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Medical Marijuana: How Will The Law Work?
Q&A
May 05, 2012|By NANCY SCHOEFFLER,
[email protected], The Hartford Courant
After nearly 10 hours of debate Friday night, the state Senate voted 21-13 to approve a bill legalizing medical marijuana. The House of Representatives approved the measure 91-56 on April 25. The governor still needs to sign the bill for it to become law. Here's how it will work:
Q: Who would be eligible to use medical marijuana, if the proposed legislation becomes law?
A:
To qualify, a patient would need to be certified by a physician as having a debilitating medical condition cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity, epilepsy, cachexia, wasting syndrome, Crohn's disease or post-traumatic stress disorder or any medical condition, medical treatment or disease approved by the Department of Consumer Protection and a Board of Physicians that would be established. Patients would have to be at least 18. Prison inmates would not qualify, regardless of their medical condition.
Q: What about other medical conditions for which patients could benefit from medical marijuana?
A: An eight-member Board of Physicians would be established, including physicians and surgeons who are board-certified in one of the following specialties: neurology, pain medicine, pain management, medical oncology, psychiatry, infectious disease, family medicine or gynecology. The board would be able to determine additional medical conditions, medical treatments or diseases that qualify for the palliative use of marijuana. A process to petition the board and to comment on additions under consideration would be established.
Q: How would patients obtain medically approved marijuana?
A: Marijuana would be dispensed only by pharmacists specifically licensed to dispense it to patients with a certificate from a physician. A qualifying patient and his or her primary caregiver would be required to register with the Department of Consumer Protection. A primary caregiver who has ever been convicted of violating any law pertaining to a controlled substance would not be permitted to register.
Q: What would a physician have to do to prescribe marijuana?
A: The physician would be required to make a medically reasonable assessment that it would be in the patient's best interest, based on the patient's medical history and medical condition, in the course of a bona fide physician-patient relationship. The physician who diagnosed the qualifying patient also would have to explain the potential risks and benefits of palliative marijuana to the patient or, if the patient lacks legal capacity, to the patient's parent, guardian or other legal custodian. Physicians could not have any financial interest in a pharmacy licensed to dispense marijuana.
Q: Would every pharmacy in the state dispense medical marijuana?
A: No. Licensed pharmacies would need to obtain a dispensary license from the commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection. The commissioner would determine the maximum number of licenses appropriate to meet the needs of qualifying patients in the state. The commissioner also would develop regulations on how often pharmacies would have to renew their dispensary licenses (at least every two years), licensing fees and areas where dispensaries could not be located, based on the criteria governing the location of retail liquor premises.
Q: Who would grow the marijuana?
A: The consumer protection commissioner would license producers to cultivate marijuana and distribute it within the state. At any one time, the number of licensed producers would have to be at least three and not more than 10. Producers would have to pay a nonrefundable application fee of at least $25,000 for a producer license, and licenses would have to be renewed at least every five years. Producers would have to demonstrate that they could grow pharmaceutical-grade marijuana in a secure indoor facility and also have the ability to prevent diversion or theft of the marijuana that they grow.
Q: Would patients be permitted to grow their own marijuana?
A: No.
Q: Does the legislation require health insurers to cover medical marijuana?
A: No. The bill explicitly says it does not.
Q: Would patients be able to use medical marijuana anywhere?
A: No. The law would prohibit ingesting marijuana in a bus, a school bus or any moving vehicle; in the workplace; on any school grounds or any public or private school, dormitory, college or university property; in any public place; or in the presence of anyone under 18. It also would prohibit any use of palliative marijuana that endangers the health or well-being of another person, other than the patient or primary caregiver.
Q: How much marijuana could a patient have on hand?
A: No more than a one-month supply.
Q: Could a landlord refuse to rent to someone or take action against a tenant because the tenant uses medical marijuana?
A: No.
Q: Could a school refuse to enroll someone because the person qualifies to use medical marijuana?
A: No.
Q: Could an employer decide not to hire someone or decide to fire that person because the person uses medical marijuana?
A: No.
Q: What are the main arguments in favor of the bill?
A: Some patients with debilitating conditions say they have tried numerous prescription drugs without success, including some medicines that have serious side effects, and that only medical marijuana can offer them relief. Advocates of legalizing medical marijuana also cite its low cost and say that doctors and patients should be given the option to use this natural alternative, which can be taken in various forms, including edibles, tinctures, vaporization and topical creams; in most cases, smoking is the least desirable method of delivery. Supporters of the bill note that the federal government has not gone after patients, growers, caregivers or dispensaries that are in strict compliance with state and local laws. Erik A. Williams, executive director of Connecticut NORML, also says that teen marijuana usage has dropped in every state where medical marijuana has been legalized and that the message to young people would be that Connecticut is a compassionate state.
Q: What are the main arguments against the bill?
A: The Connecticut State Medical Society contends that more research is needed to adequately determine how well medical marijuana works. It also cites concerns about quality control and standardization, as well as contamination with pesticides and microbes, and argues that patients cannot be assured a reliable and reproducible dose. U.S. Attorney David Fein says the state law would authorize conduct contrary to federal law and undermine the federal government's efforts to regulate the possession, manufacture and trafficking of controlled substances. Fein said that the U.S. Department of Justice would not focus on seriously ill individuals who use marijuana, but that it would pursue growing facilities and dispensaries that would be violating federal law. The legislation's opponents also say that marijuana is a dangerous drug and that legalizing its use would send the wrong message to young people.
Q: Is this the first time that Connecticut legislators have tried to pass a medical marijuana bill?
A: No. Lawmakers passed a medical marijuana bill in 2007, but Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed it. Last year, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy backed a medical marijuana bill that would have allowed qualifying patients to grow their own marijuana for medicinal use but it failed to become law, although lawmakers did approve the decriminalization of a small amount of marijuana.
Q: Where does the proposed law stand at this point?
A: If Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signs it, the law will take effect Oct. 1. Provisions on registering patients, caregivers, pharmacies and producers and on establishing a Board of Physicians will take effect immediately.
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