ACTIVIST TO PUSH MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Court Ruling Won't Affect Legislative Efforts

SANTA FE Reena Szczepanski says she won't let the U.S. Supreme Court get in
her way when she lobbies state legislators to legalize medicinal marijuana
next year.

The nation's high court Monday ruled the federal government can prosecute
people whose doctors have recommended they use medical marijuana to help
alleviate their illnesses, regardless of state laws that allow it.

But Szczepanski said the ruling wasn't on the merits of medical marijuana
use and basically leaves matters the way they have been. The justices did
not strike down state laws but affirmed the authority of federal law
officers to enforce federal law.

"Unfortunately, what's kind of in play out there is that this annuls state
laws. . . . That's very far from the truth. We're in the same situation we
were before," she said this morning.

Szczepanski and members of the Drug Policy Alliance New Mexico
unsuccessfully pushed for a state law this year to allow seriously ill and
registered patients to have access to regulated amounts of medical marijuana.

And while the 2006 session is primarily to be about budget matters,
Szczepanski said, her understanding is Gov. Bill Richardson will put the
topic on his call, allowing lawmakers to consider it in the 30-day session.

Richardson during the session said he supports a "sensible, compassionate
plan that makes medical marijuana available to patients suffering from
life-threatening disease."

Szczepanski said the measure she pushed for had a good chance of becoming
law. Time ran out on the 60-day session, however.

"I think the political will and support were there last session, but we got
caught in that last-minute bill debating," Szczepanski said.

Because supporters were able to frame the issue in terms of helping the
seriously ill, not drug legalization, she said a majority of lawmakers were
supportive.

"It's not a Democrat-Republican issue. It's an issue all of us can
understand because we all know someone who's been seriously ill," she said.