Proponents of medical marijuana switch to ‘Plan B’ after defeat in Senate

Two members of the House of Delegates made a last-ditch effort to legalize the medical use of marijuana yesterday, but their chances of success before the General Assembly recesses on April 9 look doubtful since a key Senate committee killed a related bill earlier this month.

The house heard testimony on HB 1451 and HB 1446, measures that represent their key sponsors’ wish to make the best of things after seeing their initial proposals fail.

HB 1451 would authorize counties and municipalities to submit the issue to a “referendum of the voters” at the next general election.

Del. David M. Valderrama, D-Prince George’s, and Del. Donald E. Murphy, R-Baltimore County/Howard, introduced the local referendum bill on March 7, the day after the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee killed Senate Bill 705, which would have allowed the statewide regulated use of marijuana for specified medical purposes.

Earlier this session, Valderrama and Murphy introduced a House bill that was identical to SB 705, and the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony in early March. The bill has not been scheduled for a vote, however, and its chances of passing look slim in light of the Judicial Proceedings Committee vote on March 6, when only three of the 11 committee members supported the bill.

Murphy and Valderrama therefore turned to the local referendum as an alternative.

“I am a reluctant sponsor,” Murphy testified before the House Judiciary Committee yesterday in support of HB 1451. “If we can’t let doctors and patients decide the issue for themselves, then we should let the voters decide.”

Valderrama and Murphy sponsored bills last session to permit medical marijuana use after Murphy’s father died from cancer and Valderrama’s sister developed glaucoma and ultimately died from cancer.

Valderrama’s sister testified before the House Judiciary Committee last year on videotape, and referring to her pain and suffering made it difficult for Valderrama to talk yesterday.

“I am emotional again,” Valderrama said.

Dr. George S. Malouf, a Prince George’s County ophthalmologist, was the only other witness to testify at yesterday’s hearing.

“Marijuana is effective in lowering the pressure” caused by glaucoma, Malouf testified.Making a point

While Valderrama is angry at the illnesses that hurt and killed his sister, Murphy is angry with doctors because MedChi, the Maryland State Medical Society, did not support Murphy’s bill to legalize the medical use of marijuana.

Murphy responded by introducing HB 1446, which would make it a misdemeanor for a physician to recommend to a patient the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Doctors often tell patients to use marijuana for pain relief, Murphy said in an interview. Therefore, the medical society should support legalization, Murphy said.

“We’re making a point,” Murphy said.

None of the Judiciary Committee members asked questions following yesterday’s testimony, and many have said during the past two sessions that legalizing medical marijuana would make it doubly difficult to enforce drug control laws.

Possession of marijuana currently is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and imprisonment of one year. However, the manufacture, sale or distribution of marijuana carries more severe penalties.

An oral form of marijuana’s principal active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, is approved for treating nausea and vomiting related to cancer chemotherapy, according to the Department of Legislative Services, but smoking marijuana remains illegal.

“In all, 23 states have some current statute relating to the medical use of marijuana,” according the Department of Legislative Services report accompanying the legalization bills. “Virginia, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire are among the states that have authorized doctors to prescribe marijuana.”

“All of these laws are now dormant because they conflict with federal law, or are reliant on the federal government to supply the state with marijuana, and federal officials are no longer supplying marijuana to states,” the legislative services department added in its report.