Oregon Public Broadcasting

A bill in the Washington Legislature would expand the number of health care professionals who can recommend medical marijuana to patients.

Currently, only doctors can make that recommendation. The proposal would allow physician assistants and advanced registered nurses to make the call.

Joanna Mckee with the group Green Cross says the proposal would make medical marijuana more available to patients in rural parts of Washington.

Joanna Mckee: “If the nurse practitioners and the people allowed to write prescriptions anyway could be allowed to sign the papers, it would be so much easier than having to drive to the major medical facilities.”

Law enforcement groups oppose the bill.

Voters in Washington and Oregon approved medical marijuana ballot initiatives in 1998.