Feds consider Chafee marijuana request

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - The federal government is considering a request from Governor Lincoln Chafee that could eventually clear the way for medical marijuana dispensaries in Rhode Island.

Last spring, Governor Chafee pulled the plug on plans to open three so-called compassion centers after the U.S. Attorney's Office warned that the dispensaries would violate federal law because marijuana is classified as a Schedule 1 controlled substance by the Drug Enforcement Agency.

The warning prompted Chafee and the governor of Washington to write letters to the DEA, asking the agency to reclassify marijuana, citing its known medicinal effects.  

The DEA is now reviewing the governors' request.
    
"This is, I think, very important because the U.S. Attorney for the federal government has told Rhode Island that we cannot proceed with [the compassion center law] we passed here in Rhode Island," Chafee told Eyewitness News Wednesday.

"They've told us, the federal government, we cannot proceed. So now to have the federal government say we'll re-look at how we classify marijuana is positive because we in Rhode Island wanted to pass it, we did pass a state law, and then the federal government stepped in.  So this is getting us back on track."

The DEA did not give any indication when a decision may be reached.  Governor Chafee believes the reclassification is a no-brainer.

"It is common sense at this stage that there is that benefit and let's reclassify.  It shouldn't be in with some of the hardcore heroins and the like."

Medical marijuana was legalized in Rhode Island in 2006, but the law did not spell out how patients could safely and legally obtain the drug.  In 2009, the General Assembly passed a bill allowing the establishment of state-licensed, non-profit marijuana dispensaries known as compassion centers.

In 2011, the Rhode Island Department of Health approved applications for three compassion centers, in Providence, Warwick, and Portsmouth.  But the program was suspended before any of the compassion centers opened for business.