cannabisnews.com: Lockyer Plans D.C. Trip to Talk Changes in Pot Law





Lockyer Plans D.C. Trip to Talk Changes in Pot Law
Posted by FoM on February 24, 1999 at 10:40:03 PT

SACRAMENTO -- With a 20-member task force firmly in place to make sure the state's controversial medicinal marijuana law will benefit only cancer and other needy patients, Attorney General Bill Lockyer is turning his sights on Washington, where he hopes to persuade officials to change federal drug laws.
Lockyer said Tuesday he and attorneys general from other West Coast states with similar laws will meet next month with federal officials to discuss reclassifying marijuana as a drug that can be prescribed, under tight control, by physicians. The reclassification is crucial to enacting California's controversial Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative approved by voters to allow doctors to prescribe marijuana for medicinal purposes.Under current federal law, marijuana is classified as a drug that cannot be used by physicians and is considered without medicinal value. Other drugs, such as morphine and cocaine, are classified in a way that allows their medicinal use but under tight control by law enforcement.``It always amazes me that doctors can prescribe morphine but not marijuana,'' Lockyer told reporters after his first State of the Public Safety address.The federal changes also are needed to engage health care providers in helping revise the sloppily drafted state law, which has gone into effect only sporadically and is now effectively on hold.But officials aren't waiting for action from Washington. Lockyer appointed a 20-member task force of prosecutors, medical providers, law enforcement and patients to study ways to ensure the drug is never prescribed for purely recreational purposes. The task force, co-chaired by Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, and Santa Clara County District Attorney George Kennedy, is determining ways to tighten up the law, which has been criticized for not even listing the types of medical conditions that would trigger a marijuana prescription.Vasconcellos also will reintroduce a bill this week that creates a research unit at the University of California to determine, once and for all, whether marijuana has any proven medicinal value. Rand Martin, Vasconcellos' chief of staff, said researchers who want to participate will have to demonstrate their expertise, proposed research methods and lack of bias on the subject.Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Arizona have laws that are similar to California's but are more tightly drafted. Nevada voters passed a similar law in 1996, but under that law, they must ratify it in November 2000 before it can go into effect. Colorado voters also passed a medicinal marijuana law, but opponents challenged its validity and the issue is pending in the courts.Lockyer also reported that crime rates in the state continue to drop, with major crimes in California's largest cities down 12 percent last year from 1997. 
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