|
Medical
Marijuana:
New
Mexico
Bill
Dies
in
House
as
Time
Runs
Out
2/24/06
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/424/timerunsout.shtml
For the second year in a
row, an effort to push a medical marijuana bill through the New Mexico
legislature has won passage in the state Senate only to die in the House.
SB
258, the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act, supported by Democratic
Gov. Bill Richardson, was only one of a number of Richardson-backed bills
that fell victim to Republican filibusters on the last day of the session
last Thursday.
After moving swiftly through
the Senate, the bill was sent to purgatory by House Speaker Ben Lujan (D-Albuquerque).
Instead of sending it to a committee that would be logical, such as judiciary
or public health, Lujan detoured the bill into the House Agriculture and
Water Resources Committee, a committee which had never heard it and was
known to be hostile to it. Despite passionate testimony from patients
and advocates, that committee voted 4-3 to kill the bill.
Last minute efforts by bill
supporters finally persuaded Speaker Lujan to pull the bill from the agriculture
committee and pass it on to the House Judiciary Committee, but Lujan did
not act until 3:45am on Tuesday, the last day of the session. Then,
for reasons largely unrelated to medical marijuana, the legislature's Republican
minority led filibusters in both houses. On the House side, Rep.
Justine Fox (R-Albuquerque) filibustered for most of the last hour of the
session, and then the clock ran out.
"It's heartbreaking that
one or two members of the House could prevent this bill from getting an
up-or-down vote. This legislation deserves a House floor vote, and
I hope that next time we'll get it," said Reena Szczepanski, director of
Drug Policy Alliance New Mexico, which led the fight for the bill.
-- END --
|
Issue #424
-- 2/24/06
Feature:
The
Olympics
Meets
the
War
on
Drugs
|
Feature:
Maryland
Delegate
Introduces
Bill
to
Ease
State
Aid
for
Students
Affected
by
Federal
Drug
Provision
|
Feature:
From
the
East
Bay,
the
Cannabis
Culture
Speaks
|
Law
Enforcement:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
|
Ayahuasca:
Supreme
Court
Okays
Use
of
Psychedelic
Tea
in
Church
Rituals
|
Prohibition:
The
Wall
Street
Journal
Wavers
|
Medical
Marijuana:
Illinois
Bill
Moving,
Passes
Senate
Committee
|
Medical
Marijuana:
New
Mexico
Bill
Dies
in
House
as
Time
Runs
Out
|
Southeast
Asia:
Drug
War
Success
Means
Poverty
for
Laotian
Farmers
|
Canada:
British
Columbia's
New
Democrats
Say
Legalize
It
|
Search
and
Seizure:
Florida
Appeals
Court
Restricts
Warrantless
Drug
Dog
Searches
|
Celebrity
Mouth:
Bruce
Willis
Declares
War
on
Cocaine
|
Web
Scan:
Cannabinoids
for
Cancer
Treatment,
Perjury
in
Police
Misconduct
|
Weekly:
This
Week
in
History
|
Job
Opportunity:
Community
Liaison,
PreventionWorks!,
Washington,
DC
|
Weekly:
The
Reformer's
Calendar
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
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