COMMITTEE ENDORSES MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

SANTA FE -- A bill to legalize marijuana for the treatment of patients with
certain medical conditions cleared its first hurdle Tuesday.

The House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee endorsed the Compassionate
Use of Medical Marijuana Act by a 5-3 vote, with two Republicans and one
Democrat opposing the measure.

The legislation would update New Mexico's existing Lynn Pierson Act, adopted
in 1978. Under that act, patients could receive medical marijuana only as
part of a medical research program.

The medical marijuana bill is one of the several drug-related reform
measures supported by Gov. Gary Johnson.

The House bill, sponsored by Rep. Joe Thompson, R-Albuquerque, would allow
the use of marijuana to debilitating medical conditions, such as cancer,
HIV/AIDS, glaucoma and seizures.

A similar measure has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Roman Maes,
D-Santa Fe.

Health Secretary Alex Valdez told the House committee that his department
would administer the medical marijuana program. Valdez added, however, that
a task force would be established to determine who would cultivate and
distribute the marijuana.

The New Mexico District Attorney's Association has opposed the bill because
it feels the Health Department would have control of the program without any
independent oversight.

At the hearing before the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee,
several people urged committee members to endorse the proposal.

James Patterson, a quadriplegic who suffers from chronic spasms, told the
committee that he smoked marijuana for six weeks to see if it would relieve
his pain.

"I was amazed what it did for my spasms," said Patterson, who was injured in
a diving accident near Artesia in 1995.

Lynne Jackman told the committee that her husband, Vernon Jackman, died of
lung cancer four months ago and that he used marijuana to relieve his pain.

Jackman said she made marijuana butter and used it in cooking. "It relieved
his pain, nausea and vomiting," she said. The measure would give immunity to
qualified patients and their physicians from being prosecuted on drug
charges if the amount of marijuana they used was within the prescribed
limits.

However, it would not remove qualified patients from liability for damages
or criminal prosecution arising out of driving while intoxicated on
marijuana. Patients also could be prosecuted for smoking pot on a school
bus, on school property, in public vehicles and public places.