SENATE CANS PART OF POT BILL

Some state senators who last year backed a bill to legalize marijuana for
sufferers of serious medical conditions panned a new bill to allow "medical
marijuana" users to grow their own.

By a 6-2 vote, the Senate Public Affairs Committee voted to remove all
language concerning home cultivation of marijuana from Senate Bill 8. The
committee postponed further action on the bill to consider other possible
amendments.

Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, led the charge against the grow-your-own
provision. "I voted for last year's bill," he said.

Last year's measure, which passed the full Senate, called for the state to
distribute marijuana to approved medical patients. The marijuana to be used
would be grown and stored in an unspecified "secure" state facility.

But, Sen. Allen Hurt, R-Waterflow, argued he liked the idea of people being
allowed to grow their own marijuana. "It's so much simpler to have a few
plants in their back yard than have the state start a huge pot-growing
operation."

But the idea of marijuana growing freely in some back yards horrified other
senators. Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, told the committee she once
lived next door to some pot-smokers. One time she came back from a
vacation, Papen said, to find marijuana plants around her daughter's playhouse.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Roman Maes, D-Santa Fe, said he did not oppose
gutting the home-grown provision. He said he was worried about that
provision but concerned about how medical marijuana would be distributed.

Under SB8 as initially proposed, patients accepted into the
medical-marijuana program would be allowed to have up to an ounce of
marijuana plus three mature plants and four immature plants.

Only Hurt and Public Affairs Chairwoman Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, voted
to keep the "homegrown" provision.

The committee heard testimony from several people who said smoking
marijuana eased the pain and symptoms of their respective conditions. AIDs
sufferer Jeff Hammond of Carrizozo said he used to spend a majority of his
day "hovering over the toilet and feeling miserable." However, Hammond, who
was living in San Francisco, said he got into

California's medical-marijuana program and the drug helped him. Some
law-enforcement opponents of medical marijuana say the pharmaceutical drug
Marinol - which contains THC, a chemical found in marijuana - is a better
alternative to smoking marijuana.

However, Jack Kaplan, who suffers from both AIDS and hepatitis B, argued
that Marinol - which costs about $6 a pill - is "cost prohibitive and not
as effective."

Kaplan said smoking marijuana has eased his nausea and other side effects
of the medication for his diseases.

A parade of law-enforcement officials, including District Attorney Henry
Valdez and Santa Fe County Sheriff Ray Sisneros, spoke against the bill.

Santa Fe Police Chief John Denko told the committee he is worried about
second-hand smoke from marijuana - that people not on the state program
would be inhaling marijuana smoke.

Former state Public Safety Secretary Darren White, who now heads an
anti-drug group called Protect New Mexico, said medical marijuana is not
approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration, and thus there is no
recommended dosage.

White held up copies of magazines targeted at marijuana users, saying,
"Should we let the advertisers of High Times magazine decide (the dosage
levels)?"

Opponents also seized upon a ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that
said a California cooperative supplying marijuana to medical patients was
not exempt from the federal law against marijuana.

However, Clifford Rees, an attorney for the state Health Department, said
the ruling would not affect New Mexico's proposed law. He produced a legal
opinion from the Maryland state attorney general that backed him up.

But Rees said it is questionable whether the federal government could
prosecute those participating in a state medical-marijuana program. Several
states - including Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, California, Alaska, Hawaii,
Maine, Oregon and Washington - have medical marijuana laws. Maryland is
considering such a law, Rees said.

After Public Affairs is finished with SB8, it must then go to the Judiciary
Committee before reaching the Senate floor.