Now that it has overcome Governor Carcieri’s ongoing attempt to impose a statewide ban on compassion, the Rhode Island General Assembly has some questions to answer about these pot shops.

Will they be mom-and-pop operations, where a customer can carry a half-gallon of milk and a bag of chips to the counter, then order an ounce of primo weed along with scratch tickets?

Or will they be more like branch banks, with a vault and lots of security and an impersonal exchange with a clerk behind a Plexiglass shield who slides out the goods along with an updated account book? Two pounds, four ounces still available?

Visa? Mastercard? American Express?

And will there be a Little Rhody Pack of Grass? Will Rhode Island’s legal marijuana carry a Rhode Island brand — grown here, packaged here and tested here to meet the high sensory standards of the Ocean State Reefer Control Board? And who the heck is going to serve on that stimulating body anyway?

When the House and Senate voted to override the governor’s veto of a bill to set up dispensaries for medical marijuana, it overcame a rock-solid resistance to enlightened thinking. It also told a lot of sufferers that it is possible even within the confounding confines of the State House to settle down to some caring, commonsense legislation.

There are people with multiple sclerosis, AIDS, cancer and the debilitating misery of chemotherapy who can now at least foresee the day when the major obstacle to using legal medical marijuana for the relief of serious pain is removed.

People have told me they can’t get through the day without the relief that marijuana provides. But even when it was made legal for medical purposes, there was still the problem of actually getting enough to make a difference. For many, there was still the risk of buying it illegally for legal purposes. Now, the risk could be removed.

Obviously, there are still details to be worked out — location, supply, security, cost. In the meantime, we can sit back and enjoy those comically dusty, outdated, overworked, ill-informed references to marijuana that seem drawn from a very old movie in which a man gets crazier by the puff.

There will be a lot of lame attempts to belittle the marijuana dispensaries because it’s easier than trying to understand the vital difference between drug abuse and the use of a benign plant to relieve serious pain.

Expect to hear frequent references to Cheech and Chong, who have made a career out of goofing on the high life. Expect to hear a lot of people trying to say “dude” in a way that is really clever and derisive.

The word “hippie” will enjoy a brief revival, although the last one was seen scrubbing the painted flowers from his VW bus more than 25 years ago.

We might even hear the governor say, again, that the dispensaries will mean increased use of marijuana and have a negative impact on the children of the state.

Since the dispensaries will deal only with critically ill people carrying doctor’s prescriptions for marijuana, it is difficult to understand how they will increase use. They will only make existing use more risk free.

And how, exactly, does a state choosing to relieve the suffering of hundreds of its residents have a negative impact on kids?

When all the smoke has cleared and all the tired jabs are used up, Rhode Island will be left with something good. It will be a place where people can relieve their pain without getting arrested.

bkerr@projo.com