MEDICAL MARIJUANA - SENATOR SEEKS PROTECTION FOR USERS

Rawson: Bill Must Deal With Arrest Threat

CARSON CITY -- Senate Human Resources Chairman Ray Rawson said Wednesday
that he wants to change a bill creating a medical marijuana program in
Nevada and ensure pot users are not subject to federal arrest.

"I don't want to set up something that gives people the impression they
are OK (to use marijuana) because the feds may still bust them," said
Rawson, R-Las Vegas. "I don't have an answer yet." Rawson's committee
conducted an hour hearing on Assembly Bill 453, the bill by Assemblywoman
Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, that would put into effect the
voter-approved constitutional amendment to let doctors recommend marijuana
to AIDS, cancer and other patients. Approved patients would be permitted
to grow as many as seven marijuana plants in their homes.

The bill was approved 30-12 by the Assembly on May 23 despite a U.S.
Supreme Court decision that struck down a medical marijuana program in
California. Some observers thought the ruling meant the death of
Nevada's program.

After the meeting Wednesday, Rawson said that while lawyers decided
that the state can create the medical marijuana program, he still thinks
it would be subject to federal challenge and could be tossed out in court.

In the unanimous Supreme Court decision, justices ruled that marijuana
is an illegal drug under federal law for which no exception exists for
medical purposes.

Rawson said he will meet today with Sens. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City,
and Valerie Wiener, D-Las Vegas, in a subcommittee that will try to devise
a new version of the bill.

He said he was not confident that a compromise could be reached and
the amended bill passed by both houses before the Legislature
adjourns Monday.

"If the other house is agreeable to what we do, then absolutely we can do
it in time," Rawson said.

Amodei did not like other provisions of the bill that would make possession
of an ounce or less of marijuana a misdemeanor, punishable by a $600 fine.
A second arrest for possession also would be a misdemeanor, while a
third arrest would be a gross misdemeanor. Judges should be able to send
repeat offenders to prison, Amodei said. The subcommittee might put
Amodei's changes into the bill. Rather than allowing patients to grow their
own marijuana and risk federal arrest, Rawson prefers setting up a
federally approved research program under which some patients could use
marijuana. But Dan Hart, the leader of Nevadans for Medical Rights,
objected to the research program. He said he doubts that the federal
government would approve such a program.

And he said that the voter-approved constitutional amendment was
specific: The Legislature must create a full-fledged medical marijuana
program.

Giunchigliani said legislators are respecting the will of voters and
not promoting drug use.

"The public knows what they were voting on," she said. "We should not
undermine their position."

"We can't put people in violation of federal law," Rawson responded. After
the hearing, Rawson questioned whether people would have backed
the marijuana amendment if they realized that using marijuana could
subject them to the loss of their freedom and property. "You can go back
to the Civil War and say that was the will of the people in the South," he
said. "Does that make it right? No."