On October 1st, 1937, the Marihuana Tax Act came into effect – the first national prohibition of cannabis. 75 years later, Connecticut today became the seventeenth state in the Union, along with the District of Columbia, to provide some access to the medical benefits of marijuana. The Palliative Use of Marijuana Act, CT Public Act 12-55, now allows patients to begin obtaining temporary registration status even as the rules of the registration process are being developed. And while several places that have passed medical cannabis laws in the past few years have yet to implement their programs (such as NJ, DE, and DC), patients in Connecticut can obtain temporary registration status before the official registration process is decided through administrative rule making.

There is a three step process in order to obtain a temporary registration certificate from the CT Dept. of Consumer Protection, which is administering the state’s medical cannabis program. Patients will not be able to legally purchase medical cannabis until the dispensaries open for business, but the temporary registration certificate will protect patients who obtain a recommendation from their physician and use medical cannabis prior to dispensaries opening. However, patients in Connecticut should realize that the law does not specify the maximum possession limit, and instead, the Dept. of Consumer Protection will specify the maximum “one-month supply” on each individually issued temporary registration certificate. This rule will almost certainly preclude home cultivation. You can find it on Section 15, page 17, of the current regulations (PDF).

Connecticut’s forethought for including temporary registration protection is a sensible approach for legislatures to address public health needs that occur between the passage of a law and the careful implementation regulations that provide for safe access to medicine. While allowing patients and caregivers to cultivate medicine at home would better guarantee safe access, this approach marks an improvement to other “closed loop” models. Patients in Connecticut who currently need to use medical cannabis should speak with their physicians about obtaining a recommendation for medical cannabis therapy.

Mike Liszewski is ASA’s Policy Director.

News from around the nation about medical cannabis.

• The quiet initiative – the push for medical marijuana – Arkansas Blog
• Three myths of the medical marijuana patient – Toke of the Town
• ‘Mary Jane: The Musical’ examines Humboldt County’s pot industry – LA Times
• Connecticut Law too restrictive (Opinion) – The Hartford Courant
• NY State Senate kills marijuana decriminalization bill – New York Times
• Update on Oaksterdam University – San Francisco Bay Guardian
• Marijuana bill to protect CA dispensaries from city bans dies – LA Weekly
• Medi-pot bill dead for now – San Jose Mercury News
• Hundreds of California Medical Marijuana Shops Close – New York Times

For your perusing pleasure, here are several recent articles about the medical cannabis movement.

• Medical Marijuana States Add Number 17, Connecticut. Huffington Post.
• Medical marijuana ruling protects patients from prosecution. Michigan Live.
• California Assembly passes pot regulation bill – but Senate approval doubtful. Sacramento Bee.
• Dave’s Not Here. New Times San Luis Obispo.
• Most California voters don’t support legalizing pot, poll finds. Los Angeles Times.
• Steph Sherer: Cannabis Patient With a Mission. Medical Marijuana Magazine.
• Capitol Notebook: Strong Feelings. San Francisco Chronicle.
• A dying patient’s request for medical cannabis. North Bay Business Journal.

Safe access to medical cannabis became law in Connecticut today, when HB 5389 was signed into law by Governor Dannel Malloy. The compassionate use bill will take effect on October 1st, 2012. Below is a perspective from a Connecticut patient who testified in support of the bill this Spring.

The Bumpy Road We Faced

I am proud to see medical cannabis legalized in my home state of Connecticut. The path to compassion was not an easy one – the bill’s passage in the Senate was contentious. The vote came only after over 10 hours of debate, about 9 of which were entirely taken up by Senator Toni Boucher (R-143rd District), who made no one but Strom Thurmond’s ghost happy with her marathon filibuster attempt, which was filled with “reefer madness” scare tactics, misinformation, and easily contradicted statistics. None of her 48(!) proposed amendments passed, the handful that were brought up were soundly rejected.
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