Action Is Needed In Washington State To Protect Medical Marijuana Patients’ Rights

By Anthony Martinelli, Sensible Washington

Washington State’s House of Representatives, in a borderline repulsive move, has given approval to House Bill 2149, a proposal to effectively gut the state’s current medical cannabis law. The measure was supported primarily by Democrats.

Under this proposal, all collective gardens would be outlawed, in place of a system where only those already registered with the state as recreational cannabis retail outlets can distribute medical cannabis (despite these outlets not being open yet); this would put medical cannabis under the same tax rate as recreational cannabis – 25% at three different levels – which would greatly increase prices.

House Bill 2149 would force all current and future medical cannabis patients to join a mandatory patient registry – putting their name and address on a list – in order to be provided with any legal protection; this is a clear invasion of privacy, and a safety risk given that medical cannabis remains federally outlawed.

The proposal would also – for no legitimate reason – reduce the amount of cannabis a patient can possess from 24 ounces to 3, and the amount of cannabis they can cultivate from 15 plants, to 3.

The measure now moves to the Senate, where its passage would send it to Governor Inslee for consideration.

If you live in Washington State, support medical cannabis, and don’t want a loss of protection for patients, please take a stand against House Bill 2149, and spread awareness about the need to stop its passage!

You can look up your district’s senators by clicking here; please urge them to oppose this unnecessary, unasked for and regressive proposal.