Originally published March 16, 2010 at 11:55 a.m., updated March 16, 2010 at 11:55 a.m.
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JEFFERSON CITY - The House shot down efforts to legalize medical marijuana during debate on a bill that would ban the fake stuff.
The amendment, which popped up in the middle of a House debate to criminalize the synthetic marijuana known as K2, was shot down, but the bill itself received first-round approval.
"Who are we to tell terminally ill patients that some substance that can provide them relief isn't good enough for them?" said Rep. Jason Holsman, D-Jackson County, one of a small group of Democrats who pushed for the measure.
Holsman also said there were several other benefits with allowing limited usage of the drug. He said it would keep non-violent drug offenders out of prisons and allow the state to tax marijuana purchases.
"This is a way to relieve our court system, to provide relief to terminally ill patients, to trust our doctors and to raise revenue on top of it."
But most legislators weren't convinced of the benefits. Rep. Tim Flook, R-Liberty, said, "It's about a party, not about illness," and remained skeptical about how many patients actually would use a prescription of marijuana for legitimate medical reasons.
"You can look it up on YouTube, of would-be so-called patients in chronic pain in their doctor's office, joking about their fake ailment right before they get their marijuana prescription," he said.
The amendment is similar to a bill filed by Rep. Kate Meiners, D-Jackson County, which has not been assigned a committee.
Legislators also voted against two amendments that would require a prescription for over-the-counter medicine purchases containing pseudophedrine, a key ingredient in methamphetamine.
Comments
Rune04 (anonymous) says...
My mother-in-law had terminal cancer several years ago. She was taking a plethora of pain medications that didn't work very well. I got her started smoking pot and her pain almost went away. She smoked for about two months before she passed on. At least those two months were relatively pain free.
March 16, 2010 at 9:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Mike_Booth (anonymous) says...
Hey Tim Flook, in my opinion "Your party is the illness"....
March 16, 2010 at 2:06 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
climber (anonymous) says...
So if someone is going to use a pharmaceutical for enjoyment rather than a legitimate medical purpose, we should ban it altogether right? Solid logic there. Now get busy banning every other pharmaceutical that's ever been abused. We can go back to using leeches and wage a trillion dollar battle on medicine. We can incarcerate half the population. Thousands of people will suffer needlessly, but at least nobody will be getting high.
March 16, 2010 at 4:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
BK (anonymous) says...
Tim Flook also introduced a bill that advocates substituting "Ballroom Dancing" as a form of physical education (instead of gym class). Maybe we should expect our politicians to use sound arguments based on facts instead of outrageous claims of "youtube clips."
March 16, 2010 at 7:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )