But they’ve given up in their bid to keep the drug away from pregnant women.
The first measure, HB 2261, is an
attempt by Rep. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix, to plug what she said is a
loophole in laws governing the use of Electronic Benefit Transfer
cards. Arizona uses them to provide cash benefits for eligible
recipients.
Under current law, they cannot be
used at liquor stores, racing facilities, tribal casinos and strip
clubs. Her measure adds medical marijuana dispensaries to the list.
Not everyone thinks that’s a good idea.
Rep. Randall Friese, D-Tucson,
pointed out Tuesday that welfare recipients can legally use their EBT
cards to purchase prescription medications.
“I have a little trouble just
saying you can get your prescription medications but not your medical
marijuana,” said Friese, who is a physician.
“Medical marijuana is used for a
variety of things that help people with chronic pain, glaucoma,
anorexia, intractable nausea,” he explained, all conditions for which
voters decided in 2010 that doctors can recommend the drug to their
patients.
Brophy McGee, however, said she’s not buying the comparison.
“At this point, marijuana is
still not legal on the federal level,” Brophy McGee said, pointing out
that the welfare dollars are federal funds. And she questioned whether
the voter-approved law is working as advertised or is really just a
thinly disguised way of people getting the drug for recreational
purposes.
“We know that the preponderance
of subscribers are young men with chronic pain issues,” Brophy McGee
said, citing figures from the Arizona Department of Health Services
which oversees the program. And she pointed out that more marijuana is
sold on New Year’s Eve than any other day of the year.
“I know there are people that are concerned about abuse in that system,” Friese acknowledged.
“But that’s not for me to decide,” he continued. “What’s for me to decide is being consistent.”
Brophy McGee said it’s not like
her legislation, which is awaiting a vote of the full House, will keep
welfare recipients from getting the drug if they need it. She said if
they use the benefits to pay for rent, utilities and other needs “if
they really felt they needed medical marijuana they could free up other
resources.”
Even if HB 2261 becomes law, one
other loophole remains. The EBT cards are essentially pre-loaded debit
cards. And that permits holders to make withdrawals at any ATM and then
use the cash for whatever they want.
Separately, Rep. Kelly Townsend,
R-Mesa, said Tuesday she is scrapping her legislation which would have
made it a crime for a woman who is pregnant to possess the drug. HB 2061
would have overruled any finding by her doctor that the use of
marijuana is appropriate.
Townsend said the measure ran
into a host of legal problems, including having the state interfere with
physician-patient privacy.
Instead, she is proposing
language that would be posted at all dispensaries and on each medical
marijuana user’s ID card warning not only of the medical risks to the
fetus but the possibility of arrest — or at least getting questioned by
child welfare workers.
Townsend said medical providers
already are required to notify police or the Department of Child Safety
if a pregnant woman or newborn tests positive for certain drugs. And she
said that includes marijuana — including marijuana which has been
specifically recommended by a doctor.
She conceded that a woman who was
given permission to use marijuana by her doctor probably has a built-in
defense against being charged with abuse or having her child taken. But
Townsend said it does put the woman into a DCS database.
“I don’t ever want to have a file at DCS,” she said.
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