Medical Marijuana – Photo: Courtesy photo

Senate Bill 401 Medical Marijuana
Allows qualifying patient to have 12 plants

By: Kimberly Ikemori/ Heart of Hawaii

Senate Bill 401 is on Medical Marijuana and it allows a qualifying patient to have 12 marijuana plants and only 7 ounces of marijuana at one time.  Many patients are unable to grow their own supply of marijuana so the bill helps to increase the caregiver-patient ratio.  The bill will also increase the amount of marijuana permitted per patient due to the difficulty of maintain a steady and “adequate supply. It also ensures the patient’s confidentiality and their security by requiring the location of where the marijuana is grown confidential and omitted from the registry card. The bill also may not require the qualifying patient’s physician to be their primary care physician. It prohibits a certifying physician from naming a patient’s condition but allows the caregiver to grow marijuana for no more than 5 patients.

Some of the issues surrounding medical marijuana are medical risks, a gateway drug or a stepping stone drug, marijuana’s addictiveness, and human reproduction.  Controversies include if medical marijuana is more potent than in the past. Does a higher potency in the drug make it more dangerous?  Can medical marijuana be controlled so that its strength is uniform? There are more questions when it comes to medical risks such as if the drug can cause death, can it contribute to lung cancer, and if the drug is too dangerous to be used as medicine.