Pubdate: Fri, 16 Feb 2001
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2001 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, N.M. 87103
Website: http://www.abqjournal.com/
Author:  S.U. Mahesh, Journal Capitol Bureau

MEDICAL-POT BILL WAITS ON DETAILS

SANTA FE -- A bill to legalize marijuana for medical use was put on hold 
Thursday after lawmakers raised concerns over who would cultivate and 
distribute the drug.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Joe Thompson, R-Albuquerque, would allow 
patients suffering from certain chronic and debilitating diseases to use 
marijuana to relieve their pain.

However, the measure does not specify who would cultivate, distribute or 
sell marijuana for those patients.

"I don't want an 80-year-old grandmother growing her own marijuana," Rep. 
Alfred Park, D-Albuquerque, said at a hearing of the House Consumer and 
Public Affairs Committee.

Park, a committee member, said the language in the bill needed to be more 
specific before the committee could act on it. The committee tabled the 
measure until Tuesday.

Thompson said after the hearing that he would clarify the language to 
specify that the state Department of Health would dispense the drug.

Rep. Patsy Trujillo Knauer, a Santa Fe Democrat and chairwoman of the 
committee, said she expects the bill to clear her committee and move to the 
full House for consideration.

The new bill would update the Lynn Pierson Act, passed by the Legislature 
in 1978. Under that act, patients could receive medical marijuana as part 
of a medical research program.

Thompson's bill would make a qualified patient and his or her physician 
immune from prosecution on drug charges if the amount of marijuana were 
within prescribed limits.

However, the bill would not relieve the patient from liability for damages 
or criminal prosecution arising out of driving while intoxicated on 
marijuana. The patient also could be prosecuted for smoking pot on a school 
bus or school property or in public vehicles and public places.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D