State Plan Urged for Supplying Medicinal Pot

Even after voters legalized marijuana as medicine in California last fall, patients in need could hardly expect to find it at the local pharmacy.

Instead, they have done as they did before: They have grown their own, tapped the back-alley black market or found one of the smattering of buyers clubs that sell to the medically needy.

But if a Bay Area legislator gets his way, the state will step in to guarantee a ready supply of marijuana for patients.

A special task force is being proposed by Sen. John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) to draft a statewide plan for the “safe and affordable” distribution of medical marijuana to all patients in need.

The 12-member panel is part of a bill being unveiled today by Vasconcellos, who has sponsored previous legislation on medical marijuana that was vetoed. Included in the new proposal is the creation of a Medical Marijuana Research Center at the University of California that would cost $3 million annually to operate.

Vasconcellos said the measure is needed to uphold the spirit of Proposition 215, the medical marijuana measure on November’s ballot.

“I’d like to find the truth about marijuana’s effectiveness as a medicine with objective academic research not biased by my politics or anyone else’s,” Vasconcellos said. “I’d like the will of [Proposition] 215 to be honored so Californians and their doctors can choose medical marijuana without being criminalized.”

The measure drew a cautious “no comment” Tuesday from a spokesman for federal drug czar Barry McCaffrey, who unleashed a fusillade of criticism after approval of Proposition 215, which conflicts with federal statutes outlawing marijuana for any purpose.

“If it’s on a collision course with federal law, so be it,” said Vasconcellos, a veteran legislator. “The people of this state have spoken. These are my people. The federal government ought to butt out.”

Other critics predicted that even if the Vasconcellos proposal survived in the Legislature, it would be vetoed by Gov. Pete Wilson.

“Until the federal government says marijuana is approved as a medicine, you can’t do it,” said Tom Gorman, a California Narcotics Officers Assn. spokesman. “You’re putting the governor in a situation where he can’t sign something like that.”

A spokesman for Wilson, who is credited by foes with spawning the Proposition 215 campaign by vetoing Vasconcellos’ medical marijuana legislation twice before, echoed Gorman’s sentiments.

Although it would be premature to comment on the measure because it hasn’t been formally introduced, “the fact still remains that the governor has several concerns about the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes,” said Ron Low, Wilson’s spokesman.

Even some boosters of medical marijuana were less than enthusiastic about the measure’s chances.

“If we win anything substantive, Gov. Wilson is going to veto it,” said Scott Imler, director of the Los Angeles Cannabis Buyers Club. “Short of that, it’s going to give opponents something to flog for the next several months.”

Officials at the powerful California Medical Assn. have embraced proposals for more research, but will not make a final decision on the bill until their board of trustees meets March 21, said Ron Lopp, a CMA spokesman.

Other groups weren’t so reticent. Betty Gillespie Pollack, San Francisco Medical Society executive director, said her group welcomes the research and efforts to pull medical marijuana out of the shadows.

“We support a controlled statewide system that assures people who need it most get medical marijuana and it’s not just wide open to everybody,” she said. “But there needs to be very close controls.”