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2 New movies
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Aloha Oahu ASA ...

From Pam Lichty of Drug Policy Forum.

Aloha Folks -

Sorry for the delay in getting this report out to you. I was waiting for some legal input on the Senate draft, and I never got it. So this is my report from the front lines. As far as action goes: there is no testimony taken for Conference Committees, but you can send emails, faxes or make phone calls about what you'd like to see in the final version (or of course that could be "none of the above.") I'll put the list of the Senate & House conferees at the end of this post.

As some of you know, the Senate and House conferees met Tues to discuss SB 1458, SD2, HD 3. I was there. It was about a 10 min. discussion where the spokespeople for each chamber summarized their position. They have scheduled a reconvening for Tues. the 26th at 1:30 to discuss further (they have to decide what to do by midnite on the 28th so I'm assuming they will have already figured out what they're going to do before then behind closed doors.)

Here's what they said.
Sen Green said: This is the furthest any bill on this topic has gone. He said there have been 3 drafts so far on the Sen. side and thinks there will be many more. . Because this bill originated in the Senate, they do the conference draft (s) which the House then responds to. (The CD 1 is NOT available on line; I have a copy or you can pick one up at the capitol from any of the conferees, but it will be old news soon.) The Senate CD 1 , Green said, does the following (compared to the last House version):

Senate position:
- Removes "pilot" designation for single dispensary site; instead sets up one on Maui then it is "implemented in all counties within two years thereafter."
- Sets $20,000 licensing fee (renewable yearly at $20K)
- Sets $100 "administrative fee" for visiting out-of-state patients
- Prohibits "intrastate (within the state) transportation of mmj once all centers are established in the counties" [we are researching exactly what this means]
- changes am't of permissible mmj
- deletes language which wouldn't permit smoking of mmj (only edibles, ointments, etc.)
- deletes language about FDA approval
- deletes task force to help department w/ rulemaking
- deletes 5 year pilot program requirement
- sets effective date of Aug. 7, 2011 with program to be in place 1 year later
- Interestingly, Green did not say, but the CD1 says, the program will be in the Dept. of Health

Rep. Yamane said the House position is:
- they want a true pilot program
- want 1 location only
- don't want it to be automatically expanded to other counties after initial 2 years (or whatever time frame they put in for initial site.)
- want it to stay in Public Safety

At the end, Sen. Green said they are open to the Big Island being the initial site.

specific areas of concern:
- can pts/caregivers still grow their own?
- what does "intrastate" transportation language mean ? Can a pt. bring it from Waimanalo to HNL for instance?
- Why do we need a pilot project when NO other states have done a pilot program and they all have done multiple sites from the get go?
- What about equal access to a safe & legal supply from patients on a different island than where the first site is?
- Can language be added to address other issues e.g. clarifying the rules around transporting medicine or giving seeds or clones to a patient or is this not in line w/ senate or house rules on conferences?
- And the big question: is this bill going to help at all or is it just a way of delaying real solutions? (Bear in mind that bills from this session remain alive for next year and can be acted on from whatever committee they ended up in.)

Some very recent updates from elsewhere.:
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA — Mayor Vincent Gray announced that he will issue final regulations to implement the local D.C. medical marijuana law. As a result, five establishments will soon start selling marijuana to patients within a couple miles of Capitol Hill.





NEW JERSEY — The state health department announced the six organizations that will be growing and selling medical marijuana to patients in New Jersey.

MAINE — Eight dispensaries have received permits to sell marijuana to patients in Maine.

Here are the people to contact if you wish to (esp. Yamane and Green):

House conferees appointed: Yamane, Aquino, Keith-Agaran, M. Oshiro Co-Chairs; Ito, Riviere.

S Senate Conferees appointed: Green, Chair; Chun Oakland, Espero, Co-Chair(s); English, Shimabukuro.

Let them know what you think - esp. if you are their constituent.
aloha-pam

............................


--
Pamela G. Lichty, MPH
President
Drug Policy Forum of Hawai'i
P.O. Box 241042
Honolulu, HI 96824
Phone: 808 735-8001
Fax: 808 735-2971
Cell: 808 224-3056
[email protected]
www.dpfhi.org

Passing this along from Andrea. I am sorry for the delay in getting it to you all.

There is still time to call the Representatives on Tuesday morning. Please call if you have time. The Senate version is better, so calling the House is important.

Aloha Big Island ASA members,

Tuesday, April 26, 1:30 pm is the conference committee between the House and Senate to discuss SB 1458, SD2, HD3.
This is where the two committees come together and possibly come up with a bill that they can agree on.
The major problem is in the House with members advancing a far more restrictive and conservative version of the original bill SB 1458 such as a single dispensary site on Maui for 2 years leaving the Big Island and other islands in the cold for at least another two years.

