CARSON CITY -- Legislators, responding to the will of voters Monday, gave final approval to the bill setting up a program that allows approved patients to smoke marijuana for medical reasons. 

The Assembly agreed on a unanimous voice vote to the version of Assembly 453 already approved late Sunday by the Senate. The bill will allow Nevadans with AIDS, cancer, glaucoma and other illnesses to use marijuana with the written permission of the doctors. They may grow up to seven marijuana plants. 

The bill also will defelonize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Under the bill, a person arrested for the first time for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana would be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable by a $600 fine. Only with the fourth
conviction would the user of small amounts of marijuana be charged with a felony. 

Gov. Kenny Guinn plans on signing the bill into law, said his press secretary Jack Finn. 

Under Senate amendments to the bill, the University of Nevada School of Medicine will seek federal approval for a research project into the medical uses of marijuana. Only two small research programs, however, have won federal approval in the past decade. 

The bill also includes a preamble -- written almost as a warning to federal agencies to leave medical marijuana patients alone -- in which the Legislature emphasizes that Nevada "as a sovereign state has the duty to carry out the will of the people." Marijuana remains an illegal
controlled substance under federal law. 

Nevada voters in two consecutive elections passed a ballot question that created a constitutional amendment compelling the Legislature to set up a medical marijuana program. 

"The public recognizes our policies regarding drugs, period, haven't worked," said Assemblywoman Chris Giun- chigliani, D-Las Vegas. "They very well know there are accepted alternative medicines ... Laetrile, acupuncture and medical marijuana. Sometimes the
public has to force legislators to look beyond their own special interests." 

She placed language from Oregon's medical marijuana law into her AB453. In Oregon, 1,900 people have permission to use medical marijuana. Despite federal laws prohibiting marijuana, no one in the Oregon program has been subject to federal arrest. 

Giunchigliani expects 200 people in Nevada initially will receive permission to use medical marijuana. The bill calls on the Department of Agriculture to set up a program under which approved patients will receive medical marijuana registry cards. The law goes into effect Oct. 1. 

The bill does not specify where patients will acquire seeds for growing marijuana. There are many Internet Web sites, mostly in Canada, however, that sell seeds of dozens of exotic sounding varieties of marijuana. 

Regarding the reduced penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana, Giunchigliani said, "The public recognizes misdemeanors and treatment are the most appropriate way to go. I think we have done damage to many families who generally are hard-working people
who screw up once in a while and get busted for having an ounce or less of marijuana." 

Currently, Clark County has a drug court program that gives first-time drug offenders an opportunity to have the charges against them dropped or substantially reduced if they complete a rigorous program of testing, acupuncture and counseling. 

Dan Hart, leader of Nevadans for Medical Rights, also hailed the passage of the medical marijuana bill, saying "the will of the people has been reflected in the vote of the Legislature." His organization is a subsidiary of Americans for Medical Rights, whose petition initiatives
have led to nine states passing medical marijuana laws.

The road to passage was not as smooth in the Senate, which passed the bill 15-6 late Sunday. Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, said the bill was crafted in a way to avoid a controversy with the federal government. 

"We cannot predict what the federal government will do, whether or not there still will be federal prosecutions," Rawson said. 

He reminded legislators that the state back in 1979 passed a medical marijuana law, largely to benefit the late District Judge Keith Hayes, who died in November of that year of cancer. That law was repealed in 1987. 

"There are probably some legitimate uses for this plant," Rawson said. "It is out of a desire to help people with intractable illnesses that we are doing this." 

He said marijuana use reduces nausea in sick people and improves appetite so patients do not literally waste away. 

Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, said he was satisfied by a ruling from legislative lawyers that Nevada can pass a medical marijuana law, despite the recent U.S. Supreme Court opinion that struck down a marijuana program in Oakland, Calif. 

Voting against the bill were senators Bill Raggio, R-Reno; Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden; Jon Porter, R-Henderson; Maurice Washington, R-Sparks; Bill O'Donnell and Ann O'Connell, both R-Las Vegas.

Medical marijuana defelonization approved in Nevada
                                                                      

               June 4, 2001 

               CARSON CITY, Nev. – Lawmakers in Nevada
               relaxed some of the toughest drug laws in the
               nation Monday when they voted to allow the use of
               medical marijuana and to make it no longer a
               felony to possess small amounts of the illegal
               weed. 

               On the last day of the 2001 legislative session, the
               state Assembly concurred in Senate amendments
               to the medical marijuana-defelonization bill,
               AB453. That sent the measure to Gov. Kenny
               Guinn. 

               "I'm thrilled that the Senate amended the bill, yet
               kept the intent and the will of the people," said
               Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas. 

               "I think it's time that Nevada closed the door on
               antiquated drug policies and reduced possession of
               an ounce or less to a misdemeanor and focused its
               efforts on prevention and treatment." 

               AB453 lets seriously ill Nevadans have up to seven
               marijuana plants for personal use. 

               Also, a person with an ounce or less of marijuana
               could be charged with a misdemeanor and fined up
               to $600. 

               A second offense would result in a higher fine and
               assignment to a treatment or rehabilitation
               program. Third-time offenders would be charged
               with a gross misdemeanor and have to pay an
               even steeper fine. 

               The Senate amended the bill to add felony charges
               on a fourth or subsequent case of marijuana
               possession. 

               Other amendments allow the state to apply to the
               federal government for permission to conduct a
               research program in which doctors would study
               whether marijuana helped ease pain, nausea or
               other symptoms of seriously ill patients. Also, the
               state Department of Agriculture could apply to the
               federal government for a seed lab. 

               The bill also would create a state registry for all
               patients whose doctors recommend they use
               marijuana for medical reasons. 

               Although Guinn has not said whether he will sign
               the bill, he has a mandate to put at least part of
               the bill into law. 

               Nevadans voted overwhelmingly in 1998 and 2000
               to amend the Nevada Constitution to authorize use
               of marijuana by those suffering from cancer, AIDS,
               glaucoma and other painful and potentially terminal
               illnesses. 

               The task of implementing the voters' mandate was
               left to the Legislature. The lawmakers took action
               despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a
               federal law classifying the drug as illegal makes no
               exception for ill patients. 

               The high court's action leaves those distributing the
               drug for that purpose open to prosecution 

               Besides Nevada, voters in Arizona, Alaska,
               California, Colorado, Maine, Oregon and
               Washington have approved ballot initiatives
               allowing medical marijuana. In Hawaii, the
               legislature passed a similar law and the governor
               signed it last year.