VOTERS PUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA MESSAGE OUT

Some advocates want the message of last week's overwhelming vote in
Burlington in favor of legalizing medicinal marijuana aimed at just
one man.

Supporters of medicinal marijuana consider Rep. Bill Keogh,
D-Burlington, critical in the vote to pass a bill legalizing the
substance this year. Keogh, also a Burlington city councilor
representing the South End, said he supports the bill, but its status
is not up to him.

The bill is sitting in a House committee in Montpelier awaiting
action. Committee Chairman Tom Koch, R-Barre, said it's unlikely the
bill will get much further this session.

"It's all pressure that group is going to put on me," Keogh said of
the Vermont chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws, which sent out a news release identifying him as the
committee's swing vote. Keogh said he received numerous post cards
urging him to support the bill and, on Town Meeting Day, his district
was peppered with signs supporting the measure.

Tuesday, 82 percent of Burlington voters said they favored legalizing
marijuana for medical purposes. The vote is advisory and is not
binding. Those who support the measure hope the Burlington vote will
give the bill a chance to pass this legislative session.

"It is to send a message," said Hardy Machia, president of Vermont
NORML. "It's really straight from the voters."

A majority vote in the House Health and Welfare Committee could free
the legislation from limbo, but the vote is split, Machia said. In the
middle is Keogh, Machia said.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. David Zuckerman, P-Burlington,
agreed.

"It's certainly a signal to Burlington legislators that voters support
this," Zuckerman said of the citywide vote. "I think it encourages
Rep. Keogh to put more effort in to pass it out of committee."

In 2002, the House passed a bill that would have legalized medical
marijuana, but it never made it out of the Senate. Keogh supported
that bill.

This session, the Senate passed the bill with a vote of 22-7. The
issue awaits action in the House.

The bill under consideration would exempt patients with certain
chronic conditions or illnesses -- cancer, HIV and glaucoma, for
example -- from arrest and prosecution for possession of limited
amounts of marijuana.

Koch's House Health and Welfare Committee has a number of major bills
to undertake this session, he said. He sees no reason to make
legalizing the medical use of marijuana a priority because patients
using the drug as a treatment are not being prosecuted, Koch said.
Even if the state passed such a law, the substance would remain
illegal under federal statute, he said.

The committee is split pretty evenly on the issue, Koch said. A
majority of the 11 committee members would have to vote to bring the
bill up for discussion, "but I think that would throw a monkey wrench
into the committee schedule," Koch said.

Keogh is one of five Democrats on the Health and Welfare Committee. A
bill's status is up to the committee chair, Keogh said.

"Who the hell is Hardy Machia to say that I'm the swing vote on this?"
he said.