MEDICAL POT BILL DIES IN HOUSE

SANTA FE -- In her hoarse voice, Erin Armstrong has talked at
committee hearings about suffering through thyroid cancer.

She has spoken to lawmakers one on one and to reporters.

Her message: Marijuana can help ease the suffering of the sickest among us.

But Armstrong, 25, could say next to nothing Thursday after the House
on a 33-36 vote killed a measure that would allow chronically ill
patients to use marijuana for medical purposes.

"Terribly disappointed and devastated," she said, surrounded by her
mom and a crowd of equally teary-eyed friends and lawmakers.

As soon as the vote was complete, a downtrodden Armstrong left the
House floor to be folded into several silent embraces.

But Armstrong and other advocates for the bill said they'll keep
working on a measure until the Legislature approves one. Time ran out
on a similar measure last year.

"We'll try it until it gets through," Armstrong said. "We're not
going to give up on the state's patient community."

The bill, approved early on by the Senate, sat on the House calendar
for seven days before it was heard.

Opponents included Republicans who said the measure runs contrary to
federal law. And several Republican representatives proposed
amendments to the bill, all of which failed during the almost
three-hour debate.

"It's nothing more than a way for people to get illegal drugs," said
Rep. Larry Larranaga, an Albuquerque Republican.

Proponents said patients would need doctor approval and an
identification card to participate in the program.

Larranaga also wanted to amend the bill, sponsored by Sen. Gerald
Ortiz y Pino, an Albuquerque Democrat, to prohibit the state from
paying for any lawsuits that arise from the program.

"We shouldn't be using any state funds to defend any cases that come
up," he said.

Larranaga also said he's concerned the state could lose federal
crime-fighting money should it pass the law.

Rep. Antonio "Moe" Maestas, an Albuquerque Democrat who carried the
measure in the House for Ortiz y Pino, said none of the 12 states
with similar laws have lost any funding.

But the vote wasn't totally along party lines, as other Republicans
supported the bill, which Gov. Bill Richardson had said he'd sign.

House Minority Whip Dan Foley, a Roswell Republican, urged the House
to vote for the measure.

"Compassion isn't a Republican or Democrat issue; it's about doing
what's right."

Patty Jennings, a breast cancer survivor who supports the bill, said
she was disappointed in the outcome.

"People who are not there don't always understand that we're asking
for support to have all the options available to us."