LOCKYER PLANS D.C. TRIP TO TALK CHANGES IN POT LAWS

SACRAMENTO -- With a 20-member task force firmly in place to make sure the
state's controversial medicinal marijuana law will benefit only cancer and
other needy patients, Attorney General Bill Lockyer is turning his sights on
Washington, where he hopes to persuade officials to change federal drug
laws.

Lockyer said Tuesday he and attorneys general from other West Coast states
with similar laws will meet next month with federal officials to discuss
reclassifying marijuana as a drug that can be prescribed, under tight
control, by physicians. The reclassification is crucial to enacting
California's controversial Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative approved by
voters to allow doctors to prescribe marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Under current federal law, marijuana is classified as a drug that cannot be
used by physicians and is considered without medicinal value. Other drugs,
such as morphine and cocaine, are classified in a way that allows their
medicinal use but under tight control by law enforcement.

``It always amazes me that doctors can prescribe morphine but not
marijuana,'' Lockyer told reporters after his first State of the Public
Safety address.

The federal changes also are needed to engage health care providers in
helping revise the sloppily drafted state law, which has gone into effect
only sporadically and is now effectively on hold.

But officials aren't waiting for action from Washington. Lockyer appointed a
20-member task force of prosecutors, medical providers, law enforcement 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 up the law, which has been criticized for not
even listing the types of medical conditions that would trigger a marijuana
prescription.

Vasconcellos also will reintroduce a bill this week that creates a research
unit at the University of California to determine, once and for all, whether
marijuana has any proven medicinal value. Rand Martin, Vasconcellos' chief
of staff, said researchers who want to participate will have to demonstrate
their expertise, proposed research methods and lack of bias on the subject.

Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Arizona have laws that are similar to
California's but are more tightly drafted. Nevada voters passed a similar
law in 1996, but under that law, they must ratify it in November 2000 before
it can go into effect. Colorado voters also passed a medicinal marijuana
law, but opponents challenged its validity and the issue is pending in the
courts.

Lockyer also reported that crime rates in the state continue to drop, with
major crimes in California's largest cities down 12 percent last year from
1997.