Torres wants more surveys on medicinal use of pot

Lt. Gov. Ralph DLG. Torres believes more surveys are needed before further steps are taken regarding the proposed bill to legalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes in the Commonwealth.

He also said there are still a lot of questions on the proposed bill, and that the issue should be tackled with all the stakeholders, including the Division of Public Health and Public School System.

“I haven’t looked at the bill yet, but there is legalization in the U.S. and the government is monitoring this issue,” Torres said. “If it’s medicinal, I would like to get more surveys. We need to determine how many medical cases are qualified for marijuana’s medicinal use, and how many are we looking at as potential cases.”

According to Torres, he’d also like to see if legalizing marijuana use could mean losing federal funding and by how much.

Talks to legalize marijuana resurfaced after Senate Bill 19-06 was prefiled last week by Sen. Sixto K. Igisomar (R-Saipan).

The bill claims that the legalization of marijuana is now a “less controversial” issue compared to a few years ago, now that Colorado and Washington have joined other states in approving marijuana for recreational use.

Currently, there are 24 states, including Guam, that have enacted laws to legalize marijuana, the new bill also states.

The move to allow the use of marijuana in the CNMI is hardly new and there have been several bills aimed to legalize its medicinal use in the CNMI, although none has so far prospered.

In 2012, a bill to legalize marijuana also pointed to potential revenues for the CNMI in addition to its medical benefits.

The new bill echoes previous claims that it will address the need for alternative treatment for patients suffering from debilitating illnesses such as cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, damage to the nervous system, epilepsy, and post-traumatic stress syndrome, among others. The bill claims the medicinal use of marijuana can be an alternative to more costly medical treatments for sufferers of these diseases.

The bill provides for the creation of a Medicinal Marijuana Advisory Board, tasked to review medical cases that would benefit from marijuana use and accept or review petitions to add medical conditions that qualify for the medicinal use of cannabis.
However, all penalties and provisions currently in place that prohibit the use and possession of marijuana without a prescription remain in full effect.