Legislation to allow “compassion centers” to dispense medical marijuana has now been approved by both the R.I. House and the R.I. Senate, near-assuring its passage this year – though Gov. Donald L. Carcieri opposes the measure and has vetoed related bills before.

The House voted 63-5 last week to approve its version of the legislation, sponsored by Rep. Thomas C. Slater, D-Providence. The bill would allow for a maximum of three nonprofit dispensaries, which would be registered with the R.I. Department of Health and supply marijuana and related products to patients registered with the state medical marijuana program. Currently, there is no legal way to obtain marijuana in the state.

If the measure is enacted, Rhode Island would join California and New Mexico as the only states that allow marijuana dispensaries, though 13 states allow medical uses of the drug.

“We recognized when we created the medical marijuana program that marijuana has a legitimate medical application, and that patients should have access to it if they need it,” Slater said in a news release. “But we forced them to deal with criminals in order to get it. We’re talking about very sick people, and they shouldn’t have to put themselves at risk to get their medicine.”

Slater and Sen. Rhoda Perry, D-Providence, sponsored similar legislation last year, but it died in committee in the House amid concerns that the federal government might raid the centers because federal law prohibits the distribution of marijuana. Instead, both chambers passed a bill, which was later vetoed by the governor, to study the issue.

The new U.S. attorney general, however, Eric Holder Jr., has said the federal government will no longer prosecute dispensaries for patients in states that allow them. “Without the threat of federal raids, there’s no practical reason not to develop a safe way for patients to access this drug,” Slater said. The Senate version of the bill passed in late April by a 35-2 vote.

The issue of medical marijuana hits close to home for both Slater and Perry. Perry’s nephew, Edward O. Hawkins, died four years ago after a long battle with AIDS and would have benefited from marijuana to ease his pain and nausea, but refused to use it for fear of arrest.

Slater is undergoing treatment for two kinds of cancer, and several members of his family have died from cancer.

The legislation has been named the Edward O. Hawkins and Thomas C. Slater Medical Marijuana Act. Read the full text of the House bill here.