LEGISLATORS APPROVE DELAYING PROP. 200

COURT BATTLE LIKELY OVER POT LAW

By: Hal Mattern and Kris Mayes

TEXT: Legislation curbing Arizona's new law legalizing marijuana for
medical use won final approval Tuesday from state lawmakers, setting up a
likely court battle over the issue.

Gov. Fife Symington plans to sign the bill within the next week,
effectively delaying implementation of Proposition 200, the
medicalmarijuana initiative approved by voters by a 21 ratio in November.

Proposition 200 calls for legalizing marijuana and such other Schedule
One drugs as heroin, LSD and PCP for use by critically ill patients. But
the bill passed Tuesday suspends enactment of the proposition until the
federal Food and Drug Administration approves the drugs for medical use.

Because that could take years, supporters of the drug initiative say
legislators effectively have gutted Proposition 200.

"This is the ultimate act of political arrogance by the Legislature,"
said Sam Vagenas, campaign coordinator for Proposition 200. "It is a
callous disregard of the will of the voters."

Vagenas said supporters of the proposition plan to launch a
threepronged attack on lawmakers who supported the bill, including filing
a lawsuit challenging the power of the Legislature to change voterapproved
propositions significantly.

They also plan to begin another initiative drive to prohibit lawmakers
from amending propositions for two years after they are passed. Their third
offensive will involve targeting for defeat lawmakers who voted to change
Proposition 200.

"We believe voters will pay them back in 1998," Vagenas said.

Lawmakers who supported the change disagreed with claims that they were
thwarting the will of the people. They said they were simply following
federal law, which requires FDA approval before drugs can be prescribed by
doctors.

"I think that is what the people voted for," said Sen. John Kaites,
RGlendale. "I think people understood that there is a process drugs must
go through for approval for medical use, even though it wasn't specified in
the proposition."

Kaites and other supporters of the bill also said they were concerned
that such dangerous drugs as heroin, LSD and PCP were included in
Proposition 200, an outcome some voters may not have realized. The
lawmakers said that polls have shown that not everyone who voted for
Proposition 200 liked every aspect of it.

"Bear in mind that when it comes to initiatives, there are ambiguities,"
said Senate Majority Leader Marc Spitzer, Rnorthcentral Phoenix. "We have
to protect the health, welfare and safety of people in this state."

But Sen. Pete Rios, DDudleyville, chided his fellow senators for trying
to secondguess voters.

"It seems that we are saying to the voters that you're real smart when
you vote for us, but we don't trust your judgment when it comes to voting
on other important issues; therefore, we will change what you voted for,"
Rios said.

The medicalmarijuana law has been a political hot potato since it
passed, with conservative lawmakers trying to figure out a way to implement
it without actually allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana and other drugs
to their patients. As written, the proposition allows doctors to prescribe
marijuana to critically ill patients if two licensed physicians agree on
the use and offer supporting research.

A similar proposition that passed in California resulted last week in a
federal judge's ruling that temporarily barred government action against
doctors who recommend marijuana for their patients. The judge said federal
policy on the issue was too confusing.

The bill curbing Arizona's medicalmarijuana law was passed by the House
last month, but stalled in the Senate when some Republicans balked at
voting for something that appeared to ignore the voters. That forced
supporters of the bill to call in such national figures as former drug czar
William Bennett to lobby holdouts.

Even so, supporters were forced to enlist Democratic votes to salvage
the bill Tuesday. It passed on a slim 1713 vote, with 16 needed for
passage. Five Republicans ended up voting against the bill, while four
Democrats crossed over to support the measure.

Meanwhile, billionaire philanthropist George Soros, whose money helped
propel Proposition 200 to passage, is close to accepting a challenge by
Bennett to debate the issue in Arizona.

"He has expressed his interest in debating Mr. Bennett," said Shawn
Pattersin, a spokesman for Soros.

Bennett challenged Soros to the debate last week during a trip to
Phoenix to lobby lawmakers for support of the bill to curtail the marijuana
law.

Aides to Soros contacted Bennett on Monday to inquire if he was serious
about the challenge, according to one of Bennett's associates.

"He (Bennett) said he was very serious and would welcome a challenge in
a public forum," said Nelson Cooney, one of Bennett's associates.

"His attitude is these issues are serious enough and Soros has been
funding this and he really owes it to the people to get out front and say
why."