Legislation scheduled for a hearing next week in the Massachusetts Legislature would give legal protections to tourists who have a valid medical marijuana authorization from another state.
Filed by Senators Susan Moran, Lindsay Sabadosa and Patrick O’Connor, Senate Bill 1082 has been scheduled for a hearing by the Joint Committee on The Judiciary at 1pm in room A-2.
The measure states that a visiting qualifying patient “shall be afforded all the rights and protections granted to a qualifying patient under this act”. This means that out-of-state patients would not only be given legal protections if found possessing or using marijuana, they would be allowed to purchase marijuana from any of the state’s dispensaries.
A “visiting qualifying patient” is defined as “a person who resides in another jurisdiction within the United States that authorizes the medical use of marijuana who possesses a valid medical marijuana certification from that other jurisdiction and photographic identification or a driver’s license from that jurisdiction.”
If the proposal is passed into law, Massachusetts would join Alaska, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington as states that allow out-of-state visitors to purchase marijuana from dispensaries.
You can click here for the full text of Senate Bill 1082.
