State’s Medical Marijuana Bill Passes 1st Test

A bill aiming to make it easier for sick people to buy marijuana for medical use passed its first test in the state Legislature on Wednesday.

After a hearing featuring passionate testimony on the perils and health benefits of marijuana, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee sent the bill onward with a 5-2 vote.

The bill seeks to guarantee safe and affordable marijuana for the ill as allowed under Proposition 215, passed by 56% of the voters in November. It would create a 12-member task force to design a distribution network making marijuana available to those in need.

Now, cancer patients and others seeking relief through marijuana must grow their own or turn to back-alley dealers and buyers’ clubs that have sprouted in several cities. Prices vary wildly, and the quest for marijuana can be taxing on the ill.

The legislation also would create a Medical Marijuana Research Center at the University of California and allocate $6 million over three years for research on the health risks and merits of marijuana.

Scientists testifying Wednesday said such research is vital to resolve lingering questions about marijuana’s effectiveness and how best to administer it for ailments ranging from glaucoma to cancer and chronic pain. Such questions were at the heart of the debate over Proposition 215, with advocates touting medical marijuana as a proven tonic and opponents disputing its worth.

Dr. Igor Grant, professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego, urged approval of the bill to resolve that disagreement once and for all.

“My concern is that the pyrotechnics of the marijuana debate not leave behind two unintended victims--the patients who are suffering and the truth,” Grant said. With more research, “California can lead the way from opinion to fact,” he said.

Sen. John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara), the bill’s author, echoed that argument, saying his goal is to “clear the air on all the controversy.”

“It’s a very simple bill,” he said. “The way people are reacting, you’d think it was the end of Western civilization if a sick person smokes a joint.”

Vasconcellos was referring to the passionate testimony by opponents who predicted that making medical marijuana available is the first step down the road to legalizing other drugs. One of those foes, Art Croney, testified Wednesday that marijuana is “quack medicine” and a “cruel hoax on the suffering people of California.”

“Marijuana is not a medicine,” said Croney, a lobbyist for the Committee on Moral Concerns. “It is a drug that makes people think they feel better.”

Joni Commons, a mother of four from San Jose, acknowledged that marijuana has indeed made her feel better, dramatically reducing the nausea associated with the chemotherapy she receives for breast cancer.

“I was about ready to give up on my treatment because the quality of life just wasn’t there,” Commons told the committee. Now, she can take three small puffs of marijuana and “suddenly the nausea is gone. You can even eat a little something,” she said.

The legislation has been endorsed by a wide variety of groups, from AIDS Project Los Angeles to the California Nurses Assn. and the Berkeley City Council. Opponents include the California Narcotics Officers Assn., the California State Sheriffs Assn. and Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren.

A representative for Lungren, who campaigned vigorously against Proposition 215, testified against the bill--but not for the reasons voiced by other opponents. Senior Assistant Atty. Gen. John Gordnier said the legislation goes beyond what was permitted by voters.

Vasconcellos called such criticism “blatantly dishonest,” noting that Lungren had fought Proposition 215 on other grounds from the start. “First he opposes 215 and now he wants to protect it? the senator said.