Rep. Ray N. Yumul, R-Saipan, is relaying to the Senate today the message he received from Marijuana Policy Project legislative analyst Dan Riffle who has been looking forward to see medicinal marijuana legalized on Saipan.
Yumul said he met Riffle during the National Conference of State Legislators in Louisville, Kentucky a few months ago.
Established in 1995, the Marijuana Policy Project lobbies for legislation to allow medical use of marijuana and push for its regulation instead of prohibition.
Yumul voted no to House Bill 17-47, the marijuana legalization measure now pending in the Senate.
He said although he is opposed to the bill, he believes the Senate should also hear what the medicinal marijuana lobbyist from the U.S. has to say about the issue.
The Marijuana Policy Project is keeping track on the progress of marijuana legislation in the CNMI, he added.
Yumul said he favors the legalization of marijuana but for medical use only.
Introduced by Rep. Stanley T. McGinnis Torres, Ind.-Saipan, H.B. 17-47 will allow people at least 21 years old to posses, cultivate and transport marijuana for personal use. It will also impose a tax on the commercial production and sale of marijuana.
A week after they met in the U.S., Riffle told Yumul in an email that the group had also been communicating with Guam Sen. Rory J. Respicio, who supports the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes.
Respicio’s office, Riffle said, has not heard from federal authorities so far regarding the possible withholding of federal funds if marijuana is legalized.
The CNMI Department of Public Health, the Department of Public Safety and the Public School System oppose marijuana legalization, saying it will jeopardize millions of dollars in federal grants that they receive each year.
Customs Director Jess C. Muna, in a separate interview, described H.B. 17-47 as bad legislation.
He said legalizing drugs is not a good way of raising revenue for the government.
He also doubts if there are ailments on island that require medicinal marijuana.
“We are trying to enforce the law here, yet they are legalizing things like that,” Muna said, adding that marijuana will adversely affect the lives of the young people of the islands.
