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Katzen Seeks
Law's Repeal
By PETE VAN VLEET
Capital News Service
RICHMOND — Some might call it a dichotomy. While California’s and Arizona’s citizens voted to allow the medical use of marijuana in certain instances, Virginia already has such a law but some lawmakers want to repeal it.
Eighteen years ago — in 1979 — the General Assembly passed a bill allowing marijuana to be used as treatment for cancer and glaucoma patients.
Del. Jay Katzen, R-31st District, said he is preparing to introduce legislation that would repeal what many refer to as a little-known and little-used state statute.
"We’re getting marijuana out of the medicine cabinet," he said.
Virginia law stipulates that the state's licensed physicians are immune from being arrested for prescribing the drug for medical purposes. Likewise, the state's pharmacists cannot be arrested for filling physicians' prescriptions.
Del. Katzen said his bill not only would repeal the 1979 law but would make it illegal to possess marijuana in all situations. His proposal also would call for a $500 maximum fine and a 30-day jail sentence for first-time offenders. Subsequent violations would result in a class one misdemeanor.
"It’s illegal," Del. Katzen said, "and the reality is the use of marijuana is not to cure glaucoma or cancer but to offer relief from the symptoms — and since that time — if in fact even at that time — [the bill] lacked usage."
Since the Richmond Times-Dispatch recently reported the existence of the 1979 law, many legislators in both political parties, as well as Attorney General James S.
See Katzen, Page A-6
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