This morning I phoned all the House Conference Committee members and ask you to phone them, too. I asked each of the reps secretaries if anyone had phoned them to date and all of them said I was the first one they spoke to in regard to SB1458, SD2, HD3, so this is very very bad.

Please phone the House committee members that will frame this bill tomorrow and tell them:
1. We do not support the single dispensary site on Maui because it is unfair to the patients on the other islands.
2. We do not support the $20,000 licensing fee for dispensaries which will bore on the backs of the patients.
3. We do not support the $100 administrative fee for visiting out of state patients as this is an unusually high amount for patients who are only going to be here for a short time and still need to take their medicine.
4. Allow in this bill for patients to be able to transport their medicine from between the islands as many patients travel to Oahu for medical treatment.
5. Tell them that you support the bill passed in the Senate SB 1458 SD 2, or something broader than the House version .
6. Any other thing you think will benefit the patients.

Also, tell them to read the testimony submitted from previous committee meetings. We, the patients, know what will serve our needs and we need our elected officials to represents our best interests.

Here are the phone numbers of the representatives that will be in the conference committee meeting:

Of course (80 Area Code

Yamane 586-6150
Aquino 586-6520
Keith-Agaran 586-6210
Oshiro, M. 586-6200
Ito 586-8470
Riviere 586-6380

Good luck,

Andrea, Co - Chair

Aloha Oahu ASA...
From Pam at Drug Policy Forum of Hawai'i

Hi Folks -
Well I went to the latest conference cmtee mtg today on SB 1458, looked over the proposed bill, and IMHO it's getting worse and worse. As at the mtg. last week, Senator Green presented the Senate draft. He did not have copies for the other conferees so they didn't have much info to go on.

Here's what he said:
He is concerned about abuse of the program as demonstrated by all the young people who have registered, He said that 50% of those on the Big Island are under age 30 and 500 people on the Big Island are under 21. Said he intends to "clean up the law."

He wants DOH to create a single dispensary based on where their analysis shows the medical need is highest. He says it should focus on those with cancer, m.s., neuromuscular disorders. The bill would therefore amend the list of qualifying conditions by deleting severe pain, severe nausea. and Crohn's disease. There's a a 60 day grace period so that those w/ a current card whose condition is no longer eligible have 2 months before they have to turn in their card since they no longer qualify.[!!!]

He said there will be a significant licensing fee of about $30K, an out of state rate of $100, and it will not address the transportation issue which he feels is not a core issue. He said Public Safety & DOH would have to "collaborate". Under his bill, DOH licenses the single pilot program dispensary and PSD retains the patient registry.

Rep. Yamane, speaking for the House, said he wants to "continue the discussion" since it's gotten this far. Wants to discuss some more about PSD vs. DOH. If 2 year pilot goes well, we would look at data and then proceed from there. Said some areas would be problematic for a dispensary site like Weed and Seed zones.

The draft bill itself shows: the pilot program shall be established "no later than Aug. 7, 2012." The specific site for the pilot will be "designated by the Governor."

It still prohibits mmj from being transported out of the island where the "compassion center" is located. In addition to the initial licensing fee of $30K, there shall be an annual fee of $25 K and an annual renewal fee in the same amount.

- licensee must be a non-profit entity
- edibles etc shall be regulated by DOH & the federal Food and Drug Administration. Sen. Green said last week that the FDA reference is coming out. [They would be unable to take part due to the federal scheduling of cannabis.]
- in addition to regular sales tax, an additional 15%. tax shall be assessed on "gross proceeds of sales."
- facility no closer than 600 yards from schools.
- a task force to advise the dept. on drafting rules is still included [altho last week, the Senate said they were removing it.]
- "The pilot project shall cease to exist no later than 2 years after date of implementation, unless the legislature authorizes its continuation or expansion prior to the expiration of the pilot program."

So there, you have it folks. Is this better than nothing? Not in my opinion. I think the Senate has bend over backwards to appease the voiced concerns of law enforcement and the House.

The next meeting of the conference cmtee is Thursday at 1:30. I suggest that you contact Senator Green's office and let him know your thoughts.

There are ways in which this bill would be worse than the current situation since only patients on one island would have access AND the types of eligible conditions would be severely curtailed.
See: http://www.kitv.com/news/27682393/detail.html

[email protected]
ph; 586-9385
fax 586-9391.

Thanks for hanging in there.....
aloha-
pam

--
Pamela G. Lichty, MPH
President
Drug Policy Forum of Hawai'i
P.O. Box 241042
Honolulu, HI 96824
Phone: 808 735-8001
Fax: 808 735-2971
Cell: 808 224-3056
[email protected]
www.dpfhi.org

CALL FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION!!!!!
MEDICAL CANNABIS PATIENTS UNDER ATTACK

Medical cannabis patients need to immediately and decisively take action to a proposed bill which could gut the state medical cannabis program and possibly disqualify more than 97% of the patients currently with blue cards.

