Lawmaker: People move from Idaho to Oregon for marijuana
BOISE, Idaho - Idaho residents can already get away with using marijuana for medical purposes - they just have to go to Oregon to do it.
"Doctors in Idaho are sending patients from Idaho to Oregon to get medical marijuana," said Bill Esbensen, the director of 45th Parallel, a non-profit marijuana co-op near the Oregon-Idaho border.
While using marijuana for any reason is a federal crime, 16 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws allowing medical marijuana.
However, Oregon is the only state that allows non-residents to acquire and use medical marijuana there.
Esbensen says some Idahoans risk being arrested by taking medical marijuana with them back across the state border, while others simply don't go back to Idaho at all.
"I personally know 60-year-olds - several couples - that sold their homes in Idaho and moved to Oregon, so they wouldn't have to deal with the paranoia of taking it home."
District 6 Republican Rep. Tom Trail of Moscow said he's made similar observations.
"Over 500 Idaho families have been forced to move to eastern Oregon because they have a member of their family who is need of a physician's prescription for medical marijuana," said Trail.
Even though a similar bill failed last year, Trail is sponsoring a another bill this year that would allow people like that to access and use marijuana without having to go to Oregon.
"You keep your foot on the pedal because it may take time, but good ideas and especially those that would relieve human suffering need to be out in front of the public and our elected officials."
His controversial bill is called the "Idaho Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act." It's still in the early phases of the legislature, but there's already opposition. The Spokesman-Review and the Associated Press say Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter opposes the idea of legalizing medical marijuana in the Gem State.
Idaho isn't the only state currently considering the adoption of some type of medical marijuana law. Fifteen other states have similar bills at various stages in their legislatures.
