LAWMAKER PUTS POT BILL ON 'BACK BURNER'

Marijuana Registry Faced Strong Chance Of Veto

In the heated final moments of the state Legislature's session, a lawmaker
seeking to create a photo identification registry for medical marijuana
patients held back his bill, fearing an angry governor's veto.

So California's medical marijuana policy remains status quo at least until
January, when the Legislature will return to find the registry proposal
right where it was left -- one step short of Gov. Gray Davis' desk. Better
that than back at square one, said a spokeswoman for state Sen. John
Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara.

"We held it on the Senate floor specifically because John was not getting
any sign from the governor that he was willing to work on it," spokeswoman
Sue North said this week. "If we had sent it downstairs, the chances were
very great it would've been vetoed."

North suggested Davis already was angry with the Democratic-controlled
Senate for failing to back his plan to save the beleaguered Southern
California Edison power utility. Putting a contentious bill in front of a
miffed governor -- a governor whose veto threat killed an almost identical
bill two years ago, to boot -- would've been unwise, she said.

But Davis spokesman Roger Salazar said his boss wouldn't let a grudge
affect his decision: "He weighs each piece of legislation on its own
merits, and any extracurricular activities that take place on the floor ...
don't come into play when he makes decisions on bills."

Davis is too busy now with hundreds of bills the Legislature sent him to
take a position on one bill the Legislature didn't send him, Salazar added.
"If they get to his desk, he'll take a look at them; if they don't, he won't."

California voters in 1996 passed Proposition 215, permitting medical
marijuana use without spelling out a way to get it or distinguish medical
use from still-banned recreational use.

Vasconcellos' Senate Bill 187 would create a voluntary ID-card registry for
medical marijuana users and primary caregivers. County health departments
would take applications and forward approvals to the state Department of
Health Services, which would maintain the statewide registry. The photo ID
cards would be a shield from prosecution.

Vasconcellos, Attorney General Bill Lockyer and law enforcement agencies
believe this procedure will give police a tool to separate medicinal from
recreational marijuana use. Foes, including those who wrote Proposition
215, say it's an unwarranted invasion of privacy and an unneeded bureaucracy.

The most recent legislative analysis estimates the bill would cost the
state Department of Health Services and county health departments up to $2
million to develop and maintain the registry. The bill lets DHS charge
application and renewal fees, the analysis also notes; the state Finance
Department estimates about 10,000 people would pay a $100 to $200 fee,
while 2,000 indigent patients would have their fees waived.

The state Senate passed Vasconcellos' bill 23-8 in June, and the Assembly
passed it 41-30 in the 2001 session's long, pell-mell, final day Sept. 14.

Leaving the bill just short of Davis' desk leaves Vasconcellos room to
maneuver come January, North said.

"The governor may ask that it be taken back to committee for amendments,"
she said. "We have all the flexibility of being able to deal with it as we
want to, as soon as we get feedback from the governor's people."

Lockyer is OK with the bill's delay.

"The attorney general agrees having a bit more time provides more of an
opportunity to work out some of the problems," spokeswoman Hallye Jordan
said Tuesday. "He has always been committed to trying to find a way to
implement this initiative (Proposition 215) and will continue to do so."

But Proposition 215's authors remain dead-set against this bill.

"This bill is just as bad as it has always been -- it would just be a
nightmare," said John Entwistle of Californians for Compassionate Use. "215
has been a raging success, legislatively and in the public's ability to
grow marijuana and have it. He (Vasconcellos) should be working on
expanding it, not contracting it."

Millions of California voters approved Proposition 215, and now "this tiny
cabal" -- led by Vasconcellos and consisting of many of the law enforcement
authorities which originally opposed all medical marijuana -- is trying to
ram new constraints down the public's throat, Entwistle said.

"Veto the bill," he urged Davis. "It had no public input, it's expensive
... it's totally restrictive."