BILL NUMBER: SB 848	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Vasconcellos

                        FEBRUARY 25, 1999

   An act to add Section 11362.7 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to controlled substances.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 848, as introduced, Vasconcellos.  Medicinal marijuana.
   Existing law, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, prohibits any
physician from being punished, or denied any right or privilege, for
having recommended marijuana to a patient for medical purposes.  The
act prohibits the provisions of law making unlawful the possession or
cultivation of marijuana from applying to a patient, or to a patient'
s primary caregiver, who possesses or cultivates marijuana for the
personal medical purposes of the patient upon the written or oral
recommendation or approval of a physician.  Existing law establishes
a Research Advisory Panel to study and approve research projects
concerning marijuana or hallucinogenic drugs.
   This bill would require the state to develop and implement a plan
for the safe and affordable distribution of medicinal marijuana.
   Vote:  majority.  Appropriation:  no.  Fiscal committee:  yes.
State-mandated local program:  no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) On November 5, 1996, 56 percent of California voters approved
Proposition 215 to ensure that seriously ill Californians have their
right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes.
   (b) Proposition 215 urged the federal and state government to
implement a plan to provide for the safe and affordable distribution
of marijuana to all patients in medical need of marijuana.
   (c) Since Proposition 215 became law, the state and federal
governments have failed to respond to the voters' call for a
distribution plan.  Instead, both levels of government have dedicated
substantial resources to closing down every effort to fulfill the
wishes of the voters.
   (d) In the vacuum created by government inactivity, private, local
distribution organizations have arisen.  The activity of these
programs has raised legal questions about the extent to which
Proposition 215 protects these collective efforts to distribute
medicinal marijuana.  As a result, while generally well-intentioned,
most of these programs have been subject to, and often closed because
of, police and judicial action.  The closure of these programs has
left many patients who need medicinal marijuana without access to
marijuana.
   (e) A distribution plan is essential not only to ensure that
patients in medical need of marijuana have safe and affordable access
to marijuana, but also to prevent Proposition 215 from becoming a
sieve through which illegal activities occur.
   (f) There is widespread consensus among physicians, law
enforcement, patients, providers, and other stakeholders that the
most effective solution is for the federal government to reschedule
marijuana so that it can be prescribed under strict protocols.
However, until the federal government acts, California state and
local officials must act to implement the will of the voters.
   (g) It is the intent of the Legislature that the issue of
medicinal marijuana is and should remain a public health issue,
between physicians and their patients.
   (h) It is the further intent of the Legislature, until the federal
government acts to reschedule marijuana, to respond fully to the
wishes of the voters in approving Proposition 215 by developing a
plan for the safe and affordable distribution of medicinal marijuana
to persons in need.
  SEC. 2.  Section 11362.7 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
   11362.7.  The state shall develop and implement a plan for the
safe and affordable distribution of medicinal marijuana.