cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana Bill Takes Step 





Medical Marijuana Bill Takes Step 
Posted by CN Staff on February 21, 2003 at 12:50:24 PT
By Kate Nelson, Tribune Reporter
Source: Albuquerque Tribune 
Santa Fe - By the time he walked into David Salman's office, Lynn Pierson was nearly a ghost. A Vietnam veteran, he was looking at 30 but looking like 60. Cancer had blasted his lungs. Chemotherapy had maimed his appetite. Now he was starving. And he didn't want to die an outlaw.It was 1978, and he had a request for Salman, then the state House majority leader: Pass a law allowing cancer patients to smoke marijuana.
No state had such a law. Within weeks, New Mexico did.What the state didn't have was a law that worked well. Laden with paperwork and bureaucracy, it was never used.On Thursday, advocates of medical marijuana took a tentative step toward obtaining a law that works.Without recommending "yes" or "no," the House Business and Industry Committee passed onto the Judiciary Committee a medical-marijuana bill.Under it, people with cancer, HIV, AIDS or glaucoma could apply for state permission to possess marijuana. The bill wouldn't legalize the drug but would offer a get-out-of-jail-free card to people who need it.Now retired, Salman came back to urge passage of the bill, along with Anne Murray, who drafted the original bill.Even Lynn Pierson was there - in name only.Three months after the 1978 law passed, he died.Twenty-five years later, Murray said, who knows how many more Lynn Piersons have come and gone?"That's why we named it `The Lynn Pierson Compassionate Use Act,'" she said of House Bill 242. "My calculation was that would give it legs in terms of its history and its credibility."About 25 people, many of them suffering from debilitating illnesses, supported that aim."I can't work if I'm not well," said Hank Tafoya, a health educator from Taos who has AIDS.But by taking "two or three puffs" twice a day, he can hold down the other drugs that keep his illness in check.Some legislators weren't convinced."In Rio Arriba County, we've experienced a lot of (heroin) overdoses," Democratic Rep. Debbie Rodella said. "Although I empathize with all the individuals here, it sends a bad message to our children."Republican Rep. Jane Powdrell-Culbert of Corrales said she feared the bill would encourage street dealers - a concern that was shared by the bill's sponsor, Democratic Rep. Ken Martinez of Grants.The bill doesn't address where the marijuana would come from, he said, meaning patients could buy it from street dealers or grow it themselves.That's how a similar program works in Colorado. Gail Kelsey, administrator of that state's Medical Marijuana Registry, said the 2-year-old program allows nearly 250 patients to possess two ounces of marijuana or six plants."We called the DEA office in Denver," she said. "Not only do they not have an interest in pursuing the patients, but because of the small amounts they possess, they couldn't even take it to federal court."Medical marijuana was once considered the least offensive portion of former Gov. Gary Johnson's drug-reform crusade. But the committee's tepid endorsement of the bill portends a tough passage - first through the House and then the Senate."I think that drugs are such a hot-button issue that the illegal use of them tends to overshadow the compassionate use of them," Murray said.Even so, Salman said, 25 years ago, New Mexico made a promise to a man who was nearly a ghost. Legislators can make good on that promise now."This is an act of mercy," he said. "It was good legislation in 1978. It's better legislation today." Source: Albuquerque Tribune (NM)Author: Kate Nelson, Tribune ReporterPublished: February 21, 2003 Copyright: 2003 The Albuquerque TribuneContact: letters abqtrib.comWebsite: http://www.abqtrib.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmMedical Marijuana Bill Alive http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15410.shtmlA Busy Agenda: Drug Reform http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15228.shtmlPoll: Voters Support Medical Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14356.shtml 
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on March 03, 2003 at 22:03:27 PT
News Brief from The Associated Press
Medical Marijuana Bill Goes to Full HouseMonday, March 03, 2003 By Barry Massey, Associated Press WriterSANTA FE - A proposal to allow the medical use of marijuana by New Mexicans with debilitating illnesses is heading to the House for debate.The measure cleared the House Judiciary Committee on a 9-1 vote Monday.The legislation would make marijuana possession and use legal under state law for patients seriously ill with cancer, glaucoma, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, HIV or AIDS and certain spinal cord injuries.Those patients, or their caregivers, would be protected from prosecution under state law.However, opponents warned that they could be subject to federal drug charges."If smoking raw marijuana is a medicine, Dr. Kevorkian wrote the prescription," said Rep. Ron Godbey, R-Cedar Crest, who opposed the bill. He was referring to American euthanasia advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian.District attorneys and law enforcement groups testified against the legislation.Among those supporting the bill was a Las Cruces man, Fred MacDonald, who suffers from MS and a spinal cord injury.He lives half the year in Seattle, Wash., and participates in that state's medical marijuana program.Copyright: 2003 Associated Press
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