cannabisnews.com: A Busy Agenda: Drug Reform 





A Busy Agenda: Drug Reform 
Posted by CN Staff on January 19, 2003 at 18:33:39 PT
By Steve Terrell, The New Mexican
Source: Santa Fe New Mexican 
As set forth in the state constitution, in 60-day sessions, legislators can introduce bills on virtually any issue - not just financial matters and items on the governor's call, as is the case in 30-day sessions, which are held in even-numbered years. Here are a few of the issues with which the Legislature will deal over the next two months: Drug-law reform: The New Mexico Drug Policy Project, the main lobbying force behind drug-reform proposals in recent years, will be pushing for two major ones.
One is a "medical marijuana" bill, which would allow patients with serious medical conditions to smoke the drug to alleviate symptoms such as nausea and pain and to enhance appetite.Lt. Gov. Diane Denish is on record supporting the basic concept of a medical-marijuana law, and Gov. Bill Richardson has said he would consider signing such a bill.However, Richardson's public-safety secretary-designate John Denko has been a staunch opponent of the idea and has testified against medical marijuana at legislative committee hearings in recent years.Medical-marijuana bills have been introduced during the past two legislative sessions. In 2001 the Senate actually passed one, though it died in the House. However, last year a similar bill failed to pass the Senate. Many senators said they were hesitant to back it because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision against a California medical marijuana club. Also, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency director Asa Hutchison last year wrote a letter to the Legislature saying such a bill would violate federal law. The law-enforcement establishment fought hard against the bill, saying it would make marijuana more available to young people.A New Mexican/KOB-TV poll of 421 likely voters in September - conducted by the Mason-Dixon firm of Washington, D.C. - showed that 72 percent said they would favor "legalizing marijuana use by those who have serious medical conditions, to alleviate pain and other symptoms."Only 20 percent oppose the idea, while 8 percent were undecided.The other bill backed by the group would focus on drug-rehabilitation treatment instead of incarceration for nonviolent first- and second-time offenders."Similar legislation has passed in Arizona and California where thousands of people have already been diverted into treatment with tremendous savings to taxpayers," the Drug Policy Project said.Such legislation has been introduced during the past two sessions but failed to pass both years.One drug-reform proposal that isn't expected to go anywhere this year is the idea of decriminalizing drugs. Without Gary Johnson, a prominent critic of the war on drugs, in the governor's office - and with Richardson firmly on the record opposing decriminalization - advocates won't be introducing any such bills this session. In the past two sessions such legislation didn't get very far through the committee process. Note: This is only a portion of the article. The rest was not related to drug policy.Source: Santa Fe New Mexican (NM)Author: Steve Terrell, The New MexicanPublished: January 19, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Santa Fe New MexicanContact: letters sfnewmexican.comWebsite: http://www.sfnewmexican.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Drug Policy Alliancehttp://www.drugpolicy.org/Poll: Voters Support Medical Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14356.shtmlA Doctor's Look at Medical-Marijuana Lawhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11880.shtmlMedical Marijuana Bill Draws Objections http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11833.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on January 23, 2003 at 09:06:19 PT
Related Article from The Santa Fe New Mexican
National Drug Czar Pays Visit To Governor's Office 
 
 
 
 By Steve Terrell, The New MexicanJanuary 23, 2003
 
 
 
 The last time a top-level federal drug official came to New Mexico, it was to debate then-Gov. Gary Johnson about legalizing marijuana.But when John Walters, the director of National Drug Control Policy came to the governor's office Wednesday, it was "a symbolic meeting to show we support the director's mission," the new governor, Bill Richardson, said Wednesday. Despite his general support of Waters' policies, Richardson said, he remains open to a "medical marijuana" bill that would legalize marijuana to treat symptoms of certain serious medical conditions.However, when asked about details of what he would look for in such a bill, Richardson said medical marijuana "is not a major concern of mine."No medical-marijuana bill has been introduced in the Legislature so far this year, though a spokeswoman for the New Mexico Drug Policy Project said such legislation is in the works. "It should not be viewed that this is going to be a back-door attempt to legalize marijuana," Richardson said of the medical-marijuana issue."The main message is that this governor is against legalizing drugs," Richardson said. He said he welcomed Walters to New Mexico and was glad to have the opportunity to tell the drug czar that "we are not working at cross purposes."Richardson said he and Walters are trying to get more money for drug-rehabilitation programs in the state.Richardson reiterated his campaign rhetoric about not wanting to build more prisons but hoping to build more treatment centers.However, he said he would not support another bill touted by drug reformers that would mandate treatment instead of prison for first- and second-time nonviolent drug offenders. "I'm not ready to take that step," he said.Unlike Johnson — who frequently called the War on Drugs a failure — Richardson said, "I believe there has been progress. It's an intractable problem. It's very hard to lick it. We need strong law enforcement and more treatment."Johnson, who left office Dec. 31, turned into something of a national spokesman for the drug-reform movement, frequently appearing on national television to advocate liberalizing drug laws.A frequent sparring partner was Drug Enforcement Agency chief Asa Hutchison, who came to Albuquerque for a public debate with Johnson in September 2001. 
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