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News Release |
1001
Connecticut Ave, NW - Ste 710 - Washington, DC 20036 |
January 25, 2001
Medical Marijuana Bills
Introduced In Wyoming And Arkansas
Bills Pending In Several Other States
Washington,
DC: Two bills allowing for seriously ill patients to use marijuana as
a part of their medical treatment have been recently introduced in Wyoming and
Arkansas.
In Wyoming, Senate File 99 would
allow patients who possess a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana to treat
cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, a chronic or debilitating disease, cachexia, severe
pain, severe nausea, seizures, muscle spasms, multiple sclerosis and Crohn's
disease. The legislation would allow for the cultivation of marijuana by
patients.
"It is extremely shortsighted to
step between the doctor and the patient," said Sen. Keith Goodenough,
(D-Casper), who introduced the bill. "If a person is dying and
becomes 'addicted,' is that a problem?"
The bill has been referred to the
Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Goodenough has been asked by the committee to
draft amendments to control and supply marijuana to patients.
Committee member Sen. Rae Lynn Job,
(D-Rock Springs), spoke in favor of the bill despite the committee's request to
amend the bill to account for distribution to patients.
"I have known people who have
had these conditions, and I would give them anything," Sen. Job said.
"I would rather try to fix something than throw it out."
In Arkansas, House Bill 1303,
introduced by Rep. Jim Lendall (D-District 52), would allow patients who possess
a doctor's recommendation and who have registered with the state, to cultivate
and use marijuana to treat cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, a chronic or debilitating
disease, cachexia, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures, muscle spasms, multiple
sclerosis or any other debilitating disease.
Patients can possess up to three
mature marijuana plants, four immature marijuana plants and one ounce of usable
marijuana per each mature plant.
Medical marijuana bills have already
been introduced this year in Texas, Connecticut and South Dakota. The
South Dakota bill, was killed in committee on Wednesday. Medical marijuana
bills are expected to be introduced shortly in Maryland, Florida and New Mexico.
"Legislators across the country
are beginning to listen to their constituents, who favor the medical use of
marijuana by large majorities," said Keith Stroup, NORML Executive
Director. "We are expecting several new states will approve medical
marijuana this session."
For more information, please
contact Keith Stroup, NORML Executive Director at (202) 483-5500. For more
information on pending legislation, please visit, http://capwiz.com/norml2.
NORML Launches New Online Legislative
Tracking System;
Affiliated Web Sites Can Access The Program For Free
Washington,
DC: NORML announces the launch of a new legislative tracking program
that will allow visitors to NORML's web site, and affiliated web sites, to write
their members of Congress, state legislators, governors and local media
representatives when a piece of marijuana legislation has been introduced.
The addition of Capwiz 6.0 will allow NORML and its supporters to track both
state and federal legislation, while providing action alerts to notify
supporters of pending bills in their state. The site is available at http://capwiz.com/norml2.
The new program will allow NORML
supporters and other friends of marijuana law reform to apply pressure on their
state elected officials when a bill is introduced in their state. All a
visitor to the site has to do is enter their five-digit zip code or address, and
the program will identify their state and federal representatives, alert them of
any pending marijuana-related state or federal legislation, and provide sample
letters to e-mail to their legislators.
Letters from constituents can often
be a deciding factor in how a legislator will vote, making it imperative that
marijuana law reform advocates take full advantage of this opportunity.
NORML recognizes that a program of
this magnitude is too costly for many small organizations and individuals.
Therefore NORML has provided an icon to link directly to NORML's Capwiz site
that can be inserted on any web page free of charge. To insert this link
on your site, simply choose an icon at http://capwiz.com/norml2/dbq/stickers/?command=stickers,
and copy the provided code onto your site.
There are currently marijuana-related
bills pending in Arkansas, Connecticut, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, South
Dakota, Texas, Virginia, and Wyoming. Action alerts have already been
posted on the web site for these states.
For more information, contact Kris
Krane at kris@norml.org, or call 202
483-5500.
Belgium Government Agrees To Decriminalize Marijuana
Brussels,
Belgium: Last week, the Belgian government agreed to decriminalize the
personal use of marijuana.
According to the new regulations,
citizens will now be allowed to cultivate and smoke marijuana for personal use,
but will not be allowed to sell it or buy it in the country. Citizens who
flagrantly smoke marijuana in public will be open to possible prosecution under
Belgian "social nuisance" laws.
Paul Geerts, a spokesman for the
Consumer Affairs and Health Ministry, said the government will not allow for
marijuana to be purchased in cafes, as is the practice in the neighboring
Netherlands, but stated people who wished to obtain marijuana could "grow
it for yourself or ... buy it in the Netherlands (about an hour away from the
Belgian border)."
"This is a policy that is being
followed in many of the countries in the European Union," said Belgian
Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. "We are not penalizing individual
users of cannabis, but we are concentrating on production, distribution or
problematic use."
For more information, please
contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director at (202) 483-8751.
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