cannabisnews.com: Third Time Could Be a Charm for Pot Bill





Third Time Could Be a Charm for Pot Bill
Posted by CN Staff on June 06, 2003 at 07:02:20 PT
By Josh Richman, Staff Writer
Source: Oakland Tribune 
A Bay Area lawmaker is pushing a medical marijuana registration bill for the third time in four years, but there's no sign yet that Gov. Gray Davis will deviate from his past refusals to sign it into law. "He said he'd get back to me but he hasn't, and I'm not waiting any longer," state Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, said of Davis on Tuesday, a day after the Senate voted 23-11 to pass his bill and send it to the Assembly. Today is the deadline for the Senate to pass legislation. 
Davis spokesman Russ Lopez said "because of the budget situation, the governor hasn't had time to revisit the bill; he hasn't taken a position at this point." Vasconcellos said he doesn't know whether Davis might find it easier to back the bill now that he's in his second term and no longer worried about re-election. But the national mood on medical marijuana has come to the point where only "the federal crazies" still oppose finding a solution, he said. The bill, SB 420, would create a statewide voluntary photo identification card program for medical marijuana patients and caregivers. The cards, to be sought and obtained through county health departments and registered with the state, would exempt people from arrest for marijuana cultivation, possession, transportation or use, although people without cards could still claim protection under the state's medical marijuana law. Such backers as the California Medical Association, drug policy reform groups and Attorney General Bill Lockyer said it would help law enforcement officers distinguish those who have a valid medical need for marijuana from those using it for recreation. A photo ID registry was among the main recommendations of a 29-member medical marijuana task force -- including police, prosecutors, elected officials, doctors and marijuana advocates -- Lockyer convened in 1999. Vasconcellos co-chaired that panel and this bill is his third try at getting its proposal implemented; Davis blocked both earlier attempts. Davis' 1999 threat to veto Vasconcellos' SB 848 because it conflicted with federal law -- which completely bans marijuana -- led to its death in the Assembly. He re-introduced the bill during the next session as SB 187, and it passed both the Senate and the Assembly. But it never went to Davis' desk because Vasconcellos believed it would be vetoed. Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, said there would be more pressure to change the federal law "if senior state officials were actually to engage in civil disobedience against federal law enforcement" by standing up for their state laws. Nadelmann said Davis has been "backward, even cowardly, craven on a whole range of drug policy issues, including this one. That's been a key missing ingredient."Vasconcellos said support from the California District Attorneys' Association and the California State Sheriffs' Association -- which backed the 2001-02 version of his bill and from which he's seeking endorsements for the latest version -- could sway Davis this time. The bill also would tighten up other elements of the state's medical marijuana law, requiring the state to adopt regulations on how much marijuana a patient can have by mid-2004, and regulations governing the operation of marijuana-growing cooperatives by 2004's end. Note: Bay Area lawmaker pushes medical marijuana registry legislation.Source: Oakland Tribune (CA)Author: Josh Richman, Staff WriterPublished:  Friday, June 06, 2003 Copyright: 2003 MediaNews Group, Inc. Contact: triblet angnewspapers.com Website: http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Drug Policy Alliancehttp://www.drugpolicy.orgPolice, Medical Marijuana Backers Seek Alliance http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9910.shtmlMedical Pot Raises State's Rights Issues http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9811.shtml
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