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[TD]Got this from Doctor D!
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[TD][h=1]CALL TO ACTION: HOUSE BILLS 667 AND 668, for the combined House Health Committee and Public Safety Committees hearing this coming Friday morning, February 8, 2013 .[/h][/TD]
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[TD]Aloha,
May I take this chance to thank all who provided testimony for HB669, a bill to legalize cannabis. There was a great and record breaking showing. Let’s do it again! Also, you will have to submit it yourself. I can't submit it for you.
FOR HB 667 AND 668, TESTIMONY NEEDS TO BE SUBMITTED 24 HOURS IN ADVANCE.
Now, this is where we need a really good showing, to make significant and substantial changes for the medical cannabis program. The rights of medical patients will be far more than for the common recreational user, if legalization comes through.
I am passing along the information from Charlie once again. Remember, even if it is just a short piece or even one line, it counts as a vote in our column. JUST WRITE SOMETHING!
Take a look at the suggestions by Charlie, they are really good. I can't make any better suggestions so I am passing them along. There is a lot of great information included so go through it carefully. Also, remember to get your family and friends involved. Ask them to do it for all the patients and people who are suffering.
CHANGING THE PROGRAM TO BE RUN BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH RATHER THAN BY THE NARCOTICS ENFORCEMENT DIVISION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY WILL GREATLY IMPROVE THE PROGRAM AND HELP MANY MORE PEOPLE. IT WILL GREATLY REDUCE THE FEAR AND STIGMAS ASSOCIATED WITH CANNABIS THERAPY, THEREBY IMPROVING AND BLESSING THE LIVES OF MANY MORE PEOPLE. . IT IS TIME FOR THE TRUTH OF SCIENCE AND MEDICINE TO TRIUMP OVER FEAR AND IGNORANCE!
David J. Barton, MD
Board Certified Pain Medicine Physician
Former General and Cancer Surgeon/ Plastic Surgeon
CMO, Malama First, LLC
_______________________________________________________
FROM CHARLIE:
Subject: TAKE ACTION - Hearing on moving the medical cannabis program to the Department of Heath on Friday, February 8, 2013
Aloha everyone,
We have two bills being heard on Friday so here is the second notice for the second hearing (which is in the same room and same time as the previous one).
The House Health and Public Safety committee (in a joint hearing) will be hearing HB 668, a bill that would transfer all jurisdictions over Hawaii's medical cannabis program from the Department of Safety to the Department of Health. The hearing is taking place this Friday, February 8, 2013, at 8:30 am. in room 329. Besides the limited space in the Capitol basement, you can park at Alii Place, entrance off Alakea Street just before Hotel Street.
Talking points, links to the bill, emails, etc, are all below.
Because this is a joint hearing, if you are submitting your testimony via email it is better to submit ALL testimony to both the Health Committee and the Public Safety Committee.
Please let me know if you have any questions. We need to keep up the momentum and get as much written testimony to the committees as we can!
Mahalo in advance for your continued work to improve Hawaii's medical cannabis program.
-Charlie
HB 668 – Relating to Health
What this bill does: Transfers jurisdiction over Hawaii’s medical cannabis program from the Department of Public Safety (it is currently housed in the Narcotics Enforcement Division - NED) to the Department of Health (DOH).
Link to Bill:
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=668&year=2013
Link to Hearing Notice: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2013/hearingnotices/HEARING_HLT-PBS_02-08-13_.HTM
Two ways to submit testimony:
1)
By Email: E-mail if less than 5 pages in length, to
BOTH Committees at
[email protected] AND
[email protected]. Please indicate the measure, date and time of the hearing. Email sent to individual offices or any other office will not be accepted.
2)
By Web: Online if less than 4MB in size, at
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/emailtestimony
USE THE FOLLOWING HEADER:
To: Representative Della Au Belatti, Health Committee Chair
Representative Henry Aquino, Public Safety Committee Chair
Representative Dee Morikawa, Health Committee Vice-Chair
Representative Kaniela Ing, Public Safety Committee Vice-Chalr
From: (Your Name)
RE: HB 668 – Relating to Health
Hearing: Friday, February 8, 2013, room 329, 8:30 am
Position: Strong Support
Write your own reasons for moving the medical cannabis program from the Department of Public Safety to the Department of Health. It is always a good idea to use your personal experiences and stories. You may also use two or three of the talking points I've provided below. Try to address the details in the bill you are testifying on since there may be some parts you like more than others.
