Pubdate: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 Source: Contra Costa Times (CA) Copyright: 2005 Knight Ridder Contact: http://www.contracostatimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/96 Author: Devlin Barrett, Associated Press Cited: Drug Policy Alliance http://www.drugpolicy.org Cited: Gonzales v. Raich http://www.angeljustice.org Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Raich (Gonzales v. Raich) MEDICAL MARIJUANA PROPONENTS SEEK HOUSE VOTE TODAY WASHINGTON - Advocates for medical marijuana hope a recent setback in the Supreme Court will boost their strength in Congress, and lawmakers from California and New York plan to force a House vote on the issue today. Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, and Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., have long supported allowing patients to use marijuana in states where it can be legally prescribed by a doctor. They will offer an amendment to a spending bill today that would bar federal authorities from making arrests in such cases. "This is a responsibility Congress should face up to," said Hinchey. He said the court's decision is a call for legislators to act. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 6 that federal drug laws trump medical marijuana statutes in 10 states, allowing federal authorities to prosecute people who smoke marijuana for pain relief on the recommendation of their doctors. Under a voter-approved law, California allows people to smoke marijuana with a doctor's recommendation; New York does not. After the decision, federal officials said their focus has been on criminals engaged in drug trafficking, not the sick and dying. Medical marijuana advocates, including the two California women who brought the case, say the decision only puts more pressure on Congress to craft a caring policy for those who want to treat their health problems with marijuana. And California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has in the past supported pot use by the sick, said the ruling means "it is now up to Congress to provide clarity." In the past two years, the Hinchey and Rohrabacher amendment has mustered only about 150 of 435 votes in the House, and even its boosters concede there is little chance of passage Tuesday. "I believe that there is strong sentiment in Congress that would be in support of such a measure. However, in this climate of a Bush administration I'm not holding my breath," said San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi. Mirkarimi planned to introduce a board resolution Tuesday calling on House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, to formally organize Democratic caucus support for the Hinchey and Rohrabacher measure. Pelosi's spokeswoman, Jennifer Crider, said Pelosi backed the amendment and was talking to fellow lawmakers about it, but that support for the measure wasn't a caucus position. Opposition to Hinchey's amendment is being organized by Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., who heads the House drug policy subcommittee. Souder dismisses the effort as a political, not scientific, attempt to gradually legalize marijuana. The lawmaker argues that if scientific data supports marijuana as a pain medication, it should be studied and vetted through the regular FDA process. Hinchey dismisses such arguments. He said even if Congress isn't ready to accept it, public opinion in the nation has rejected past concerns about marijuana usage leading to other forms of drug abuse. Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that supports laws allowing medical marijuana, said they hope to pick up about 10 votes. "That would send a message to the Justice Department that there are political consequences to their actions," said Piper. "If the Justice Department realizes momentum is building on this amendment, they're going to be less likely to go into states like California and arrest people for medical marijuana." The ten states with statutes that permit doctors to prescribe medical marijuana are California, Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington state. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake