SENATE TACKLES MEDICINAL MARIJUANA ISSUE

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 hasn't 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."