DAVIS MOVES AWAY FROM OK OF CARD FOR MARIJUANA USE

U.S. LAW TRUMPS MEDICAL SANCTIONS

Gov. Gray Davis probably will veto a bill to create a state identification
card for users of marijuana for medical reasons, his spokesman said yesterday.

The announcement by the Davis office came as the Assembly Health Committee
approved a bill backed by Attorney General Bill Lockyer intended to
implement a 1996 ballot measure that legalized pot for medicinal use.

The bill would allow quasi-underground marijuana shops in many Northern
California counties to do business in the open.

``This is clearly in conflict with federal law,'' Davis' press secretary,
Michael Bustamante, said of the measure by Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa
Clara.

Davis campaigned against the marijuana measure, Proposition 215, along with
law enforcement officers and Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the U.S. drug czar.

``Given the governor's long-standing position, I would be hard pressed to
see him sign it,'' Bustamante said. ``Until the federal government
legalizes its use or growing, state government should not put itself in a
position of sanctioning it.''

The statement was a change from Monday, when Bustamante said Davis had no
position on the bill, but added: ``If good science and good medicine
dictate that this is reasonable, the governor will look at this very
seriously.''

The developments left Vasconcellos sputtering in anger. ``I'm really
offended,'' he said in an interview. ``This defies anything I've seen in 30
years here.''

``I thought the people of California elected the governor -- not Barry
McCaffrey,'' he said.

He said he was offended because Davis's staff had breached protocol by
making the governor's position known first to a reporter, and not to him.

The position of the new Democratic governor puts him in the same camp with
former Gov. Pete Wilson and former Attorney General Dan Lungren, both foes
of medical use of marijuana.

Wilson twice vetoed Vasconcellos' attempts to legalize marijuana for
medical use in legislation more limited than Proposition 215. Lungren's
agents raided the Cannabis Buyers' Club in San Francisco in 1996.

Davis has repeatedly said elected officials should respect the will of
voters when they approve initiatives like Propositions 187 and 209, which
limited government programs for illegal immigrants and outlawed government
affirmative action programs.

Asked why Davis did not similarly follow voters' wishes on Proposition 215,
Bustamante only repeated, ``This is clearly in conflict with federal law.''

The bill includes the recommendations of a 30-member task force of
prosecutors, police and marijuana advocates who tried to find a way to
legalize medical use of pot, even though its cultivation, possession and
sale are outlawed by state and federal laws.

``We believe the bill provides for responsible implementation of
Proposition 215,'' Attorney General Lockyer told the committee.

The vote was 9 to 3 to send the measure, SB848, to the Appropriations
Committee.

The bill would create a statewide identity card that would be issued to
anyone whose physician found to be afflicted with a ``serious medical
condition,'' including AIDS, anorexia, arthritis, cancer, chronic pain,
glaucoma, migraine or other ``chronic or persistent medical symptom.''

Bearers of the card would not be subject to prosecution for possession,
transportation or growing marijuana -- if the amount is less than will be
established later by state regulations.

A separate card would be provided to qualified caregivers.

Assemblyman Howard Wayne, D-San Diego, asked Vasconcellos to reconcile his
bill with federal law outlawing pot possession.

``The federal government is so hysterical and unresponsive on this issue
that I am not going to let them dictate policy,'' Vasconcellos responded.

Wayne apparently was unpersuaded. He voted no.

Also approved by the committee, 11 to 1, was a second Vasconcellos bill,
SB847, which would appropriate $1 million for the University of California
to study the medical effects of marijuana.

``This is simply to find out the truth,'' Vasconcellos said.