LOCAL DOCTORS TO HAVE SAY IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA PROGRAM

Two Santa Fe physicians have been appointed to an eight-member
medical-advisory committee that will help guide the Health
Department's new Medical Cannabis Program.

Dr. Timothy Lopez, an oncologist at the Cancer Institute of New
Mexico, and Dr. William Johnson, a psychiatrist at Su Vida, will serve
on the advisory committee with Dr. Erin Bouquin, a family-medicine
physician at Los Alamos National Laboratory; Dr. Elaine Edmonds, a
neurologist in Albuquerque; Dr. Eve Elting, an internal-medicine
physician in Truth or Consequences; Dr. Eve Espey, a gynecologist in
Albuquerque; Dr. Mitchell Simson, an internal-medicine physician in
Albuquerque; and Dr. Karla Thornton, an infectious-disease specialist
in Albuquerque.

A new state law, which went into effect July 1, legalized the medical
use and possession of marijuana for people suffering from debilitating
health conditions. Qualifying conditions are cancer, glaucoma,
multiple sclerosis, damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord
with intractable spasticity, epilepsy and HIV/AIDS. Hospice-care
patients with a terminal illness also may apply. Patients must have
their condition certified by a physician and fill out an application
with the Department of Health before they can be considered for
participation in the program.

So far, the Department of Health has signed off on 10 out of 29
patient applications and denied five. Two applications are pending and
12 are incomplete.

Approved patients get an identification card that protects them from
state prosecution for possessing up to 6 ounces of medical marijuana,
four marijuana plants and three seedlings - what the Health Department
describes as a three-month supply. The card cannot protect people from
federal prosecution, however.

In its twice-a-year public hearings, the medical advisory committee
will evaluate patients' petitions to add to the list of qualifying
medical conditions and review the Department of Health's application
decisions. The first meeting is tentatively set for August.

Even though 12 states now have medical-marijuana laws, the herb is not
recognized on the federal level as a medicine and is considered
illegal. At this time, the state Health Department has not worked out
a production and distribution system, the second phase of the state
law. The department is waiting for the Attorney General's Office to
provide an opinion on that issue. No other state with a
medical-marijuana law has put a state agency in charge of licensing
growers and distributors.

Applications are available at www.nmhealth.org. For more information,
call Melissa Milam at 827-2321.