‘monkey in the jungle’
courtesy of ‘nicasaurusrex’
City Council has been hammering out the rules related to medical marijuana, and it doesn’t look like DC residents are going to get the right to cultivate at home, at least not for a while. (There goes my plan for my new backyard!)
The bill under consideration by the Council allows DC residents with a specific list of medical conditions to possess up to 2 ounces per month, which the Examiner reports is enough for “about a joint a day.” The bill does provide for a committee to study the home cultivation question and make a recommendation to the Council by 2012.
Tiffany Baxendell Bridge is an Internet enthusiast and an incurable smartass. When not heckling the neighborhood political scene on Twitter, she can be found goofing off with her ukulele, Bollywood dancing, or obsessing about cult TV. She is That Woman With the Baby In the Bar.
Tiffany lives in Brookland with her husband Tom, son Charlie, and two high-maintenance cats. Read why Tiffany loves DC.
The D.C. City council has done a pretty decent job recrafting what the voters approved 12 years ago. District residents should be proud that our elected officials are actually doing a decent job with this touchy issue.
The original language allowed patients the ability to grow their own medicine. Growing small quantities at home costs patients absolutely nothing. Forcing patients to go to dispensaries requires patients to pay for their medicine at all times; forever.
There is a large difference between having a couple plants growing in your backyard, balcony, or closet and having an entire house be a growing facility with 1,000+ plants. In other jurisdictions improperly wired homes have caused fires. Yet there are indoor home growing operations that fit in a closet and can be installed professionally and safely.
Allowing patients to grow a couple plants at home is very different than growing 95 plants in a for-profit cultivation center, which the new legislation allows.
The new amendments *do not ever* allow home cultivation. The amendments only force a study to be done by 2012. This is a political compromise that hurts patients and not policy that looks out for patient’s interests.
By the time the Council will be asked to allow home cultivation, there might be a new president and a different Congress who will not have the chance to see the benefits of home cultivation.
The patients in the District of Columbia should not be forced to endure more political meandering, but be provided the best medicine available, even if it is grown at home.