Robert Celt
New Member
Pennsylvania's medical marijuana legislation dead in the water?
The bill still is awaiting action almost two months after a state House bipartisan working group finished with it, and it's under assault from some 197 proposed amendments, many designed to kill it. This has become increasingly frustrating for parents of children with seizure disorders and people suffering from post-traumatic stress, pain, nausea, eating disorders and other debilitating physical problems for which there are no better treatment alternatives.
But the bill still is alive, despite the delay. Proponents in the House say the state budget impasse has so dominated Harrisburg that it's been impossible for other meaty legislation to be considered, and they believe the medical marijuana bill eventually will be considered and the amendments addressed.
"Things are not dead," said Steve Miskin, spokesman for House Majority Leader David Reed, R-Indiana. "This is still moving at a really fast pace for Harrisburg."
"This whole route the bill has taken since it's gone into the House is sickening, and I think the public should know some of the ins and outs," said Matt Sharrer of Adams County, whose 11-year-old daughter, Annie, has been suffering from devastating seizures since she was 6 months old.
So here are the ins and outs.
The Senate last May overwhelmingly passed Senate Bill 3, which would legalize medical marijuana in Pennsylvania. But House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, assigned the Senate bill to the House Health Committee chaired by Rep. Matt Baker, R-Tioga, who has made it abundantly clear that he won't allow a medical marijuana bill to come to a vote.
He could have buried it in his committee forever, but a Republican House member filed a discharge petition to remove the bill from Baker's stranglehold, a move that triggered frantic legislative maneuvering that landed the bill in the House Rules Committee, chaired by Reed. The good news is that, unlike staunch opponent Turzai, Reed wanted a bill brought to the House floor.
A bipartisan working group was formed to work through all the issues raised by SB3 and a much weaker House bill introduced later. The working group made steady progress and agreed on a revised bill that was reported out in mid-November.
Rep. Peter Schweyer, D-Lehigh, the only local member of the working group, told me last week that he prefers the result to the original language of SB3. "I think it's really good legislation," he said, "and it happened the way it's supposed to happen, where people interested in a topic get together and craft a bipartisan bill."
Just one problem. It's gone nowhere.
I was awaiting a callback from Schweyer last week when I heard from Deena Kenney of Bethlehem, whose family I wrote about several months ago and who was angry at the bill's derailment. Her 19-year-old son, Christopher, has a genetic disorder that has resulted in uncontrolled seizures and horrible behavioral problems that have been made worse by his anti-seizure drugs.
In her first paragraph, she wrote, "If ever my family wondered why I don't give up this fight, they saw it live at the Christmas Eve dinner table when Chris had a horrendous seizure at the dinner table that scared my sister so bad that she left the room in tears."
This is what life is like for many of these families, who have banded together in a group called Campaign for Compassion and in recent months have been staffing what they call the "still waiting room" in the Capitol as a reminder to legislators.
Kenney, Sharrer and other advocates for access to these treatments are disgusted with the inaction, which took on new urgency when one of those children with a seizure disorder died in November. She was 20 months old.
Becky Witwer spoke at a state Capitol rally just a couple of weeks after she lost her daughter, Grace. "I want to ask the legislators standing in the way of the compassionate bill," she said, "why wasn't she worth it? Why didn't she deserve a chance? How many children have to die?"
Schweyer and Miskin told me neither the delay nor the amendments means the bill is dead. Rather, this is all about the budget.
"We have an agreement largely in place," Schweyer explained, "but the budget blew everything up. There was no oxygen to discuss anything mildly controversial. That'll change."
He acknowledged, "There is a segment of the Republican caucus who will do everything to kill it, including Chairman Baker. But I also know a majority of House members support this, including a number of Republicans." He said he believes Reed and others in the group still want the bill to come to a vote.
"I think all of us put way too much time and energy into this to let it go away," he concluded.
I hope he's right. But if you have any trouble understanding the impatience of these suffering families, imagine a life spent waiting for the next seizure and wondering whether your child will survive this one.
These people are tired of waiting for politicians to do the right thing. Can you blame them?
