Editorial: Cheers And Jeers
April 14, 2008
The Newport Daily News
CHEERS to the sponsors and supporters of a bill that would finally make sense out of Rhode Island's 2-year-old medical-marijuana law.
About 360 people in the state currently have legal permission to smoke marijuana to alleviate their medical symptoms. But the law doesn't adequately provide a legal way for them to obtain the drug. These patients or a designated, state-approved provider are allowed to grow up to 12 cannabis plants — but few people have the means, the knowledge and the security to do so.
So instead, many of these ailing people have been forced to buy marijuana from illegal dealers — exactly the outcome we predicted in a January 2006 editorial.
The situation is so ridiculous it's almost hard to believe. The state is encouraging sick people to put themselves in serious danger by consorting with criminals. Some have been threatened and hurt as a result. And the government looks foolish and hypocritical because it effectively encourages illegal drug dealing.
In an effort to stop this absurdity, Rep. Thomas C. Slater, D-Providence, has put forward legislation that would allow the state to license up to three centers to provide medical marijuana to those with permission to use it.
Of course, the distribution centers would have to be strictly controlled and secured against theft. But such a system would be far better than the current situation, which is no system at all. | 
