Pubdate: 18 March 1999 Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Copyright: 1999 The Sacramento Bee Contact: P.O.Box 15779, Sacramento, CA 95852 Feedback: http://www.sacbee.com/about_us/sacbeemail.html Website: http://www.sacbee.com/ Forum: http://www.sacbee.com/voices/voices_forum.html Author: Stephen Green, Bee Capitol Bureau, the Associated Press contributed to this report. LOCKYER WORKING TO CARRY OUT STATE'S LAW California voters in 1996 approved Proposition 215 to legalize the medical use of marijuana by a comfortable margin, but the measure immediately hit a wall of official resistance. Then-Attorney General Dan Lungren succeeded in shutting down about two-thirds of the clubs statewide that were providing marijuana, arguing that not all of the recipients were ill. And the federal government, saying the state initiative was superseded by federal restrictions on the drug, blocked most of Proposition 215 in the courts. But Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who took office in January, has been working to enact the law, saying "The attorney general has a duty to try to effectuate the people's will." Lockyer, whose mother and sister died of leukemia, added that "it always amazes me that doctors can prescribe morphine but not marijuana." Lockyer also is getting support from other Western attorneys general whose states have passed marijuana measures. Several of them plan to lobby the federal government during a conference for attorneys general next week in Washington, D.C., to reclassify the drug so physicians can legally prescribe it. In the meantime, Lockyer appointed a 20-member task force of prosecutors, medical providers, law enforcement officials 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 the law, which has been criticized for not even listing the types of medical conditions that would trigger a marijuana prescription. The law was approved by 56 percent of the state's voters. Even though the task force includes people who've fought over legalization of the drug, members said they've been working cooperatively. "Everybody seems genuinely interested in trying to implement Proposition 215 in a responsible way," said Scott Imler, director of the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center in West Hollywood. Christy McCampbell, president of the 7,000-member California Narcotics Officers Association, echoed Imler's view. "We are all just trying to reach common ground on how to deal with an extremely complex issue," said McCampbell, whose organization opposed Proposition 215 in 1996. Among options the committee is considering is a proposal for a statewide registry of medical marijuana patients. The state Department of Health Services would create the registry and issue identification cards to medical marijuana users. - --- MAP posted-by: Rich O'Grady