Medical marijuana now law in Conn.

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) -- Gov. Dannel Malloy has signed into law a bill allowing the medical use of marijuana in Connecticut.

The governor's office announced the signing of Public Act 12-55 Friday.

Patients who have illnesses such as cancer, glaucoma, epilepsy and Chrohn's disease could qualify to receive marijuana.

"For years, we've heard from so many patients with chronic diseases who undergo treatments like chemotherapy or radiation and are denied the palliative benefits that medical marijuana would provide," Gov. Malloy said in a statement. "With careful regulation and safeguards, this law will allow a doctor and a patient to decide what is in that patient's best interest."

Patients would have to buy the drug from licensed dispensaries, which would get the marijuana from a licensed producer. As many as ten producers would be allowed to grow marijuana in Connecticut for medical use.

In a news release the governor's office highlighted what it called "safeguards" to prevent potential abuse:

• Unlike California and several other states, patients must have both a physician's recommendation and a registration form from the Department of Consumer Protection, which is shared with law enforcement.
• Medical marijuana cannot be used in any public place, near children under the age of 18, in buses or other motor vehicles, on school grounds, nor in college dormitories.
• A panel of doctors selected by the Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection will determine how much marijuana may be possessed by patients, depending on the type of illness involved.
• Medical marijuana can only be sold legally by registered pharmacists who have been approved by the Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection, and those pharmacists can only sell marijuana that is produced by special licensed growers. Approved marijuana will be packaged in the same way as prescription drugs according to dosage.
• Doctors recommending marijuana will be carefully monitored through the existing Prescription Monitoring Program in order to identify those who demonstrate a pattern of excessive recommendation of medical marijuana.

More into and FAQ: http://ct.gov/dcp/cwp/view.asp?a=1620&q=503670