SENATE COMMITTEE OKS MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

SANTA FE - A state-appointed contractor would most likely cultivate and
distribute marijuana for medical purposes under a proposal unanimously
approved by the Senate Public Affairs Committee on Thursday.

The contractor would be immune from any prosecution on state-related drug
charges under the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Act but may not be
protected from federal drug laws.

"This law has nothing to do with changing federal (drug) laws," Clifford
Rees, assistant general counsel for the state Health Department, told
reporters after Thursday's hearing.

Rees also conceded to reporters that the state-selected contractor to grow
and distribute marijuana could still be prosecuted for violating federal
drug laws.

Under the proposal, Rees said, the Health Department would select a secured
location to have the contractor grow pot for certain qualified patients
suffering from AIDS, cancer or other terminal illnesses.

The department would monitor all aspects of the marijuana cultivation,
including security, the number of plants to be grown and the amount of pot
to be produced and distributed.

"We would have absolute control over everything," Sen. Roman Maes, the
Santa Fe Democrat who is sponsoring the measure, said during the hearing.

If the bill is approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Gary
Johnson, New Mexico would become the first state in the country to be
directly involved in the growth and distribution of medical marijuana, Rees
said after the hearing.

Nine other states, which allow medical use of marijuana, let the patients
grow their own pot.

Maes had initially proposed that patients grow their own pot, but that
provision was removed after lawmakers expressed concerns about potential
abuses.

In a similar bill sponsored last year by Maes, the Health Department was
authorized to grow and distribute marijuana to qualified patients.

But Rees told lawmakers on the Public Affairs Committee on Thursday that
the department would most likely hire an individual or an entity to grow
and distribute marijuana if the measure became a law.

According to the proposal, physicians would only recommend the use of
medical marijuana for their patients, who would then have to undergo a
screening process by the Department of Health in order to receive the drug,
Maes said.

Citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, opponents of the measure
contended that the proposed bill would violate federal drug laws against
the cultivation and distribution of marijuana.

Last May, the Supreme Court ruled that a federal law classifying marijuana
as illegal has no exception for ill patients. That ruling allowed the
federal government to shut down the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative in
California, which cultivated and distributed medical marijuana.

The Supreme Court, however, didn't strike down any of the medical marijuana
laws in eight states.

Rees contended that the Supreme Court ruling doesn't address a state's
direct involvement in growing and distributing marijuana.

He said, however, "How the Supreme Court would rule if it came to the state
growing (marijuana) is still open ... Ultimately, it would be decided in
courts."