RI Senate overrides MMJ veto.

This is good news.

PROVIDENCE -- Working late into the night, weary lawmakers slogged on toward adjournment yesterday, battling over whether to institute new controls on prostitution and wine sales, confirming a new director of the state Department of Environmental Management and holding a Senate vote to override Governor Carcieri's veto of medical marijuana legislation.

In voting 28 to 6 in favor of the override, senators rejected objections of Senate Minority Leader Dennis L. Algiere, R-Westerly, who said that while the governor supports "effective pain management techniques," marijuana is "an addictive drug" and the override would mean that "nearly anyone" in the state could grow the plant.

The House sponsor of the bill, Rep. Thomas Slater, D-Providence, said House Speaker William J. Murphy, D-West Warwick, had agreed to an override vote, but not today.

Guess the House will wait to see the fallout from the Senate's override before they decide what to do. If you live in Rhody, you should be calling those guys up and thanking them personally.