PUSH FOR MEDICINAL POT

Access: Attorney General Leads An Effort To Clarify Law, Set Up A
Marijuana-distribution System For Suffering Patients.

Determined to get medicinal marijuana to suffering patients, California law
enforcement and cannabis advocates are uniting on myriad proposals, ranging
from clinical studies to pondering a state-run pot field.

In a tough balancing act, state officials seek to draft a law that
clarifies California's murky 1996 medicinal marijuana initiative without
drawing the fury of federal officials who vow to snuff out medicinal pot.

The campaign is headed by new Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who is a stark
contrast to his Republican predecessor, Dan Lungren, the arch foe of
Proposition 215, which voters approved to allow doctors to prescribe
homegrown medicinal pot.

Lungren joined federal prosecutors in a lawsuit last year that shut private
``cannabis clubs'' that distributed marijuana to patients.

Lockyer brings a personal commitment to the issue after watching his mother
and sister die from leukemia. ``It always amazes me that doctors can
prescribe morphine but not marijuana,'' he said.

He has assembled a task force of unlikely allies -- prosecutors and
narcotics agents, pot advocates and doctors -- determined to hammer out a
law that brings marijuana relief to patients who genuinely need it.

Among the new initiatives:

The 31-member task force is drafting legislation to buttress Proposition
215, which was criticized for failing to define what illnesses were
protected or how much pot a patient could possess.

The task force co-chairman, state Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, has
introduced a draft that urges the federal government to reclassify
marijuana, now deemed an addictive drug with no medical benefits, as a
prescribed medication.

But the new proposal says that until the federal government takes action,
``this bill would require the state to develop and implement a plan for the
safe and affordable distribution of medicinal marijuana.''

The task force draft report suggests ``a desirable alternative (to
homegrown pot or cannabis clubs) would be state-grown marijuana,''
cultivated by University of California researchers and distributed by
county public health clinics. This would allow patients to obtain marijuana
of consistent quality and dosage and avoid costly, illegal street purchases.

Vasconcellos has reintroduced a bill (SB 847) to authorize a three-year, $3
million medicinal marijuana research program. Supporters hope it spurs a
new method of marijuana relief -- inhalers, skin patches or a hybrid plant
- -- that would allay federal officials' concerns.

San Mateo County is seeking federal approval of a county-funded, $350,000
study on safety and benefits of medicinal marijuana. Federal officials are
expected to rule on the application next month. A 60-patient clinical trial
could begin by mid-summer.

But all these projects face the same huge hurdle: the need for federal
approval.

Lockyer recently went to Washington, D.C., to lobby U.S. Attorney General
Janet Reno and federal drug czar Barry McCaffrey for leeway on medicinal
marijuana. But when Lockyer pointed to a 1972 state law authorizing him to
provide marijuana for research projects, McCaffrey warned that anyone who
flouted federal law risked arrest.

``The attorney general has now realized that the best we can do is work
toward having a system for distribution of medical marijuana in place if,
and when, the federal government loosens its grip,'' said Special Assistant
Attorney General David De Alba, Lockyer's task force representative. ``The
attorney general is not going to challenge federal authorities.''

Undaunted, Vasconcellos and other task force members are weighing applying
for federal approval of a research project that would also distribute
medicinal marijuana to patients.

``All the truth and facts and research is supportive of the effort to give
people their rights to have a doctor prescribe medicinal marijuana --
except the old guard who are frightened by their own shadows,''
Vasconcellos said.

Local law enforcement officials admit it's weird to be caught between the
will of California voters and the wrath of federal colleagues.

``It's so crazy to work on this project with the shadow of the federal
government looming over you,'' said Karyn Sinunu, a Santa Clara County
prosecutor on the task force. ``It's actually very courageous of Lockyer to
be facing this problem. But it's the right thing to being doing.''

Task force members are motivated by personal experiences and the sense that
Washington will ultimately heed popular sentiment.

``I had a very good friend who died of cancer. She was a Catholic mother of
four who never smoked cigarettes or drank much, but she really benefited
from the use of marijuana,'' Sinunu recounted. ``She wasn't looking to get
high. She was looking for some comfort in her last months and the marijuana
was a godsend.''

About 73 percent of Americans support ``making marijuana legally available
for doctors to prescribe in order to reduce pain and suffering,'' according
to a Gallup poll in March. California's law was followed by passage of
similar measures in Alaska, Washington, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona and Colorado.

``I'm pushing for pharmaceutical marijuana for medical purposes. I'm not in
favor of legalizing pot,'' said San Mateo County Supervisor Mike Nevin, an
ex-cop who's on the task force. ``And we don't want to send the wrong
message and undermine all the good efforts and progress we made in telling
kids to stop smoking.

``Law enforcement people in California just want to make it possible to get
this to the sick people who need it.''