MEDICAL POT BILL APPEARS TO HAVE DEM SUPPORT

Gov. Gary Johnson now has some legislative allies among Republicans and
Democrats to join at least part of his crusade to rewrite the state's drug
laws.

Rep. Joe Thompson is expected to introduce a bill to the House today that
would let patients with some debilitating illnesses use marijuana.

Sens. Cisco McSorley and Roman Maes, both Democrats, hope to introduce a
similar bill in the Senate during the 60-day legislative session.

The bill attempts to give some relief for medical conditions that produce
severe pain, nausea, muscle spasms, seizures and wasting of the body.

"What we're trying to do is to help folks," said Thompson, an Albuquerque
Republican.

The bill calls on the state Health Department to register patients who
could qualify for help and to control how they get marijuana.

So far, Health Secretary Alex Valdez said the details of how marijuana
might be distributed hadn't been worked out.

"The Department of Health is going to be given an amount of responsibility
on this," Valdez said.

Patients could grow their own marijuana plants at home, according to the bill.

The department is also to set up an advisory board that would write the
rules for how a person could be certified to receive marijuana for
medicinal purposes. A licensed health practitioner must be included in the
certification process.

A psychiatry professor visited the Roundhouse on Tuesday to promote the bill.

"Thirty different symptoms and syndromes can be treated with cannabis,"
said Lester Grinspoon of the Harvard Medical School.

He said the drug is a powerful painkiller and fights nausea better, and
more cheaply, than many prescription drugs. It can also restore appetite to
patients whose digestive tract is upset by disease or strong medicine.

Marijuana has never been shown to be toxic to the human body, either,
Grinspoon said.

His own cancer-stricken son used it to counteract the nauseating effects of
chemotherapy, he said, and the drug made his life more bearable for a year
until he died.

Marijuana's ability to ease the anguish of a terminal illness is a prime
reason for passing the bill, which is being called the Compassionate Use
Medical Marijuana Act, legislators said.

McSorley, an Albuquerque Democrat, said his hope with the bill is to make
life tolerable for those in intense pain toward the end of life.

"Who are we to tell people they can't have those last precious six months?"
he asked.

Democrats are also looking to increase the funding for drug-addict
rehabilitation programs statewide.

The Governor's Office started showing more signs Tuesday that it would at
least partially meet those requests from Democrats.

"By Thursday, we'd like to have the package put together," said Dave
Miller, Gov. Johnson's legislative liaison.

The bill would probably seek about $5 million for treatment and
rehabilitation that would be administered through the Health and
Corrections departments, Miller said.

He expected that McSorley, Thompson and Maes, a Santa Fe Democrat, would be
at the top of the governor's list of people who could help carry treatment
legislation through the Roundhouse.

Democrats have been asking for as much as $40 million for treatment, but
Miller said it's hard to judge just how much money is needed.

"How sure are we that we know exactly how many people are hooked on
marijuana or cocaine or methamphetamines or heroine?" Miller asked.

The money for treatment would come from the money won through the national
tobacco settlement lawsuit, to which New Mexico was a party, Miller said.

He expected that funding might rise to the level being asked for by
Democrats in five to eight years.

Passage of the medical marijuana bill could be rocky.

Already, Rep. Ron Godbey, an Albuquerque Republican, is planning to
introduce a bill that would repeal an existing law allowing use of
marijuana only in medical research.