Bill Text: CA AB223 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Compassionate Use Act of 1996.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-02-01 - Died pursuant to Art. IV, Sec. 10(c) of the Constitution. From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB223 Detail]
Download: California-2011-AB223-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 223 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 31, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ammiano
FEBRUARY 2, 2011
An act to amend Section 11350 11362.79
of the Health and Safety Code, relating to controlled
substances the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 223, as amended, Ammiano. Controlled substances.
Compassionate Use Act of 1996.
Existing law, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, an initiative
statute enacted by the approval of Proposition 215 at the November 6,
1996, statewide general election, authorizes the use of marijuana
for medical purposes. Existing law enacted by the Legislature
requires the establishment of a program for the issuance of
identification cards to qualified patients so that they may lawfully
use marijuana for medical purposes, and requires the establishment of
guidelines for the lawful cultivation of marijuana grown for medical
use.
This bill would make findings and declarations regarding medical
marijuana, and provide that it is the intent of the Legislature to
improve the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 and the state's medical
marijuana program by establishing a comprehensive and
multidisciplinary commission that is empowered to address issues
regarding the legality and implementation of the Compassionate Use
Act of 1996 and the state's medical marijuana law.
Existing law provides that nothing in the Compassionate Use Act of
1996 authorizes a qualified patient or person with an identification
card to engage in the smoking of medical marijuana under any of
certain specified circumstances, including within 1,000 feet of the
grounds of a school, recreation center, or youth center, unless the
medical use occurs within a residence.
This bill would revise that prohibition to provide that nothing in
the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 authorizes a qualified patient or
person with an identification card to engage in the smoking of
medical marijuana under any of those specified circumstances,
including within 600 feet of the grounds of a school, recreation
center, or youth center, unless the medical use occurs within a
residence or within a medical marijuana cooperative, collective, or
dispensary.
Existing law provides that, except as otherwise provided, every
person who possesses any of certain controlled substances, or any of
other specified controlled substances which is a narcotic drug,
unless upon written prescription, as specified, shall be punished by
imprisonment in the state prison.
This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to these
provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature hereby makes the
following findings and declarations regarding the Compassionate Use
Act of 1996:
(1) Marijuana's recorded use as a medicine goes back nearly 5,000
years. A report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National
Academy of Sciences published in March of 1999 found that modern
medical research confirms the beneficial uses of marijuana in the
treating or alleviating of pain, nausea, or other symptoms associated
with a variety of debilitating medical conditions, including cancer,
multiple sclerosis, and HIV/AIDS.
(2) Studies published since that 1999 IOM report have continued to
show the therapeutic value of marijuana in treating a wide array of
debilitating medical conditions. The relief marijuana provides to
patients suffering from the neuropathic pain caused by multiple
sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, and other illnesses that often fails to respond
to conventional treatments, and the relief marijuana provides to
patients suffering from the nausea, vomiting, and other side effects
of drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C increases the chances
that these patients will continue to engage in life-saving treatment
regimens.
(3) Marijuana has many currently accepted medical uses in the
United States, having been recommended by thousands of licensed
physicians to at least 350,000 patients in states with medical
marijuana laws. Marijuana's medical utility has been recognized by a
wide range of medical and public health organizations, including the
American Academy of HIV Medicine, the American College of Physicians,
the American Nurses Association, the American Public Health
Association, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and many others.
(4) Data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime
Reports and the Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics show that
approximately 99 out of every 100 marijuana arrests in the United
States are made under state law, rather than under federal law.
(5) State law should make a clear distinction between the medical
and nonmedical uses of marijuana. Hence, the purpose of the
Compassionate Use Act of 1996 is to protect patients with
debilitating medical conditions, as well as their practitioners and
providers, from criminal arrest and prosecution and other penalties
and from property seizure and forfeiture, if those patients engage in
the medical use of marijuana.
(6) The people of the State of California in 1996 enacted
Proposition 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996,
authorizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The
Legislature in 2003 enacted Senate Bill 420, requiring the
establishment of a program for the issuance of identification cards
to qualified patients so that they may lawfully use marijuana for
medical purposes and requiring the establishment of guidelines for
the lawful cultivation of marijuana grown for medical use. These
measures, however, left many issues about the lawful cultivation,
sale, and distribution of medical marijuana, and the role of local
government, under the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 unaddressed or
unclear.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to
improve the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 and the state's medical
marijuana program by establishing a comprehensive and
multidisciplinary commission that is empowered to address issues
regarding the legality and implementation of the Compassionate Use
Act of 1996 and the state's medical marijuana law.
SEC. 2. Section 11362.79 of the Health
and Safety Code is amended to read:
11362.79. Nothing in this article shall authorize a qualified
patient or person with an identification card to engage in the
smoking of medical marijuana under any of the following
circumstances:
(a) In any place where smoking is prohibited by law.
(b) In or within 1,000 600 feet of
the grounds of a school, recreation center, or youth center, unless
the medical use occurs within a residence or within a medical
marijuana cooperative, collective, or dispensary .
(c) On a schoolbus.
(d) While in a motor vehicle that is being operated.
(e) While operating a boat.
SECTION 1. Section 11350 of the Health and
Safety Code is amended to read:
11350. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this division, every
person who possesses (1) any controlled substance specified in
subdivision (b) or (c), or paragraph (1) of subdivision (f) of
Section 11054, specified in paragraph (14), (15), or (20) of
subdivision (d) of Section 11054, or specified in subdivision (b) or
(c) of Section 11055, or specified in subdivision (h) of Section
11056, or (2) any controlled substance that is classified in Schedule
III, IV, or V which is a narcotic drug, unless upon the written
prescription of a physician, dentist, podiatrist, or veterinarian
licensed to practice in this state, shall be punished by imprisonment
in the state prison.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in this division, every person
who possesses any controlled substance specified in subdivision (e)
of Section 11054 shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail
for not more than one year or in the state prison.
(c) Except as otherwise provided in this division, whenever a
person who possesses any of the controlled substances specified in
subdivision (a) or (b), the judge may, in addition to any punishment
provided for pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b), assess against that
person a fine not to exceed seventy dollars ($70) with proceeds of
this fine to be used in accordance with Section 1463.23 of the Penal
Code. The court shall, however, take into consideration the defendant'
s ability to pay, and no defendant shall be denied probation because
of his or her inability to pay the fine permitted under this
subdivision.
(d) Except in unusual cases in which it would not serve the
interest of justice to do so, whenever a court grants probation
pursuant to a felony conviction under this section, in addition to
any other conditions of probation which may be imposed, the following
conditions of probation shall be ordered:
(1) For a first offense under this section, a fine of at least one
thousand dollars ($1,000) or community service.
(2) For a second or subsequent offense under this section, a fine
of at least two thousand dollars ($2,000) or community service.
(3) If a defendant does not have the ability to pay the minimum
fines specified in paragraphs (1) and (2), community service shall be
ordered in lieu of the fine.
