Pubdate: Fri, 24 May 2002
Source: Rutland Herald (VT)
Copyright: 2002 Rutland Herald
Contact:  http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/892
Author: David Mace
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

MEDICAL POT BILL IS KILLED

MONTPELIER -- The controversial question of whether Vermont should legalize 
marijuana use for people with serious illnesses like cancer or AIDS appears 
to be dead for this session.

On Friday, a joint House-Senate conference committee reached a tentative 
agreement to kill the measure and instead appoint a task force to study the 
issue and report its findings to the next Legislature.

Committee members couldn't reconcile the differences in the bills passed by 
the two chambers.

The House passed an ambitious plan to legalize possession, use, and 
cultivation of marijuana for people suffering from a specific list of 
disorders. The Senate approved a more modest "affirmative defense" bill 
that would have allowed sick people arrested for marijuana possession to 
claim their illness as a defense against prosecution.

"The Senate and the House are too far apart to come to an agreement this 
year that everyone will be comfortable signing on to," said Senate 
Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington.

Instead, the plan is for Sears and House Judiciary Committee Chairwoman 
Margaret Flory, R-Pittsford, to send a letter to the state's prosecutors 
asking them not to press charges for marijuana possession against anyone 
who suffers from serious diseases. Prosecutors say they generally don't do 
so anyway. And the bill will set up a task force of police, prosecutors, 
doctors, advocates and medical marijuana users to examine the question and 
report its findings.

Sears said lawmakers were purposely left off the panel. "I think (having 
them on) politicizes the issue too much," he said. "I'm hoping these 
interest groups will be able to decide whether it's wise or not."

The House bill permitted use and possession of marijuana to alleviate pain, 
nausea and other symptoms associated with diseases such as cancer, multiple 
sclerosis and AIDS.

It required a doctor's certification that the patient suffered from one of 
these conditions. That certification would be kept on file with the 
Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Vermont State Police.

A patient or designated caregiver could possess up to three mature plants, 
four immature plants and 3 ounces of marijuana, and could grow the plant if 
they do it in a secure, indoor location.

But Sears and others raised questions about the quantity that those plants 
would produce. And doctors were concerned that the federal government -- 
whose marijuana laws would trump state law -- would punish them if they 
appeared to be endorsing or prescribing an illegal drug.

A compromise proposal by Rep. Michael Kainen, R-Hartford, that addressed 
the doctors' concerns and tightened the possession amounts wasn't enough to 
sway Sears and Senate negotiators.

Gov. Howard Dean, a staunch opponent of medical marijuana who had hinted at 
a veto, said he would likely sign off on a study task force.

"As far as I'm concerned they can urge the (federal Food and Drug 
Administration) to study it," he said. Dean has said marijuana should go 
through the same FDA approval process as any new drug.

Advocates for AIDS patients, who supported the House bill, tried to be 
optimistic.

"We're disappointed the Senate did not accept the (Kainen) compromise 
proposal," said Gail Zatz, a lobbyist for the HIV Public Policy Project. 
"... But we will participate in the task force and work with other 
interested parties to find a way to join eight other states in making this 
a reality."
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MAP posted-by: Alex