A bill introduced in the Health and Human Services Committee today (Thursday) would give people charged with marijuana possession the opportunity to defend themselves using a medical defense. As SDPB’s Jilanne Doom reports, the lawmakers behind it fear the bill is misunderstood.
Representative Dan Kaiser says there are two reasons why a bill to allow a medical marijuana defense isn’t likely to pass the legislature – misconception of what the bill does and the political hot-button that is the word “marijuana.” He says lawmakers are reluctant to put their names next to any bill with the word attached to it but his bill does not legalize the drug.
“All that this does is it keeps all possession of marijuana illegal and the person in possession of that goes to jail," Kaiser says. "All that this bill does is it allows the defendant, if the judge allows it, an opportunity to explain to the court why they were in possession of this in reference to their medical issue. And normally when we’re talking about extreme medical conditions, we’re talking about cancer and other medical things that the individual has unfortunately been stricken with.”
The bill was introduced this morning but questioning and committee action have been moved to Tuesday. Opponents of the bill feel this is the next step to legalizing marijuana in the state. For SDPB, I’m Jilanne Doom.