Washington State’s Senate Bill 5052, which was signed by Governor Inslee in April and makes numerous changes to the state’s medical cannabis law, has a provision in it that adds post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries to the list of conditions that qualify an individual to become a medical cannabis patient. That provision takes effect this Friday, July 24th.

Although Senate Bill 5052 makes several regressive changes to the state’s medical cannabis law, including shutting down dispensaries and drastically reducing the amount of cannabis patients can possess and cultivate, adding PTSD and traumatic brain injuries to the list of medical cannabis conditions is one of the few positives brought forth by the measure.

Once Senate Bill 5052 takes full effect – which will be in July of next year – patients will be purchasing their medicine from the same outlets as recreational consumers. However, patients who join a state-ran patient database (which some attorneys have called entrapment, as cannabis is still illegal federally for all purposes) will be able to purchase cannabis tax free. They’ll also be authorized to cultivate cannabis at home, which non-patients can’t legally do.

A team of attorneys is currently working to have Senate Bill 5052 overturned; the group plans to file a series of lawsuits^[1] that would potentially place an injunction on the measure before it ever takes full effect.

– TheJointBlog

References

1. ^{^} plans to file a series of lawsuits (thejointblog.com)