No one, including advocates in the medical cannabis community, thought that SB 1458 which would have established state compassion centers (dispensaries) could become an absolute nightmare. Yet legislators, unresponsive to the expressed interests of patients, are currently modifying the original bill so dramatically that if passed and signed by the governor it will be the death knell to Hawai’i’s medical cannabis program.

During the past two months patients and advocacy organizations and groups from all over the state have submitted thoughtful testimony and testified before the legislative committees for a number of medical cannabis bills that would have eased the burden of growing and providing for patient needs. Only one bill is still under consideration.

SB 1458 when first passed in the Senate in February would have provided for six compassion centers on the Big Island. Certainly, it was not a perfect bill but with some amendments it could have helped patients with safe access and a reliable source to cannabis medicine.

When the bill moved to the House it was modified from a state- wide program to a five year pilot program on Maui with only one dispensary. Other islands would have to wait. That provision combined with the Senate version which included an extremely high 20K licensing fee, a 30% tax on sales and a $100 licensing fee for out of state visitors raised a red flag for most patients who have been waiting patiently for the legislature to pass an acceptable and comprehensive dispensary bill for many years. (Senator Green is proposing a 30K licensing fee, a 15% tax on gross sales, and still $100 to patients from out of state to get a temporary permit).

Other patient concerns were, also, being ignored such as the refusal to allow intra-state transportation of medicine and concerns patients had with keeping registration with Public Safety.

Then on April 26th the bill became a total nightmare when Senator Josh Green, M.D. (D-Kona and Kohala) taking the lead in a conference between Senators and Representatives to finalize the bill’s proposed amendments suggested to allow only patients with cancer, M.S. and neuromuscular disorders to qualify for medical cannabis. If this proposal passes and is signed by the governor those who no longer qualify would have two months before they had to turn in their blue card.

Justifying his position, Green stated that he was concerned about the abuse in the medical cannabis program. He cited with information provided by the Department of Public Safety that 50% of the Big Island patients were under the age of 30 and 500 were under the age of 21.

Andrea Tischler, co-chair of Big Island Chapter of Americans for Safe Access, an advocacy group working to improve BI patient’s medical rights, spoke to Green on Wednesday. In that conversation Green added that “no one under the 21 should be taking anything more than Tylenol” and doctors who recommend cannabis are mostly a bunch of ‘scum bags.’ For a doctor to refer to others in the same profession in such a manner is truly an eye opener.

To the medical cannabis community and the compassionate doctors who are open to recommending a safe, effective and proven medicine, the proposed amendments to the SB 1458 and the comments and attitudes of Senator Green cannot be accepted or tolerated for a minute.

This calls for immediate action by all BI cannabis patients, advocacy organizations and groups to defeat the vary bill which could have helped us. We must strongly address that the law abiding BI medical cannabis patients will not sit by idly and allow the suggested amendments to SD 1458 to pass the Legislature.

The next conference meeting is Thursday, April 28 at 1:30 pm. Time is extremely short. We urgently ask you to phone, fax and email Senator Josh Green now and tell him that you support the original version of SB 1458 and nothing more. The current proposals are completely unacceptable and we will not allow our legislators to turn a blind eye to the needs of the voting citizens who are medical cannabis patients of the State of Hawai’i.

Mahalo.

Andrea Tischler
Matthew Rifkin
Co-chairs
Big Island American’s for Safe Access



Call Senator Green: (80 586-9385
Fax: (80 586-9391
Email: [email protected]

Aloha Oahu ASA...
From Big Island ASA..
This message came in from the MUM Clinic and I wanted to pass it along.

It makes great points about why you should be allowed to chose cannabis as your medicine, and it should not matter what your age is.

As before, we urge you to contact Senator Green's office and share your personal experience and why his proposal is not helpful to patients.

Mahalo
Matt Rifkin


Please, please please call Senator Josh Green ( 808-586-9385) TODAY and complain about the the changes he is trying to make to the Medical Cannabis program in Hawaii. Tell him your age ( especially if you are 30 year old or younger) Why you choose Cannabis as your preferred pain medicine, and that you have rights as a patient.
As a patient you have:
* the right to considerate and respectful care
* the right to make decisions about the plan of care and course of treatment
* the right to refuse a recommended treatment and to be informed of the medical consequences of this action
* the right to other options of care and treatments.( One of which is to use Medical Cannabis)
* the right to every consideration of privacy. Case discussions,consultations,examination and treatment should be conducted to protect each patient"s privacy.
The list goes on visit www.aha.org/resource/pbillofrights.html and read all about why it is a private matter that you choose to use medical cannabis.
Please call him 808-586-9385 or e-mail him [email protected]
The changes he is proposing will effect all of you. The patient population must speak up NOW!!!
I am going to forward and e-mail from NORML for you to read as well.

Mahalo to all of you for your voices,
Sandy Webb RN
The MUM Clinic