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The R.I. House of Representatives has approved the Senate version of legislation to allow nonprofit “compassion centers” to dispense medical marijuana, but because the bill was amended again in the House before passage, it’s still not ready for the governor.

Both the House and Senate had approved their own versions of the bill, which would allow up to three dispensaries to operate in the state, under the supervision of the R.I. Department of Health. The latest vote, on Wednesday, was 63-to-5, another comfortable margin for a bill that most people expect to be vetoed by Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, so an override will be needed.

The next step is a vote on the amended bill, scheduled for Tuesday at 3:30 p.m., in the Senate Health and Human Services committee. Once that is done, the Senate must vote on the bill, and then it can go to the governor.

Under current Rhode Island law, seriously ill patients can get certified by their doctors and be allowed to possess small quantities of ready-to-use marijuana and/or to grow their own. But there is no legal way to actually get the marijuana in the first place, and doctors also can’t provide guidance to their patients on how to use it.

Only one other state, New Mexico, licenses and regulates marijuana dispensaries; in addition, California allows them to operate, but without state supervision. Advocates for compassion centers in Rhode Island wanted regulation to ensure the dispensaries would be secure and protect the patients’ privacy.

Possession and distribution of marijuana, even for medical purposes, are still crimes under federal law, but federal officials have quietly stayed away from dispensaries for some time. In February, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder specifically said that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency would not raid such facilities, ending concerns about federal interference.

In a statement issued by the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition, the leading local group advocating for medical marijuana and providing resources to patients who use it, Ellen Smith, a patient who uses the drug to ease the pain from Ehlers-Danlos disease and other illnesses, hailed the bill’s passage.

“I can’t wait for this to be law, so I can feel safe getting my medicine,” she said. “It’s tough enough being in pain all day, without having to go out and buy marijuana on the black market. Safety is the biggest thing for me.”

An outline of the bill’s progress through the legislature, with a link to the latest version, is available here.