The Rhode Island Senate has passed a bill by a 30-2 margin allowing nonprofit stores in the state to sell marijuana to medical patients.

The bill now heads to Governor Donald Carcieri for approval, although he vetoed similar legislation last year.

If the bill does indeed become law, it would allow so-called compassion centers to sell marijuana to registered patients with debilitating diseases. So far, 680 patients are registered with the medical marijuana program.

State lawmakers approved the use of medical marijuana in 2006, but the sale of the drug was never fully legalized. If the current bill goes through, Rhode Island would be the third state in the country and the first on the East Coast to approve marijuana dispensaries for medical patients.

Gov. Carcieri now has a week to either sign the legislation into law or veto the bill. If he does nothing, the bill will automatically become law without his signature. A veto also might prove difficult, because the bill passed each chamber with significantly more than the three-fifths majority necessary to override a veto.