The committee was considering legislation sponsored by Rep. Thomas C. Slater, D-Providence, that would allow the state to license up to three “compassion centers” that would be allowed to provide marijuana to patients registered with the Department of Health. California and New Mexico are the only states among the 12 with medical marijuana laws to establish similar distribution centers, Slater said.

The centers would be run by certified nonprofit agencies approved by the Department of Health. The centers would be able to grow 12 plants or possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana for each patient who registers at one of the centers.

DesRoches’ case was not unique. Others testified that they have faced similar problems trying to buy marijuana.

“I went out on the street to get (marijuana) and I got beat up and robbed,” said Warwick resident Bobby Ebert, who has gotten a medical marijuana license to treat his HIV symptoms.

Jesse Stout, executive director of the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition, said the centers would not only give patients a safe place to procure marijuana, it also would be cheaper than the product sold on the streets because the centers will be run by nonprofit agencies.

“There have been no reports of nonprofit drug dealers,” committee Chairman Joseph M. McNamara, D-Warwick, jokingly said.

The cost is no small factor. Witnesses told committee members they are paying as much as $300 for an ounce of marijuana. Bobbi Brady Cataldo of North Providence said she has had to make decisions on whether to buy the marijuana that helps alleviate her multiple sclerosis symptoms or groceries.

“It costs $40 for something that will last you a week if you really ration,” Cataldo said. “Sometimes I say I can’t have this and groceries too. You’ve got to pick.”

Several doctors testified in favor of the bill.

Marijuana has proven effective in alleviating extraordinary pain, nausea, vomiting, muscle spasms and other neurological problems, said Dr. David C. Lewis, professor of medicine and community health at Brown University.

“The piece that’s missing is the piece that has to do with safety,” he said.

“I can’t imagine someone taking a legal medication and risk breaking the law,” Dr. Josiah Rich said.

If the legislation passes, the Department of Health would review applications from nonprofit groups, which would have to post a $250 application fee. In the first year of the program, the department would select one group to run a center and that group would have to pay a $5,000 licensing fee. It also would have to submit plans for the center, including security measures to protect the marijuana being grown and/or stored.

After the first year of the program, the department could select up to two more groups to run centers.

Several groups have approached the coalition expressing interest in running centers, Stout said, including AIDS Project Rhode Island and AIDS Care Ocean State.

Some people who would otherwise qualify for medical marijuana choose not to participate because they fear trying to buy it from street dealers, Stout said.

“I do think that’s a major detraction,” Stout said, of the lack of a secure source.

The committee took no action on Slater’s bill.

The Senate Health and Human Services Committee is considering duplicate legislation today. That bill’s sponsor, Sen. Rhode E. Perry, D-Providence, is chairwoman of the committee. She said Tuesday she expects the committee will approve her bill this afternoon.

Send reporter Joe Baker e-mail at [email protected].