Photo by julianabrint

With yesterday’s news that the D.C. Council will consider legislation that would finally legalize medical marijuana in the District, you’d think that advocates of the original 1998 voter initiative would be happy. You’d be wrong.

A number of pro-medical marijuana activists have already expressed their concerns with the bill, which would establish a total of five dispensaries where patients with a prescription could get a 30-day supply of pot. They claim the current bill’s requirement that the dispensaries be 1,000 feet away from schools or youth centers are too restrictive, that the requirement that city health officials list the medical conditions that would qualify would interfere with doctors’ abilities to treat patients, and that limiting distribution to only five dispensaries would create a monopoly of sorts. Generally, they argue, the legislation does not live up to the spirit of the ’98 ballot measure, known as Initiative 59, which passed with 69 percent of the vote.

In a press release, the Drug Policy Alliance focused in on the 1,000-ft. rule, stating, “Unfortunately, the bill’s 1,000 foot restrictions would prohibit medical marijuana clinics from operating almost anywhere in the city, limiting patient access to the medicine they need…There is no evidence that these kinds of arbitrary school zone rules, whether on syringe exchange programs, methadone, or medical marijuana, protect public safety; there is, however, a lot of evidence that they undermine public health.”

Other activists pointed out that a cap on the amount of dispensaries was arbitrary, and that a review mechanism would be needed to allow for more to be set up. They also argued that the legislation would unfairly prohibit anyone with a prior misdemeanor drug conviction or any felony conviction from working at a dispensary, and worried that patients would be forced to register and pay a fee to a dispensary, with no mechanism to change dispensaries if they so chose. Others criticized a requirement that only a primary care physician could prescribe marijuana, noting that in many cases specialists would be better suited to do so.

The legislation would allow qualified patients or their caregivers to cultivate marijuana, though, but only for medical uses. (The Post mistakenly reported that patients would not be able to grow their own marijuana.) The supply chain for the dispensaries, though, would be left up to the mayor, who would have to create a “closed system for the manufacture, distribution, and use of medical marijuana.”