PROVIDENCE � Advocates for people with debilitating conditions who use medical marijuana criticized proposals Tuesday to reduce the number of plants a caregiver can possess in Rhode Island.

PROVIDENCE � Advocates for people with debilitating conditions who use medical marijuana criticized proposals Tuesday to reduce the number of plants a caregiver can possess in Rhode Island, asserting it fails to consider the amount required to produce the oils and tinctures that effectively manage patients� pain.

�These patients are feeling relief from terrible, painful conditions that they have been living with for years,� JoAnne Leppanen, executive director of the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition, testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee. �This program is actually prolonging the lives of people who would not be with us otherwise.�

She said �often, the most effective deliver of this medicine to the patients is through� oils, tinctures and topical creams.

�You need a lot of plant matter to make those oils,� she said. �And this is not the time to be talking about a reduction in the plants.�

Several people spoke about provisions in a bill Sen. Maryellen Goodwin, D-Providence, submitted on behalf of Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin�s office.

The bill, which if it became law would take effect Sept. 1, would require all medical-marijuana dispensary cardholders to apply for a cultivation certificate that would need to be renewed annually with the state Department of Health. The bill proposes various limits on number of plants a caregiver and patient may possess and the number of ounces of usable marijuana.

Joee Lindbeck, representing the attorney general�s office, said the attorney general supports the medical marijuana program. But the bill has been submitted after meeting with representatives of medical-marijuana dispensaries, caregivers and patients and hearing what various departments and law enforcement have reported.

�There are many things that that [medical-marijuana law] has brought in unintended consequences,� Lindbeck told the committee. She said one concern is potential for a surplus of marijuana ending up on the black market.

She also said work has been under way on some new language for the bill.

Nancy DeNuccio, chairwoman of the Ocean State Prevention Alliance, spoke in support of the proposal, saying it demonstrates �compassion to the legitimate patients using medical marijuana by increasing the usable marijuana� from 2.5 ounces to 5 ounces and by �changing the possession of 12 mature plants and 12 seedlings to 3 and 3.� She asserted it provides safeguards, greater inspections, which address what she called unintended consequences of unregulated grow sites.

The bill would require national criminal background checks on applications for a primary caregiver. It would also require the Department of Health to maintain a 24-hour automated verification system for the police to verify a cardholder�s validity.

Another bill, sponsored by Sen. Michael J. McCaffrey, the committee chairman, would limit patients or caregivers in residential neighborhoods to three mature marijuana plants that they may grow, unless they are located 1,000 feet from a school. Patients and caregivers would also have to agree to certain inspections and background checks. The bill would authorize medical-marijuana dispensaries to increase their inventory from 150 to 400 plants, with no more than 200 mature marijuana plants.

A proposal to fully legalize marijuana in Rhode Island for all adults and to tax and regulate it like liquor sales has been introduced in each of the past few years. The bill, whose prime sponsor is Sen. Joshua Miller, D-Cranston, would bar anyone under age 21 from possessing marijuana. It would establish �regulated marijuana retail distribution,� imposing taxes �at both the wholesale and retail level.�

Several people held signs that urged �end prohibition� and �regulate marijuana.�

The state attorney general opposed the bill, asserting: �I submit that enactment of this legislation would bring our state down a slippery slope and would be devastating to our youth who are the future leaders of this state.�

The bills were held for further study.