Medical Marijuana: Budget Crimps Bill's Chances

Lawmakers said Monday that the state does not have the money to start
a medical marijuana program overwhelmingly approved by residents who
voted twice to change the state's constitution.

Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chairman Morse Arberry, D-North Las
Vegas, said Monday that no money exists this year to pay the $30,000
startup costs of the medical marijuana program.

All legislation that increases state spending could fail this year
because the Legislature must cut $121.5 million from Gov. Kenny
Guinn's proposed $3.8 billion budget.

Guinn did not include the medical marijuana program in his budget,
though 65 percent of voters in November's election authorized
marijuana for people with AIDS, cancer and other illnesses.

The bill's author, Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, said that 381,947
people voted for the marijuana initiative in the fall, compared with
223,892 who voted for Guinn in his gubernatorial race in 1998. In
November 1998, 59 percent of voters, 241,510, supported the measure,
which had to receive voter approval twice to amend the state's
constitution.

"The public is quite smart about who they are voting for and what they
are voting for," she said.

Jack Finn, Guinn's press secretary, said startup funds were not
included in the governor's budget in part because the administration
has questions about the legality of a medical marijuana program.

"The federal government has tried to restrict medical marijuana
programs in every state that tried to start them," he said.

Arberry realizes the people have spoken and remains hopeful the bill
will be approved. But for now, "It sits," he said. "There is nothing
we can do because we have no money. If we can find some extra money,
we will make sure it is approved."

The Legislature adjourns June 4, and so far the medical marijuana bill
- -- Assembly Bill 453 -- has not passed even one house of the
Legislature.

The bill incorporates many of the details used in Oregon's medical
marijuana law. A patient with a doctor's permission to use marijuana
could grow up to seven plants in his home, of which no more than three
could be mature marijuana plants. The patient could not have more than
one ounce of marijuana available for immediate consumption.

Under the bill, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of
Motor Vehicles and Public Safety would operate a medical marijuana
registry program. Patients would pay a $50 fee for a certificate to
use marijuana.

Giunchigliani estimated that 200 people initially would receive
permission to use marijuana. She said the $30,000 cost is necessary to
start the program, but that after the first year, the program would be
self-sufficient.

In Oregon -- which has 1,900 people qualified to use marijuana -- two
cases have been reported of people abusing their right to use marijuana.

After a short hearing on her bill, Giunchigliani said that because
voters authorized the program, she thinks the Legislature has no
choice but to pass the bill. But no legal penalty exists if
legislators fail to pass the proposal.

"Thirty thousand dollars is not a great deal of money," she said. "I
don't think passage is in doubt."

But during a hearing, Assemblywoman Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas,
raised several reservations about the bill -- including provisions
added by Giunchigliani that would make possession of an ounce or less
of marijuana a misdemeanor punishable by a $600 fine.

"There is more in the bill than what was on the ballot," she
said.

Cegavske added that she thinks marijuana is a gateway drug that leads
to "heavier" drugs. She said she thinks the grow-your-own provisions
will lead to problems.

"We are telling others it is OK to have a little bit of marijuana,"
she said.

But Giunchigliani said a commission led by Supreme Court Justice Bob
Rose recommended that possession of small amounts of marijuana become
a misdemeanor.

Giunchigliani said this would be recognition of reality. She said all
1,467 people busted for small amounts of marijuana in 1999 in Clark
County had their offenses reduced to misdemeanors.

Nevada is one of the few states that has a felony marijuana law. State
law calls for people to receive probation for their first two offenses
if they complete a drug rehabilitation program.

Note: No startup money available for registry program, lawmakers say.