Over the past 13 years, the Narcotics Enforcement Division (NED) has not shown that it is qualified to manage a public health program:
1. The NED does not maintain a website on the program and has limited and hard to find information about the program on its current website. Such information is necessary for patients, caregivers, and physicians trying to stay within the law.
2. The NED does no public health outreach to inform qualifying patients of the existence of the program. Instead it works from an enforcement and control posture that is inconsistent with managing a health program.
3. The NED requires physicians to obtain application forms for patients whereas other states (e.g. Oregon and Colorado) provide and accept forms from patients themselves and post the blank forms on their websites.
4. In the past, the NED has violated patient confidentiality and put Hawaii’s sick people at risk by releasing the names and addresses of the registered patients, caregivers and physicians to the media.
Hawaii’s Medical Cannabis program is a health program, not a narcotics enforcement program:
The medical cannabis program is a public health program conceived out of concern for the health of the seriously ill. It belongs in Hawaii’s Department of Health.
a. Of the 18 states plus District of Columbia which have medical marijuana programs, only Hawai‘i and Vermont house them in a law enforcement agency. Other states have placed the program in a state health department.
b. Placement in the NED is antithetical to the legislative intent of the measure and to the stated mission of the NED; it is a public health program intended to serve the seriously ill.
c. Many patients, caregivers, and physicians are intimidated by dealing with a narcotics enforcement agency; they therefore do not register and face the threat of arrest by state or local authorities.
d. The program’s placement in NED is in part responsible for the reluctance of many physicians to certify patients. Physicians are concerned that their program applications are reviewed by the same entity that deals with the Drug Enforcement Agency daily on issues of over-prescribing, “doctor shopping” and the like.
e. The law requires DOH to set up a protocol for adding new covered medical conditions for which research indicates that cannabis may be helpful.
This provision is in current law, but has never been implemented. This is the only part of the medical marijuana law for which DOH is responsible. If the entire program were housed in DOH, it would be more likely to activate this provision. Medical research has advanced in the past 13 years and there are many new conditions/ailments/diseases for which medical cannabis has been shown to be helpful.
*****************************************
Charlie Cook
From:
Charlie Cook <
[email protected]>
Date: Mon, Feb 4, 2013 at 7:51 PM
Subject: TAKE ACTION! - House Health Committee Hearing on Improving the Medical Cannabis program this Friday, February 8, 2013
To: "
[email protected]" <
[email protected]>
Aloha everyone,
The House Health committee will be hearing HB 667, a bill that would improve the medical cannabis program in Hawai‘i (see below for all the improvements contained in the bill).
The hearing is taking place this Friday, February 8, 2013, at 8:30 am in room 329. Besides the limited space in the Capitol basement, you can park at Alii Place, entrance off Alakea Street just before Hotel Street.
Talking points, links to the bill, emails, etc., are all below.
Please let me know if you have any questions, We need to keep up the momentum and get as much written testimony to the committee as we can!
Mahalo in advance for your continued work to improve Hawaii's medical cannabis program.
-Charlie
HB 667 – Relating to Medical Marijuana
Bill Summary: Improves aspects of the Medical Use of Marijuana program. The changes in this bill were suggested by the Medical Cannabis Working Group in 2010, most of them coming from patients themselves (see below for summary of improvements)
Link to Bill: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=667&year=2013
Link to Hearing Notice:
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2013/hearingnotices/HEARING_HLT-PBS_02-08-13_.HTM
Two ways to submit testimony:
1)
By Email: E-mail if less than 5 pages in length, to the Committee at
[email protected]. Please indicate the measure, date and time of the hearing. Email sent to individual offices or any other office will not be accepted.
2)
By Web: Online if less than 4MB in size, at
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/emailtestimony
USE THE FOLLOWING HEADER:
To: Representative Della Au Belatti, Chair
Representative Dee Morikawa, Vice-Chair
From: (Your Name)
RE: HB 667 – Relating to Medical Marijuana
Hearing: Friday, February 8, 2013, 8:30 am, Room 329
Position: Strong Support
What this bill proposes:
1. Allows registered patients or caregivers to provide usable marijuana or any part of the marijuana plant to any other qualifying patient or caregiver as long as no money is exchanged and that the total amount of marijuana possessed by the recipient does not exceed the “adequate supply” permitted by law.
