MEDICAL MARIJUANA: GOVERNOR'S WRANGLING REVIVES MEASURE

Senate Passes Resurrected Bill, Which Now Heads to the House

The state Senate on Saturday resurrected the medical marijuana issue,
passing a new bill allowing people suffering certain serious medical
conditions to smoke cannabis to treat their symptoms.

The action came two days after the House voted 37-32 to defeat the
original bill (Senate Bill 238).

But on Saturday, the Senate voted 32-3 to pass Senate Bill 523, which
now goes to the House.

Gov. Bill Richardson told The Associated Press on Friday that he had
talked to several Democrats who had voted against that bill in an
effort to get them to change their minds. He also said he planned to
talk with House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Nambe. Lujan is a Richardson
ally but an opponent of medical marijuana.

SB 523, sponsored by Sen. Shannon Robinson, D-Albuquerque, originally
pertained only to topical uses of cannabis, such as ointments and
patches. But Robinson agreed to submit a substitute bill that
incorporated the provisions of the bill that was defeated in the House.

Sen. Carol Leavell, R-Jal, one of three to vote against Robinson's
bill, said, "We're sending a very poor, poor message to our citizens."

Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, a vocal proponent of medical marijuana,
expressed frustration with opponents of the issue, including members
of his own party in the House, some of whom, he said, deliberately
confused the medical marijuana proposal with decriminalizing
marijuana for everyone.

"This is a 30-page bill with strict controls, and (opponents) say
that sends the wrong signal?" Adair asked. "The signal (opponents)
send is that you don't understand the bill."

Adair noted that the medical marijuana program contained in the bill
applies to only about 150 to 175 people statewide.

For the past seven years, drug-law reform advocates have been trying
to get the Legislature to adopt a medical marijuana program. The
Senate has passed such bills several times, only to see the
legislation die in the House.

In 1978, the Legislature passed a medical marijuana research project
at the urging of Lynn Pierson, a cancer patient who died before the
bill went into effect. That bill had a "sunset clause," which means
it expired several years ago.