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Alabama senators took only about 15 minutes this afternoon to pass a bill to regulate the production, sale and use of medical marijuana.
The legislation would still have to be passed by the House of Representatives to become law.
On a 21-8 vote, the Senate passed the bill by Senator Tim Melson, R-Florence. This would allow doctors to recommend medical cannabis products for a wide range of conditions such as anxiety, nausea, chronic pain, and sleep disturbances.
It would create a medical cannabis commission that would oversee a “seeds for sale” system, issuing licenses for the cultivation, processing, distribution, transportation and testing of medical cannabis. Patients with qualifying conditions would be issued medical cannabis cards.
The bill, called the Compassion Act, would make Alabama the 37th state to allow marijuana for medical purposes, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The Senate also passed the bill in the past two years, but it has stalled in the House. Melson said this year’s legislation is essentially the same as that passed by the Senate last year.
Medical researcher and anesthesiologist, Melson said the evidence strongly supports the fact that Alabama residents should be able to try medical cannabis products for conditions that conventional drugs have not solved. .
“I was skeptical five years ago,” Melson said. “I started listening to patients rather than biased people and that’s where we are today.”
He said medical marijuana is not a miracle drug, but it can make a dramatic difference for some people who have tried other remedies without success.
“I think that’s what we need to open our eyes and be willing to let people have this opportunity,” Melson said.
Another senator who is also a doctor voted against the bill. Senator Larry Stutts, R-Sheffield, an OB-GYN, has opposed Melson’s bill for the past three years. He said there was no basis for qualifying medical marijuana products as “medical”.
“First, medical marijuana does not exist. It’s just marijuana, ”Stutts said. “From a medical standpoint, it’s just marijuana. And we have a process for the products, for the drugs, for the drugs to be approved, and we bypass that whole process. “
Melson’s bill would allow doctors to recommend medical cannabis products to patients with more than a dozen conditions, including anxiety or panic disorder; autism; nausea and weight loss caused by cancer or HIV; seizures; fibromyalgia; Crohn’s disease; post-traumatic stress disorder; menopause or premenstrual symptoms; sleep disturbances; spasticity associated with certain diseases or injuries of the spinal cord; terminal illness; Tourette’s syndrome; and chronic pain.
Stutts said the list of qualifying requirements is too broad and general. He said this would lead to increased recreational use of marijuana.
“Anyone who wanted marijuana could get a cannabis card and qualify for any of these medical conditions and get it,” Stutts said. “So this is a roundabout way of saying that we are going to increase the availability of marijuana.”
Melson said it was not his intention.
“I am not a recreational marijuana person,” Melson said. “I don’t want it in this state. I just want the patients who need it to have it. “
The bill would not allow the use of vegetable raw materials or products that would be smoked or vaporized.
Medicinal cannabis can come in tablets, capsules, gel cubes, oils, creams, suppositories, patches, and liquid or oil for use in an inhaler.
Senators added two amendments, including one by Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, to add sickle cell disease to the list of conditions. The other, by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, made several changes, including a restriction on daily dosage and a ban on sugar-coated gel cubes.
Two years ago, the House rejected Melson’s efforts to legalize medical marijuana and amended the bill to create a commission to study the issue.
Related: What Were the Findings of the Alabama Medical Cannabis Study Commission?
Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the session.
Melson believes the House has more support this year, in part because representatives know more about the potential use.
“They’ve had that family member who needs it or they realize they have a friend or neighbor who needs it,” Melson said. “I think you will be surprised.”
Stutts said that in addition to opposing the bill on medical grounds, he said he opposed it as a small Conservative government because of the size of the agency that would be required to regulate the industry.
The bill would establish a 9% sales tax on medical cannabis products and impose licensing fees. The money would go into a fund of the Medical Cannabis Commission. It would be used to cover the costs of regulating the program. Most of the remaining money would go to the State General Fund and a consortium of Alabama universities for medical cannabis research.
Read the Legislative Services Agency’s summary.
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