LEGISLATIVE TEXT
From the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics
BE IT ENACTED BY THE ELECTORS OF THE DISTRICT
OF COLUMBIA, that this act may be cited as the "Legalization
of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative of 1998."
Sec. 1. All seriously ill individuals
have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes
when a licensed physician has found the use of marijuana
to be medically necessary and has recommended the use of
marijuana for the treatment (or to mitigate the side effects
of other treatments such as chemotherapy, including the
use of AZT, protease inhibitors, etc., radiotherapy, etc.)
or diseases and conditions associated with HIV and AIDS,
glaucoma, muscle spasm, cancer and other serious or chronic
illnesses for which the recommending physician reasonably
believes that marijuana has demonstrated utility.
Sec. 2. Medical patients who use, and
their primary caregivers who obtain for such patients, marijuana
for medical purposes upon the recommendation of a licensed
physician do not violate the District of Columbia Uniform
Controlled Substances Act of 1981, effective August 5, 1981
(DC Law 4-29; DC Code 33-501 et seq.) ("Controlled Substances
Act"), as amended and in so far as they comply with this
act, are not subject to criminal prosecution or sanction.
Sec. 3(a) Use of marijuana under the authority
of this act shall not be a defense to any crime of violence,
the crime of operating a motor vehicle while impaired or
intoxicated, or a crime involving danger to another person
or to the public, nor shall such use negate the mens rea
for any offense.
(b) Whoever distributes marijuana cultivated,
distributed or intended to be distributed or used pursuant
to this act to any person not entitled to possess or distribute
marijuana under this act shall be guilty of a crime and
subject to the penalty set forth in section 401(a)(2)(D)
of the Controlled Substances Act (DC Code 33-541(a)(2)(D).
Sec. 4 Notwithstanding any other law,
no physician shall be punished, or denied any right, privilege
or registration for recommending, while acting in the course
of his or her professional practice, the use of marijuana
for medical purposes. In any proceeding in which rights
or defenses created by this act are asserted, a physician
called as a witness shall be permitted to testify before
a judge, in camera. Such testimony, when introduced in a
public proceeding, if the physician witness so requests,
shall have redacted the name of the physician and the court
shall maintain the name and identifying characteristics
of the physician under seal.
Sec. 5 (a) Any District law prohibiting
the possession of marijuana or cultivation of marijuana
shall not apply to a medical patient, or to a medical patient's
primary caregivers, when a medical or primary caregiver
possesses or cultivates marijuana for the medical purposes
of the patient upon the written or oral recommendation of
a licensed physician. The exemption for cultivation shall
apply only to marijuana specifically grown to provide a
medical supply for a patient, and not to any marijuana grown
for any other purpose. In determining a quantity of marijuana
that constitutes a medical supply, this act shall be interpreted
to assure that any medical patient protected by the act
shall have access to a sufficient quantity of marijuana
to assure that they can maintain their medical supply without
any interruption in their treatment or depletion of their
medical supply of marijuana.
(b) The prohibition in the Controlled
Substances Act against the manufacture, distribution, cultivation,
or possession with intent to manufacture, distribute, or
cultivate, or against possession, of marijuana shall not
apply to a nonprofit corporation organized pursuant to this
act.
Sec 6. A medical patient may designate
or appoint a licensed health care practitioner, parent,
sibling, child, or other close relative, domestic partner,
case manager/worker, or best friend to serve as a primary
caregiver for the purposes of this act. A designation under
this act need not be in writing; however, any written designation
or appointment shall be prima facie evidence that a person
has been so designated. A patient may designate not more
than four persons at any one time to serve as a primary
caregiver for the purposes of this act. For the purposes
of this subsection, the term 'best friend' means a close
friend who is feeding, nursing, bathing, or otherwise caring
for the medical patient while the medical patient is in
a weakened condition.
Sec. 7 Residents of the District of Columbia
may organize and operate not-for-profit corporations for
the purpose of cultivating, purchasing, and distributing
marijuana exclusively for the medical use of medical patients
who are authorized by this act to obtain and use marijuana
for medical purposes. Such corporations shall comply with
the District's nonprofit corporation laws. Fees and licenses
shall be collected by the Department of Consumer and Regulatory
Affairs ("DCRA") in the same manner as other not-for-profit
corporations operating in the District of Columbia. The
Director of DCRA shall issues such corporations exemptions
from the sales tax, use tax, income tax, and other taxes
of the District of Columbia in the same manner as other
nonprofit corporations.
Sec. 8 The exemption from prosection for
distribution of marijuana under this act shall not apply
to the distribution of marijuana to any person under 18
years of age unless that person is an emancipated minor,
or a parent or legal guardian of the minor has signed a
written statement that such parent or legal guardian understands:
(i) the medical condition of the minor, (ii) the potential
benefits and potential adverse effects of the use of marijuana
generally and in the case of the minor, and (iii) consents
to the use of marijuana for the treatment of the minor's
medical condition. Violation of this section shall be subject
to the penalties of the Controlled Substances Act.
Sec. 9 (a) The Director of the Department
of Health of the District of Columbia must develop a plan,
and submit it, within 90 days of the approval of this act,
to the Council of the District of Columbia to provide for
the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all
patients enrolled in Medicaid or a Ryan White CARE Act funded
program who are in medical need, who desire to add marijuana
to their health care regimen and whose licensed physician
reasonably believes that marijuana would be beneficial to
their patient.
(b) Within 30 days of the certification
of the passage of this act by the people of the District
of Columbia, the Mayor of the Distict of Columbia shall
deliver a copy of this act to the President and the Congress
to express the sense of the people of the District of Columbia
that the Federal government must develop a system to distribute
marijuana to patients who need it for medical purposes.
Sec. 10. If any provision of this measure
or the application thereof to any person or circumstance
is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other
provisions or applications of the measure which can be given
effect without the invalid provision or application, and
to this end the provisions of this measure are severable.
Sec. 11. This act shall take effect after
the 30-day Congressional review as provided in section 602(c)(1)
of the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental
Reorganization Act, approved December 24, 1973 (87 Stat.
813; DC Code 1-233(c)(1).
