MEDICINAL MARIJUANA BILL DIES IN COMMITTEE

SANTA FE - The defeat of a medicinal marijuana bill is a major setback
for Gov. Gary Johnson and proponents of liberalizing state drug laws.

The medicinal marijuana bill died late Friday evening on a 5-5 vote in
the Senate Judiciary Committee. Bills cannot move on to the next
committee on tie votes.

The measure, Senate Bill 8, was one of three bills that dealt with
easing criminal penalties for possession or use of marijuana.

All three bills have run into roadblocks in committee, making it
unlikely they will be revived this session.

A bill giving judges flexibility in sentencing nonviolent drug
offenders has not made it out of the Senate Public Affairs Committee.

Another bill making possession of less than an ounce of marijuana a
civil penalty, rather than a criminal penalty, died in a House
committee earlier this session.

The medicinal marijuana bill probably had the best chance of passage
since it nearly got out of the Legislature last year.

But senators who had voted for it last year changed their minds this
go-round.

Sen. Bill Payne, a Northeast Heights Republican, said he gave the bill
the benefit of the doubt last year when it was not clear whether
legalizing marijuana for medical use violated federal law.

But Payne said a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in a California
case persuaded him that there is no exception in the federal
Controlled Substances Act to allow for the medical use of the drug.

"I think you guys are stretching it," Payne told supporters of the
bill.

Sen. Cisco McSorley, an Albuquerque Democrat, tried to send the bill
out of committee without a recommendation to pass or reject it. But
the committee killed that idea on a 5-5 vote, as well.

Sen. Manny Aragon argued during the debate that opponents of the bill
were twisting the issue to make it appear as if the real intent was to
eventually legalize marijuana for everyone.

"I don't know how to argue or debate this, other than to look at this
from a practical standpoint," said Aragon, a South Valley Democrat.

He said arguments about federal drug laws were secondary to states'
rights to enact laws to help people who suffer from debilitating
diseases, such as AIDS or some forms of cancer.

"I don't see this big fast conspiracy that everybody talks about,"
Aragon said.

But Sen. Ramsay Gorham, a North Valley Republican who opposed the
bill, said there was no getting around that the state was setting
itself up for a legal battle against the feds.

Gorham shared a letter she received from the head of the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration, who said he believes the Senate bill
conflicts with federal law.

DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson said such a state law would undermine
drug enforcement efforts.

"The bill is conspicuously silent with regard to the fact that the
cultivation, distribution and possession of marijuana . . . would
violate federal law and subject individuals engaged in such conduct to
criminal and civil penalties," Hutchinson wrote.

An analysis of Senate Bill 8 by the state Attorney General's Office
also suggested that the measure, as written, would be illegal.

The Supreme Court case "suggests that any medical use of cannabis
would be illegal under federal law, and therefore the entire Act
(Senate Bill 8) may be invalid on its terms unless the federal law
changes," wrote Michael Cox, the director of criminal prosecutions for
the Attorney General's Office.

The analysis does not represent a formal attorney general's
opinion.

Sen. Roman Maes, the sponsor of Senate Bill 8, said he doubts the
issue will surface again before the session ends Thursday.

"I don't think we have enough time," said Maes, a Santa Fe Democrat.