MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL SLOWS DOWN IN NEVADA SENATE

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - The future of a medical marijuana measure got
hazy Wednesday as it was sent to a Senate subcommittee - with
adjournment of the 2001 Nevada Legislature drawing closer.

AB453, sponsored by Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, lets
seriously ill Nevadans have up to seven marijuana plants for personal
use despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the issue.

As approved by the Assembly, the measure also makes possession of one
ounce or less of marijuana a misdemeanor rather than a felony.

After testimony in the Senate Human Resources and Facilities committee,
the panel chairman, Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, assigned the bill to a
subcommittee for more study.

If the measure emerges from the subcommittee and is approved by the full
committee, the Senate must still pass it. After that, if it's amended,
it must return to the Assembly for final action before Monday's
scheduled adjournment.

"We need to review the decriminalization issue and medical use," said
Rawson, adding that he wanted to ensure that the bill wouldn't put
Nevadans in a position of violating federal law.

A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling held that a federal law classifying
the drug as illegal makes no exception for ill patients. The court's
action leaves those distributing the drug for that purpose open to
prosecution

One way to resolve a looming legislative impasse would be to set up a
marijuana "research program" overseen by the University of Nevada
Medical School, Rawson said.

The concept of a research program had been suggested by a task force of
doctors and pharmacists, but the Assembly Judiciary rejected the plan
because of concerns over involving the state in growing and distributing
medical marijuana.

Under the program, marijuana could be grown on a few acres of university
farm land and given to patients. Doctors would track whether the
marijuana helped ease pain, nausea or other symptoms.

Nevadans voted overwhelmingly in 1998 and 2000 to amend the Nevada
Constitution to authorize use of marijuana by those suffering from
cancer, AIDS, glaucoma and other painful and potentially terminal
illnesses.

The task of implementing the voters' mandate was left to the
Legislature.

The bill also would create a state registry for all patients whose
doctors recommend they use marijuana for medical reasons.

The reduced penalty for possessing marijuana goes beyond the
constitutional amendment by changing the law on possession of an ounce
or less of marijuana. Nevada is one of only a few states with a felony
law for marijuana possession.

Under AB453, a person with an ounce or less of marijuana could be
charged with a misdemeanor and fined up to $600. A second offense would
result in a higher fine and assignment to a treatment or rehabilitation
program. Third-time offenders would be charged with a gross misdemeanor
and have to pay an even steeper fine.