Advocates ask Connecticut to let terminally ill patients use medical cannabis in hospice settings, push drafting fixes

Lou Rinaldi, who helped create Connecticut’s cannabis ombudsman, offered conditional support for a bill to allow terminally ill patients to use medical cannabis within health-care and hospice facilities. Rinaldi urged three drafting changes: explicitly permit dry-herb vaporization (as distinct from combustion), remove or modify the locked-container mandate for patients with limited dexterity, and define the transition out of 'emergency care' so access is not delayed.

Rinaldi argued that the bill’s "no-touch chain of custody" and patient-responsibility language would protect facility staff and federal registrations while allowing patients to possess and self-administer their medication. "This provision explicitly allows a facility to suspend compliance if a federal agency issues a rule or notification prohibiting cannabis use," he said, noting an exit ramp for facilities that fear federal enforcement.

Committee members and other witnesses pressed for evidence from other states. Rinaldi cited written testimony from the cannabis ombudsman noting roughly a dozen jurisdictions with similar laws and pointed to California’s "Ryan’s Law" as an often-cited precedent. Representatives asked for follow-up materials and technical clarifications, including how facilities would handle odor and ventilation if dry-herb vaping were permitted and how locked-storage rules would accommodate patients with limited physical ability.

No vote was taken. The committee requested specimen language and comparative state examples to address hospital concerns about DEA/CMS funding and to refine storage and emergency-care provisions.