Posted on 02/27/2003 8:31:16 AM PST by robertpaulsen
HELENA -- The state House voted down a bill Wednesday that sponsor Rep. Ron Erickson, D-Missoula, said would have sent a message to the state that "pain counts."
House Bill 506, to allow patients to use medicinal marijuana for pain or illness relief, died in the House, 60-40. Opponents said the bill would send the wrong message -- that it's OK to use marijuana.
The bill's initial hearing in the House Judiciary Committee last week was emotional, as chronic pain sufferers and multiple sclerosis patients told the committee how cannabis had saved their livelihoods and in some cases, their lives.
Erickson told the House he wished all members could have heard that testimony.
"People of this country want to be able to deal with pain," Erickson said. "They want to deal with pain with medicinal marijuana."
Nine states have adopted medicinal marijuana laws, including Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Oregon.
Opponents said the bill would make the substance more accessible to children and move the state too close to legalization.
The committee last week passed the bill, 13-5, but on Wednesday some of those who approved the bill in committee voted against it on the floor.
Rep. Michael Lange, R-Billings, cast one of those votes. Proponents' emotional testimony moved him to vote in favor of the bill last week, he said, but he changed his vote on the House floor, partly because of the tentative passage Wednesday of a bill that seeks to prevent pain in aborted fetuses.
"I watched almost half of this body vote against a bill that I honestly believe goes for pain reduction," he said. "If what we're boiling things down to are the politics of the day, I have to be consistent with my own party."
Rep. Jesse Laslovich, D-Anaconda, called Lange's explanation a political game and "nothing but an emphatic cop-out."
Like many other supporters, Laslovich told the House that the bill is restrictive. The bill would have made candidates annually apply for identification cards that register them as a medicinal marijuana users and would allow patients only 1 ounce of cannabis or 15 marijuana plants. They could not smoke in public or drive under the influence.
"I would hope we could allow people in pain an option," Laslovich said.
60-40. Not even close.
You're a strange one! 80-20 or even 70-30 would've been "not even close" not the 60-40 that it was.
What's that line they always tell us, "if you don't like the laws, vote for those that will change them"? Kind of hard when your represetative is intimidated into following "party line" and not voting for what he says he wanted. But that's exactly the strategy of the drug warriors - intimidate and lie.
And the "60-40 = not even close" is typical nonsense by a typical baiter.
Uhhhh...This particular piece of legislation was about marijuana.
They certainly are more concerned about 'sending the wrong message' than they are about people in pain.
Sounds like you don't think the legally elected representatives of the people of Montana are capable of making a decision through the legislative process for their constituents who put them there in the first place. Maybe you would like to impose your views on them instead?
Not me; I want Montana to make its own decisions---and the 18 states that have medical marijuana laws to be free to live by their own decisions free of federal interference.
Not me; I want Montana to make its own decisions---and the 18 states that have medical marijuana laws to be free to live by their own decisions without federal interference.
He then witnessed the Democrats voting as a bloc to try to defeat a different bill that was seeking to prevent pain in aborted fetuses.
It was after this Democratic party-line vote that he adopted the attitude of, "if you're going to turn this into a political issue rather than a conscience issue, then I'll just vote with my party."
Sounds to me like that Democrats weren't worried about the pain in aborted fetuses, just the pain that marijuana relieves. They blew it.
Not quite the same thing. Put marijuana through the same testing and so forth that the drugs you mentioned have been put through, then you'd have a case.
Where are the medical studies that prove marijuana is a pain killer? Why not lobby some medical groups to run the same type of tests with marijuana they do with other drugs. Once that is done, why not lobby the FDA to run marijuana through its usual process for any drug?
Go through the channels instead of trying an end run. You'll be more successful in this as well as in all of life.
What testing have morphine and related opiates been put through?
I agree with you. This is what appeared to happen in this case. Previous posts seemed to suggest that the legislative process was somehow flawed because the outcome was different than what the poster would have liked to have seen.
BTW thanks for the medical lesson. I've been a physician for 24 years now and have my share of trying to manage and consult on chronic pain patients. Although my original post about this topic was concerning the legislative/state's rights line, I can tell you that tetrahydrocannabinol is not a particularly helpful analgesic.
"the available evidence from animal and human studies indicates that cannabinoids can have a substantial analgesic effect." - Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base (1999), Institute of Medicine
With all due respect, I'll take the Institute of Medicine's word over yours (see post #18).
As post 18 pointed out, your assertion is incorrect.
My main concern is that unqualified statesmen are posturing and making decisions that affect the quality of life of hundreds/thousands of sick people. They have the data, they have the testimonials of the people, and they made a decision based upon preconceived notions. I (personally) would be a whole lot happier if these decisions were left to the FDA, and the AMA. Basically non-political organizations who have the best interests of the population at heart, rather than posturing for votes.
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