State voters will decide Tuesday on a proposition to reform state drug laws and allow physicians to recommend marijuana to seriously ill patients.
Initiative 685, “The Drug Medicalization and Prevention Act of 1997,” models itself after an Arizona drug-reform initiative passed last November by 65 percent of the electorate. The initiative proposes the following changes in state drug laws:
- Requires that any person who commits a violent crime under the influence of drugs serve 100 percent of his or her sentence.
- Permits doctors to recommend Schedule I controlled substances such as marijuana to seriously and terminally ill patients. Physicians would be required to exercise professional judgment in recommending Schedule I substances, to document that scientific research supports the use of the substance in question, to obtain the written opinion of a second physician that the use of the substance is appropriate, and to obtain the written consent of the patient.
- Provides that persons convicted of non-violent drug possession offenses successfully undergo court supervised drug treatment programs and probation instead of being sentenced to prison.
- Requires that nonviolent persons currently in prison for personal possession or use of illegal drugs, and not serving a concurrent sentence for another crime, or previously convicted under any habitual criminal statute in any jurisdiction of the United States, be made eligible for immediate parole and drug treatment, education, and community service.
Tacoma physician Rob Killian, who filed the initiative this spring, said that he expects I-685 to receive the support of a majority of voters Tuesday.
Unlike California’s successful medical marijuana initiative, I-685 does not include provisions allowing for the cultivation of marijuana for medical use. The initiative solely allows physicians to advise a patient that marijuana may help to alleviate the pain and suffering of serious illnesses. Backers of the initiative contend that patients facing marijuana charges will be able to present a successful “defense of medical necessity” if they have a valid doctor’s recommendation to use marijuana.
“While I-685 fails to go as far as California’s Proposition 215 to secure the rights of bona fide medical marijuana patients to be free from state criminal sanctions, it does confer some important legal protections for seriously ill medical marijuana users,” said NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup, Esq. “In addition, provisions requiring individuals convicted of personal possession of controlled substances to receive treatment or probation rather than incarceration will benefit thousands of Washington marijuana smokers who might otherwise be sent to jail.”
“On election day, remember that I-685 is really about who decides — whether decisions about health and treatment will be made by individuals and their doctors, or by politicians and government bureaucrats,” Killian summarized.
For more information, please contact either Paul Armentano or Keith Stroup of NORML @ (202) 483-5500. Dr. Rob Killian may be reached by e-mail at: RKillian@aol.com.