PANEL DOESN'T INHALE POT BILL

Even Its Sponsor Chokes On Its Merits, But It Passes Anyway

A bill laying the groundwork for chronically ill Coloradans to use
marijuana to relieve pain won begrudging support in the Senate Judiciary
Committee Monday.

The bill's sponsor said she didn't like it, but argued lawmakers were left
with no choice when voters approved Amendment 20 last November.

The ballot measure requires lawmakers to have a plan in place by April 30
spelling out procedures people must follow to use marijuana for medical
reasons.

"I carried the resolution (against Amendment 20)," said Sen. Norma
Anderson, R-Lakewood, shortly before the committee voted 5-2 to send her HB
1371 to the full Senate. "But the people disregarded that, and it's now the
law. But I don't like it, either."

Patients with a debilitating condition such as cancer, glaucoma or AIDS
must first get a doctor's approval and then apply to be placed on a state
registry.

Applicants for the registry must pay a $140 fee annually.

Although distribution and sale of marijuana is still illegal under federal
law, Amendment 20 allows patients to possess up to 2 ounces of marijuana
and six marijuana plants.

"The bill would get the program going," Anderson said. "It does not address
where you buy it. We say nothing about buying or selling (marijuana) in
this bill because it's illegal."

Dr. Richard Hoffman, the state Health Department's chief medical officer
and the state epidemiologist, said the state has had 65 applicants to run
the program. That person could be hired by mid-May, and the state could
begin accepting applications from those wanting into the program by June 1,
he said.

Sens. Jim F. Dyer, R-Littleton, and Ken Gordon, D-Denver, teamed up at the
start of the meeting to give Anderson a small plastic bag of grass
clippings from the Capitol east lawn and paper to roll her own cigarettes.

"I wouldn't recognize it (marijuana) if I saw it," Anderson said. "When I
was young, it was Bull Durham (tobacco)."