MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE

Bill Killed in New Mexico, New Ones Introduced in New York and Rhode
Island

Last week, DRCNet reported on the status of marijuana-related
legislation at the state houses this year
(http://www.drcnet.org/wol/276.html#statehouse2003).
In the days since then, one medical marijuana bill has been defeated
in New Mexico, while two more have been introduced, in New York and
Rhode Island.

In New Mexico, HB242, the Lynn Pierson Compassionate Use Act, failed
in the House by a vote of 20-46, according to the New Mexico
legislature's web site. The Thursday vote against the bill came just
three days after the House Judiciary Committee passed it with a strong
9-1 vote. The bill had already passed the House Business and Industry
Committee and the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee with "no
recommendation."

The bill would have allowed seriously ill people suffering from
cancer, glaucoma, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS and certain
spinal injuries to legally possess marijuana with a physician's
recommendation. It would have also provided registry ID cards to
patients who have their doctors' recommendations and to those
patients' caregivers.

Despite testimony from patients who had seen their lives improved by
medical marijuana, the New Mexico House seem more attuned to the
position articulated by Rep. Ron Godbey (R-Cedar Crest), once the
nemesis of drug reforming Gov. Gary Johnson, and still fighting the
fight. "If smoking raw marijuana is a medicine, Dr. Kevorkian wrote
the prescription," said Godbey, referring to euthanasia advocate Dr.
Jack Kevorkian.

But while medical marijuana is dead this year in Montana (defeated
last week) and New Mexico, New York and Rhode Island have now joined
the roster of states where the issue is in play in the legislature. In
New York, Assemblyman Richard Gottfried (D) and five other Democratic
assembly members held a press conference Wednesday in Albany to
announce the reintroduction of Gottfried's medical marijuana bill,
A5796.

Under A5796, qualified medical marijuana patients would be able to
receive a month's supply of marijuana from organizations authorized by
the state Health Department to grow and distribute it. To qualify,
patients would have to be certified by a physician as having a serious
medical condition that could benefit from the use of marijuana. The
certification would be good for one year, and the legislation implies
a monthly limit of under eight ounces.

"This ought to be a medical issue between a patient and a patient's
health care professional," said Gottfried, chair of the Assembly
Health Committee, where the bill is pending. "It should not be the
business of the legislature or the police department."

Although 28 Assembly members have signed onto the bill, its prospects
remain cloudy. It has no sponsor in the Republican-controlled Senate,
and a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick)
told the Schenectady Gazette he saw no indication the chamber would
soon tackle the issue. Similarly, a spokesman for Gov. George Pataki
(R) said Wednesday that the governor believed other alternatives could
provide the benefits claimed by medical marijuana.

New York Republicans have turned a deaf ear to medical marijuana
despite strong public support for it, as indicated most recently in a
Zogby Poll conducted for New Yorkers for Compassionate Care, a group
pushing the legislation. According to the poll, conducted January
23-26, 66% of voters support medical marijuana legislation similar to
Gottfried's, while only 37% believed legalizing medical marijuana
"sends the wrong message" about drug abuse.

Gottfried or others have introduced similar bills each year since
1997.

A week before Gottfried stood on the steps at Albany, five Rhode
Island state senators cosponsored medical marijuana legislation in
that state. SB0725, the Medical Use of Marijuana Act, would allow
persons suffering from cancer, HIV/AIDS, Crohn's Disease, glaucoma,
multiple sclerosis, intractable pain, or "any other medical condition
duly approved by the Rhode Island board of medical licensure" to
legally use and possess medical marijuana upon a doctor's
recommendation. The bill also provides explicit protections for
physicians who make such recommendations.

Under SB07225, patients would be limited to an unspecified 60-day
supply of medical marijuana and would be protected from asset
forfeiture or seizure of their medicine upon showing proof that they
have complied with the bill's provisions. The bill has no provisions
regarding the source of patients' medical marijuana supplies.

The Medical Use of Marijuana Act was introduced by a bipartisan group,
including Senators Rhoda Perry (D-Providence), Elizabeth Roberts
(D-Cranston, Warwick), June Gibbs (R-Middletown, Little Compton,
Tiverton, Newport), Juan Pichardo (D-Providence) and Frank Ciccone
(D-Providence).

Visit http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A05796 to view the New York
bill online.

Visit http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/billtext/billtext03/senatetext03/s0725.pdf
to view the Rhode Island bill online.