MARIJUANA BILL DEBATED IN SENATE

MONTPELIER - The sleeper issue of the session may find permanent slumber in
the Senate if opponents of medicinal marijuana, including Gov. Howard Dean,
get their way.

A bill allowing marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes with a
physician's consent passed through the Republican-controlled House last
week. But its fate in the Democratic Senate is much less certain.

Dean strongly opposes the bill. He has called it a move to circumvent the
federal regulatory process and legalize marijuana. The Democratic governor
has been evasive about whether he'd veto the bill if it makes its way to
his desk.

When asked at a recent news conference if he'd be put in a spot to veto it
this summer in between traveling around the country testing the waters for
a possible presidential run, Dean suggested he would try to avert such a
scenario.

"There are all kinds of interesting spots out there," he said. "Usually,
you try to anticipate them ahead of time, and avoid those problems, which
is what I anticipate we will do this time."

But with some leading Democrats in the Senate supporting the bill, or at
least the concept of medicinal marijuana, the debate is becoming one of the
most anticipated this session.

"It's going to be considered like any other bill," Senate President Pro Tem
Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, said Tuesday. "I support it."

Shumlin said he does have some questions about the House bill, including
the quantities people are allowed to possess. But he suggested those issues
would be aired in the debate.

"I'm sending it to the Health and Welfare Committee, where it will get a
clear hearing," he said, adding again, "I support it."

If it passes that committee, it would likely move to the Judiciary Committee.

And it was endorsed again Tuesday by another key Democratic senator. "I
support it, conceptually," said Sen. Nancy Chard, D-Windham, chairwoman of
the Health and Welfare Committee.

Chard said the governor had recently reached out to her through his staff.
"They made it clear he strongly opposes it," she said.

Still, she said she planned to give the bill a hearing as long as time permits.

"My priorities all year have been pharmacy, Medicaid and health insurance;
that hasnit changed," she said. "This is not something that will make me
drop everything ... but I will give the bill a fair hearing."

Specifically, Chard said she hopes to hear more from the medical community.

"My sense of what happened in the House was there may not have been a lot
of testimony on the medical side," she said. "It is certainly my desire to
take that testimony."

Pain Relief Is Aim

The bill passed the House after emotional debate. It had broad support from
Democrats, Republicans and Progressives. The measure allows seriously ill
people to obtain a physician's certificate to use marijuana to alleviate
pain, nausea and other symptoms associated with diseases such as cancer,
multiple sclerosis and AIDS.

The bill limits the amount a patient or caregiver can possess to three
mature plants, four immature plants or 3 ounces of marijuana. It also
permits those authorized patients or caregivers to grow the plant, as long
as they do it in a secure, indoor location.

Opponents point out that the bill flies in the face of federal law, and
sends a dangerous message to young people about drug use. They point to
existing drugs to ease pain, including Marinol, a pill that contains THC,
an active ingredient in marijuana.

Supporters counter that the Vermont bill is the most restrictive marijuana
measure of the eight states that already have such laws, in part by setting
up a database with the state Department of Public Safety so police can
confirm the identities of authorized patients and caregivers. It also
limits caregivers to serving only one patient so they cannot possess more
than minimum amount allowed in the bill.

Some See Problems

As is the case in the House, positions on this issue do not follow party lines.

"We've got enough problems with drugs that are legal in this country, let
alone those that are currently illegal," said Sen. Richard Sears,
D-Bennington, chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

"I want more assurance that it's being properly regulated."

Sen. Susan Bartlett, D-Lamoille, chairwoman of the Appropriations
Committee, said she opposed the bill.

"I think there are a lot of problems with it," she said."I do have concerns
about the mixed messages it sends to young people."

Several senators on the Health and Welfare Committee interviewed Tuesday
supported taking the House bill up and some went further to generally
endorse the concept.

"Without looking at the details of the bill, I believe in its basic
premise," said Sen. John Campbell, D-Windsor, who sits on both the
Judiciary and Health and Welfare committees.

"I don't want to kill the bill before a hearing," said Sen. Virginia Lyons,
D-Chittenden, vice chairwoman of the Health and Welfare Committee. "I think
it's worth consideration."

Sen. William Doyle, R-Washington, a member of the committee, said he had an
open mind on the issue. "I'm going to see what they have to say," he said.

Details, Details

Others offered thin support for the concept, but needed answers to
lingering questions about the minutiae of the proposal, such as how
patients or caregivers obtain the drug or the seeds if they wish to grow it.

"I'm not opposed to the concept. We have a law on the books now," said
Minority Leader Sen. John Bloomer, R-Rutland, a member of the Judiciary
Committee. "It does depend on how it's restricted."

The Legislature in 1981 passed a law allowing marijuana to be used for
medicinal purposes, but the rules governing the law were never drafted so
it has been an idle statute.

Lt. Gov. Douglas Racine, the president of the Senate and a Democrat, said
he was reserving judgment until the bill made its way through the committee
process.

"I have real concerns about the bill as it passed the House. It would need
to be tightened up a lot," he said. "At the same time, I am sympathetic to
the folks suffering from AIDS and other diseases. ...There is a way I would
support it, but I need to know a whole lot more than I do about it right now."