House Bill 1430 failed 26-67, with one member absent.
The bipartisan bill would have allowed patients and caregivers to possess a certain amount of cannabis or products such as cannabis oils, beverages, vapors and pills, for medical use.
Rep. Robin Weisz, a member of the House Human Services Committee that recommended 8-3 against passing the amended bill, commended the parents who gave emotional testimony about how they hoped medical cannabis would relieve the pain and seizures of their children suffering from debilitating and terminal conditions.
“And to be honest with you, I’m not so sure, if it happened to my sons, if I maybe wouldn’t have been in front of that committee also to ask for this bill,” said Weisz, R-Hurdsfield.
But Weisz said the bill had “many issues that were hard to overcome,” including uncertainty over the safety and quality of medical marijuana and how law enforcement would ensure it doesn’t fall into ineligible hands. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and state health officials had raised a number of concerns about regulation and public safety.
