Medical marijuana supply: 24 ounces, 15 plants OK, state says

A new rule determining how much pot constitutes a 60-day supply for medical marijuana users was finalized today, a decade after Washington voters passed an initiative legalizing marijuana for people suffering from terminal and debilitating illnesses.

The new state rule, which goes into effect Nov. 2, sets the supply limit at 24 ounces of usable marijuana plus 15 plants.

The 24-ounce amount is unchanged from an earlier draft of the rule. Some states allow more, others less. It's the same amount in Oregon.

But a significant change from the draft rule is that health officials no longer differentiate between immature and mature plants, explained Tim Church, a spokesman for the state Department of Health. Under the draft rule, patients would have been allowed a maximum of six mature plants and 18 immature plants.

"At any one time, you can have 15 plants of any size," he said. "While the plant number goes down, it increases the amount most patients will be able to harvest in their houses."

The rule also drops a requirement that patients get a doctor's note if they need more marijuana than the determined 60-day supply. The department opted "for more general wording" to better reflect what is written in state law, Church said.

During a public hearing in August, many patients argued that their doctors were unlikely to write them a note because of the controversy surrounding supply limits, he said. Not only that, but the Legislature — which ordered the health department to come up with a limit rule last year — didn't task the department with creating a process to allow patients to exceed whatever limit was created.

While Church acknowledged that the new language muddies the waters some, he said it will now "be up to patients and the courts to determine what medical necessity is" and how to prove it.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com