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A Delaware House committee has unanimously approved a Senate-passed bill that would allow terminally ill patients to use medical cannabis in hospitals<\/a>.<\/p>\n About two weeks after the legislation from Sen. Marie Pinkney (D) advanced through the Senate, members of the House Health & Human Development Committee cleared it in a 9-0 vote on Wednesday.<\/p>\n There was limited public testimony on the measure, which is being carried in the House by Rep. Kamela Smith (D). A representative of the Delaware Healthcare Association spoke in favor of the bill\u2019s intent, while specifically applauding revisions made in the Senate to address \u201coperational and compliance challenges\u201d its members had raised.<\/p>\n Smith said in her opening remarks that the measure \u201cbalances patient rights and clinical judgment by allowing physicians to make case-by-case decisions\u2014and patients and facilities that comply with the legislation are protected from civil from criminal and from professional liability.\u201d<\/p>\n She also shared a personal story that\u2019s informed her advocacy for the reform, describing how her father experienced \u201cconstant pain from from having cancer, and the only thing that bought him relief was cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe physicians, acknowledging that he did have pain, and giving him space to relieve himself of that pain\u201d is part of why she\u2019s sponsoring the legislation, the lawmaker said<\/a>.<\/p>\n Under SB 226, patients and their caregivers would be responsible for acquiring and administering medical marijuana, and it would need to be stored securely at all times in a locked container.<\/p>\n Smoking or vaping of medical cannabis would be prohibited, so patients would need to consume it via other methods.<\/p>\n Healthcare facility officials would need to see a copy of patients\u2019 state medical marijuana registry ID cards, and they would be required to note their use of the drug in medical records. They would also need to \u201cdevelop and disseminate written policies and procedures for the use of medical marijuana within the health care facility.\u201d<\/p>\n Facilities would be able to prohibit medical marijuana use if they determine that such use would have an \u201cadverse impact on the medical care and treatment of the patient or is otherwise contraindicated.\u201d<\/p>\n They would also be able to suspend permission to use cannabis if a federal agency such as the U.S. Department of Justice or Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services takes an enforcement action against such use or \u201cissues a rule, guidance, or otherwise provides notification to health care facilities that expressly prohibits the use of medical marijuana in health care facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n The right to use medical cannabis under the\u00a0bill,\u00a0SB 226<\/a>, would not apply to patients who are in the emergency department.<\/p>\n \u2014 Meanwhile in Delaware, the Senate in January voted to override the governor\u2019s veto of a bill that would\u00a0prevent local governments from imposing onerous zoning restrictions that make it more challenging for marijuana businesses<\/a>\u00a0to operate in their jurisdictions.<\/p>\n Delaware\u2019s adult-use cannabis market launched<\/a>\u00a0last August, with the governor\u00a0touting the state\u2019s first \u201csuccessful\u201d weekend of adult-use cannabis sales<\/a>, with total purchases for medical and recreational marijuana totaling nearly $1 million\u2014and compliance checks demonstrating that the regulated market is operating as intended under the law.<\/p>\n The launch of Delaware\u2019s legal market came about\u00a0two years after marijuana legalization was enacted into law<\/a>\u00a0under former Gov. John Carney (D).<\/p>\n Ahead of the sales roll-out, the governor last July toured one of the state\u2019s cannabis cultivation facilities, praising the quality of marijuana that\u2019s being produced,\u00a0which he said will be the \u201cFrench wine of weed.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n The launch of the legal market came with some controversy, however, with\u00a0critics alleging that allowing medical operators to start adult-use sales ahead of other license applicants is unfair<\/a>. Dozens of other would-be retailers that have either already received licenses or are still awaiting issuance will need to wait for further regulatory approvals until they can open their doors\u2014a situation that\u2019s frustrated some advocates.<\/p>\n Two lawmakers who led the push to legalize marijuana sought input from consumers and businesses about the market launch. Sen. Trey Paradee (D), the sponsor of SB 75, and House Majority Whip Rep. Ed Osienski (D)\u2014the primary sponsor of the state\u2019s 2023 legalization bills\u2014put out an online form last year for residents to share thoughts and feedback about the cannabis program anonymously<\/a>.<\/p>\n Separately, a Delaware House committee in January\u00a0approved a bill to decriminalize public consumption of marijuana<\/a>.<\/p>\n While certain legal marijuana states like Colorado and Ohio still impose criminal penalties for public cannabis use, Delaware stands out as especially punitive, with a maximum penalty that carries the risk of jail time in addition to a fine.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Delaware House Committee Approves Bill To Allow Medical Marijuana Use In Hospitals For Terminally Ill Patients<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A Delaware House committee has unanimously approved a Senate-passed bill that would allow terminally ill patients to use medical cannabis in hospitals. About two weeks after the legislation from Sen. Marie Pinkney (D) advanced through the Senate, members of the House Health & Human Development Committee cleared it in aContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":85670,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85669"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85671,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85669\/revisions\/85671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Delaware House Committee Approves Bill To Allow Medical Marijuana Use In Hospitals For Terminally Ill Patients<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"