviewing the use of cannabis in cases of debilitated medical conditions, reviewing applications for registry identification cards and providing recommendations for the safe growing and use of medical cannabis.

"After talking with Tonya [Davis] on and off for the last two years, I've had the opportunity to meet people who've had these debilitating conditions that this kind of medical treatment could help," Roberts told the News. "When crafting this bill, we took the best practices from across the country and put them into the Ohio Medical Compassion Act."

Additionally, Davis said, the bill would prohibit cardholders from performing tasks under the influence that would constitute negligence or malpractice, possessing or using on school grounds or correctional facilities, and driving under the influence.

The bill would also prohibit the smoking of marijuana in public and would not require employers to accommodate the use of cannabis in the workplace. It also establishes that a patient may not possess more than 200 grams of marijuana and 12 mature plants for personal use.

Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, told the News that if passed, the new law should not be that problematic since Ohio is already a de-criminalized state.

"These patients should be protected from going into the justice system any further than an initial arrest," said St. Pierre. "At the prosecutorial level, [prosecutors] should be able to take a deep breath, look at the law, and in most cases, if the person complied with the [medicinal] law, then these individuals will not go any further through the criminal justice system. Society at this point realizes that for a person who is sick and dying, a jail cell should not be a prescription."

St. Pierre said that Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan all have similar legislation pending voter approval.

For now, Roberts said he plans to formally introduce the bill in the Senate this morning, where it will soon be referred to committee for hearing. Roberts said Davis and others are expected to testify to the committee about the benefits of the proposed legislation.

"I'm just so humbled and touched that this is finally going to happen," said Davis. "I just hope I live to see this bill pass."

Source: NORML.ORG US OH: Medical Marijuana Bill Proposed in Ohio

More on this:
Ohio Medical Compassion Act 2008

Peace.