LOCKYER WORKING TO CARRY OUT STATE'S LAW

California voters in 1996 approved Proposition 215 to legalize the
medical use of marijuana by a comfortable margin, but the measure
immediately hit a wall of official resistance.

Then-Attorney General Dan Lungren succeeded in shutting down about
two-thirds of the clubs statewide that were providing marijuana,
arguing that not all of the recipients were ill. And the federal
government, saying the state initiative was superseded by federal
restrictions on the drug, blocked most of Proposition 215 in the courts.

But Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who took office in January, has
been working to enact the law, saying "The attorney general has a duty
to try to effectuate the people's will."

Lockyer, whose mother and sister died of leukemia, added that "it
always amazes me that doctors can prescribe morphine but not marijuana."

Lockyer also is getting support from other Western attorneys general
whose states have passed marijuana measures. Several of them plan to
lobby the federal government during a conference for attorneys general
next week in Washington, D.C., to reclassify the drug so physicians
can legally prescribe it.

In the meantime, Lockyer appointed a 20-member task force of
prosecutors, medical providers, law enforcement officials and patients
to study ways to ensure the drug is never prescribed for purely
recreational purposes.

The task force, co-chaired by Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, and
Santa Clara County District Attorney George Kennedy, is determining
ways to tighten the law, which has been criticized for not even
listing the types of medical conditions that would trigger a marijuana
prescription. The law was approved by 56 percent of the state's voters.

Even though the task force includes people who've fought over
legalization of the drug, members said they've been working
cooperatively.

"Everybody seems genuinely interested in trying to implement
Proposition 215 in a responsible way," said Scott Imler, director of
the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center in West Hollywood.

Christy McCampbell, president of the 7,000-member California Narcotics
Officers Association, echoed Imler's view.

"We are all just trying to reach common ground on how to deal with an
extremely complex issue," said McCampbell, whose organization opposed
Proposition 215 in 1996.

Among options the committee is considering is a proposal for a
statewide registry of medical marijuana patients. The state Department
of Health Services would create the registry and issue identification
cards to medical marijuana users.