2. Caregivers will be allowed to care for up to 5 qualifying patients (raised from the current 1:1).
3. Qualifying patients shall be immune from searches, seizures, and prosecution for marijuana-related offenses while transporting it.
4. Out of state qualifying patients who are from states/jurisdictions that allow the medical use of marijuana are authorized to use marijuana while in Hawai‘i as long as they have a valid registry ID card from their home state/jurisdiction (“reciprocity.”

.
5. Increases the amount that qualifying patients and caregivers are allowed to 10 marijuana plants (up from 7) and 5 ounces of usable marijuana (up from 3).
6. Allows reimbursement to caregivers for costs associated with assisting qualifying patients as long as the reimbursement does not include the sale of marijuana.
7. Removes identifying information, such as the location of where the marijuana is grown, from registry cards issued to patients and caregivers.
8. Physicians do not have to disclose the specific medical condition of their qualifying patients to the controlling state Department but just that the patient qualifies for use of medical marijuana,
9. Increases the amount of time for qualifying patients to report any changes of information from 5 days to 10 days.
Talking Points:
Write your own reasons for wanting to improve the medical cannabis program. It is always a good idea to use your personal experiences and stories, especially if you have had challenges with the law. You may also use two or three of the talking points I've provided below. Try to address the details in the bill you are testifying on since there may be some parts you like more than others.
The program was put in place 13 years ago to provide compassionate care to Hawaii’s sick and debilitated, not to cause them more grief and stress.
- The law has been in place for 13 years without any improvements even though other states and medical advancements have shown how Hawaii’s program can be improved upon.
- Patients are law-abiding citizens who are seriously ill, or who have chronic conditions and who want to comply with the law but find it difficult with the current system.
- This measure is needed immediately because although a legal dispensary is being considered by the legislature, it may be some time before they are in operation. In the meantime, patients need improvements in the program.
- This measure allows patients and caregivers to help other patients by allowing them to give some of their medicine to qualifying caregivers and patients. This is especially helpful to patients who cannot wait to grow their own, who have had a crop failure, or need seeds or clones to start off with. Also, many patients, such as those undergoing chemotherapy, have debilitating pain, or suffer from immediate symptoms, need medicine immediately, and this bill corrects that portion of the current law.
- Patients who choose not to smoke their medicine say that the current limit on how much cannabis they can possess is not sufficient for their needs. Patients require more cannabis when using vaporizers, edibles or tinctures. If they cannot possess sufficient supply, then they are forced to smoke their medicine rather than use their preferred, less harmful method.
Hawai‘i should do a better job of protect patients’ privacy.
1) This measure protects patient privacy by removing the address where the marijuana is grown from the registry card. Then, if a wallet is stolen or lost, for instance, the location of the marijuana is not revealed.
2) Under this proposal the “qualifying condition” of the patient will not be disclosed to the Department running the program.
Hawai‘i needs to encourage caregivers to help care for the sick who use medical cannabis, not discourage them.
Caregivers are difficult to find and allowing them to care for additional patients improves patient access to needed medicine.
1) Many patients need caregivers because they are:
a. Too sick to grow their own plants.
b. Live in a location where it is illegal/forbidden (such as in federal housing or in apartment complexes in urban areas).
c. Live in a location where it is dangerous to grow their medicine.
d. Do not have the knowledge, time or space to grow their own medicine.
2) This bill allows caregivers to be reimbursed for the costs they incur (e.g., grow lights, soil, water and electricity costs, time spent growing, travel costs, etc.).
3) This provides incentives for caregivers to give good care to their patients. And protects them from prosecution by law enforcement officials for “selling drugs”.
Hawai‘i should permit medical cannabis patients from other medical cannabis jurisdictions to be afforded the same rights as state residents while they are visiting.
1) In a state with a large tourist industry visitors should be allowed temporary protections from state and county laws.
2) Visiting patients who cannot carry their medicine with them should not have to do without it when they are in Hawai‘i on business or on vacation.
3) A small fee could be assessed for this privilege and access granted to dispensaries if/when they are in place. This would be another source of revenue for the state.
Charlie Cook
Organizer
Medical Cannabis Coalition of Hawaii
Fresh Approach Hawaii
[email protected]
Pamela G. Lichty, MPH
President
Drug Policy Forum of Hawai‘i
Honolulu, Hawai‘i
Phone: 808 735-8001
Fax: 808 735-2971
Cell: 808 224-3056
[email protected]
www.dpfhi.org
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