Rhode Island Budget Problems Dominate Legislative Year
June 22, 2007
Boston Globe
After an exhaustive budget debate, lawmakers in the House and Senate scrambled Thursday and Friday to address a host of other policy concerns.
Lawmakers overrode a Carcieri veto to make the state's medical marijuana program permanent. Rhode Island became the eleventh state in the country last year to legalize marijuana for pain relief, but the program was set to expire on June 30.
Under the program, patients with cancer, AIDS and other debilitating illnesses can possess up to 12 marijuana plants and 2.5 usable ounces of the drug to ease their symptoms.
"The fact that this override passed by an even larger margin than the original override last year says everything you need to know about how well the law has worked, and how completely uncontroversial it's been," Ray Warren, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a written statement.
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