Medical Marijuana Vetoed By Connecticut Governor

Governor Jodi Rell vetoed legislation today that would have made it legal for some patients suffering severe, chronic pain to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana.

Governor Rell said that the bill "forces law-abiding citizens to seek out drug dealers to make a purchase and there is no provision for monitoring the use or proof of its effectiveness. Rell also said that the American Medical Association, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, American Glaucoma Society, American Academy of Opthamology, and American Cancer Society opposed using marijuana for medical purposes. Id.

I spent some time in the Connecticut capitol building as this bill was debated. Pamphlets were circulating the building from whitehousedrugpolicy.gov. One pamphlet says that " [s]imply put, the smoked form of marijuana is not considered modern medicine."

I also came across a circulating letter from Representative Toni Boucher, who opposed the measure. Her letter, which I do not know where to find on the internet, states that she

"first began work on this issue after a very emotional and tearful appeal from a mother and father who had found their handsome talented, young son dead from a drug overdose at home in his bed. They and countless others warned that this measure would be devastating to our state."

This is how medical marijuana is fought. Allusions to heartbreaking stories - but there is certainly no tie-in here to marijuana.

She also cites many studies that show "the facts are not there" to suggest marijuana has any effect on reducing pain.

Could this not be determined by the chronically suffering patient? If it didn't work, are we afraid then that these people would sell their supply?

She also contends that Yale and Connecticut medical societies have found marijuana to damage the brain, heart, immune system and lungs - among other things. "It also contains cancer causing compounds."

How about cigarettes?

A proponent of the bill, Penny Bacchiochi, stated in the article that "I don't see how we could pass the same bill in the same form while she is governor,". See above

I also came across a letter from Ms. Bacchiochi - short and to the point. She states in it that Massachusetts recently won a legal battle "to allow the University of Massachusetts to move forward with the cannabis research", after a proponent group sought to conduct federally funded studies. She also noted that much research has found marijuana to have palliative effects.

To visit Governor Rell's website, please go here. To see the bill text and so on, go here.