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: PA Medical Marijuana Bill Delayed And Under Assault
Author: Bill White
Photo Credit: Bria Naylor
Website: The Morning Call
The bill still is awaiting action almost two months after a state House bipartisan working group finished with it, and it's under assault from some 197 proposed amendments, many designed to kill it. This has become increasingly frustrating for parents of children with seizure disorders and people suffering from post-traumatic stress, pain, nausea, eating disorders and other debilitating physical problems for which there are no better treatment alternatives.
But the bill still is alive, despite the delay. Proponents in the House say the state budget impasse has so dominated Harrisburg that it's been impossible for other meaty legislation to be considered, and they believe the medical marijuana bill eventually will be considered and the amendments addressed.
"Things are not dead," said Steve Miskin, spokesman for House Majority Leader David Reed, R-Indiana. "This is still moving at a really fast pace for Harrisburg."
"This whole route the bill has taken since it's gone into the House is sickening, and I think the public should know some of the ins and outs," said Matt Sharrer of Adams County, whose 11-year-old daughter, Annie, has been suffering from devastating seizures since she was 6 months old.
So here are the ins and outs.
The Senate last May overwhelmingly passed Senate Bill 3, which would legalize medical marijuana in Pennsylvania. But House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, assigned the Senate bill to the House Health Committee chaired by Rep. Matt Baker, R-Tioga, who has made it abundantly clear that he won't allow a medical marijuana bill to come to a vote.
He could have buried it in his committee forever, but a Republican House member filed a discharge petition to remove the bill from Baker's stranglehold, a move that triggered frantic legislative maneuvering that landed the bill in the House Rules Committee, chaired by Reed. The good news is that, unlike staunch opponent Turzai, Reed wanted a bill brought to the House floor.
A bipartisan working group was formed to work through all the issues raised by SB3 and a much weaker House bill introduced later. The working group made steady progress and agreed on a revised bill that was reported out in mid-November.
Rep. Peter Schweyer, D-Lehigh, the only local member of the working group, told me last week that he prefers the result to the original language of SB3. "I think it's really good legislation," he said, "and it happened the way it's supposed to happen, where people interested in a topic get together and craft a bipartisan bill."
Just one problem. It's gone nowhere.
I was awaiting a callback from Schweyer last week when I heard from Deena Kenney of Bethlehem, whose family I wrote about several months ago and who was angry at the bill's derailment. Her 19-year-old son, Christopher, has a genetic disorder that has resulted in uncontrolled seizures and horrible behavioral problems that have been made worse by his anti-seizure drugs.
In her first paragraph, she wrote, "If ever my family wondered why I don't give up this fight, they saw it live at the Christmas Eve dinner table when Chris had a horrendous seizure at the dinner table that scared my sister so bad that she left the room in tears."
This is what life is like for many of these families, who have banded together in a group called Campaign for Compassion and in recent months have been staffing what they call the "still waiting room" in the Capitol as a reminder to legislators.
Kenney, Sharrer and other advocates for access to these treatments are disgusted with the inaction, which took on new urgency when one of those children with a seizure disorder died in November. She was 20 months old.
Becky Witwer spoke at a state Capitol rally just a couple of weeks after she lost her daughter, Grace. "I want to ask the legislators standing in the way of the compassionate bill," she said, "why wasn't she worth it? Why didn't she deserve a chance? How many children have to die?"
Schweyer and Miskin told me neither the delay nor the amendments means the bill is dead. Rather, this is all about the budget.
"We have an agreement largely in place," Schweyer explained, "but the budget blew everything up. There was no oxygen to discuss anything mildly controversial. That'll change."
He acknowledged, "There is a segment of the Republican caucus who will do everything to kill it, including Chairman Baker. But I also know a majority of House members support this, including a number of Republicans." He said he believes Reed and others in the group still want the bill to come to a vote.
"I think all of us put way too much time and energy into this to let it go away," he concluded.
I hope he's right. But if you have any trouble understanding the impatience of these suffering families, imagine a life spent waiting for the next seizure and wondering whether your child will survive this one.
These people are tired of waiting for politicians to do the right thing. Can you blame them?
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: PA Medical Marijuana Bill Delayed And Under Assault
Author: Bill White
Photo Credit: Bria Naylor
Website: The Morning Call
