Washington State Senate Bill 5052 would hurt patients. Among other things, the bill would reduce the number of plants that a patient can grow, reduce the amount of medical marijuana a patient can possess, and shutdown medical marijuana dispensaries. The bill is expected to be voted on tomorrow, per Sensible Washington. Below is a message that Sensible Washington sent out yesterday via their Facebook page:
Senate Bill 5052 – to shutdown dispensaries in our state, establish a mandatory patient registry and to reduce the amount of cannabis patients can grow and possess – has been scheduled for a March 13th executive session in the House Committee on Health Care and Wellness, meaning it will almost surely be put to a vote!
Please contact members of the committee (https://leg.wa.gov/House/Committees/…/Pages/MembersStaff.aspx) and urge them to vote “No” on this unwanted, regressive proposal! If they’re going to approve it, ask that they amend it to remove the patient registry (a clear HIPAA violation), allow dispensaries to become licensed with the state, and remove the provision reducing cultivation and possession limits for patients!
If you live in Washington, you should contact your legislators. Although, from looking at the comments on the Sensible Washington Facebook post, it doesn’t sound like they will respond to their constituents. With that being said, it’s still worthwhile to contact them as much as you can so they at least know that this bill is unacceptable.