§ 21-28.6-2. Legislative findings.
The general assembly finds and declares that:
(1) Modern medical research has discovered beneficial uses for marijuana in treating or
alleviating pain, nausea, and other symptoms associated with certain debilitating
medical conditions, as found by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine
in March 1999.
(2) According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
ninety-nine (99) out of every one hundred (100) marijuana arrests in the United States
are made under state law, rather than under federal law. Consequently, changing state
law will have the practical effect of protecting from arrest the vast majority of
seriously ill people who have a medical need to use marijuana.
(3) Although federal law currently prohibits any use of marijuana, the laws of Alaska,
California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington
permit the medical use and cultivation of marijuana. Rhode Island joins in this effort
for the health and welfare of its citizens.
(4) States are not required to enforce federal law or prosecute people for engaging in
activities prohibited by federal law. Therefore, compliance with this chapter does
not put the state of Rhode Island in violation of federal law.
(5) State law should make a distinction between the medical and nonmedical use of marijuana.
Hence, the purpose of this chapter is to protect patients with debilitating medical
conditions, and their physicians and primary caregivers, from arrest and prosecution,
criminal and other penalties, and property forfeiture if such patients engage in the
medical use of marijuana.
(6) The general assembly enacts this chapter pursuant to its police power to enact legislation
for the protection of the health of its citizens, as reserved to the state in the
Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
(7) It is in the state's interests of public safety, public welfare, and the integrity
of the medical marijuana program to ensure that the possession and cultivation of
marijuana for the sole purpose of medical use for alleviating symptoms caused by debilitating
medical conditions is adequately regulated.
(8) The goal of the medical marijuana program is to create a system that is transparent,
safe, and responsive to the needs of patients. Consequently, the medical marijuana
program requires regulation and a comprehensive regulatory structure that allows for
oversight over all suppliers of medical marijuana while ensuring both safety and patient
access.