By one vote, a Senate panel killed a medical marijuana measure Friday, causing a rift between the General Assembly's crime committees that could threaten other bills as the legislative session nears its end for 2002.

The House Judiciary Committee had planned a Friday evening session to complete work on sexual predator bills from Sen. Timothy Ferguson, R-Frederick/Carroll, but that was postponed after the Judicial Proceedings Committee vote.

Meanwhile, Judicial Proceedings chose Friday to postpone voting on sexual predator legislation from Delegate Sue Hecht, D-Frederick/Washington.

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Medical marijuana legislation faced a crucial test Wednesday when supporters stood before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, the conservative panel that killed a similar measure last year.

Two Republican delegates - David Brinkley of Frederick County and Donald Murphy of Baltimore County - asked the committee to make a distinction between the war on drugs and the benefit terminally ill people would get from smoking marijuana.

"There's no reason, in our zeal to cleanse our streets ... a patient should be subjected to the harsh penalties our courts give," said Mr. Brinkley, a cancer survivor.

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ANNAPOLIS - The chief sponsor of an effort to legalize marijuana use for the terminally ill on Sunday hailed a compromise bill that would assure pot-smoking cancer patients wouldn't go to jail.

"While we didn't find a cure for cancer we sure found a way to scratch the itch," said Delegate Donald Murphy, R-Baltimore County.

For more than two years, Mr. Murphy has been fighting for legislation that would allow people suffering from cancer, AIDS and certain other diseases to grow and use marijuana without fear of arrest.

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ANNAPOLIS -- More than 50 lawmakers have signed on to a bill that would legalize marijuana for the terminally ill, a proposal that has been killed in legislative committees for the last two years.

But with so many cosponsors on the bill, a key supporter said it was a sign the three-year effort was gaining momentum.

"I am confident we will do better this year," said Delegate Donald Murphy, R-Baltimore County. "Cancer patients and AIDS patients can't afford to wait another year."

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Advocates of medicinal marijuana hailed the results of a poll released Wednesday that showed 37 percent of Maryland voters would be more likely to support a candidate who backs a medical marijuana law.

"I needed an independent party to show elected officials can vote their conscience and do the right thing," said Delegate Donald Murphy, R-Baltimore County, who has proposed medical marijuana legislation for the past two years.

The poll, by Gonzales/Arscott Research & Communications Inc., showed only 18 percent of voters would be less likely to vote for a supporter of a medical marijuana law. Forty percent of voters were undecided.

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A Maryland Senate committee voted down a bill Friday that would have allowed the terminally ill to use doctor-approved marijuana to relieve pain and nausea.

The same bill is being considered in the House of Delegates, but the Judicial Proceedings Committee vote means the measure is all but dead for the 2001 General Assembly session.

Only three Democratic senators supported the bill, Jennie Forehand, Clarence Mitchell IV and Perry Sfikas.

Ms. Forehand, of Montgomery County, imagined herself fighting cancer and the debilitating effects of treatment.

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ANNAPOLIS -- Proponents of a bill that would allow terminally ill patients to smoke marijuana to relieve pain and nausea might have found an ally in an unlikely source: ardent opponent Sen. Walter Baker.

The colorful and irascible chairman of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Wednesday chided his committee members for wasting time by questioning supporters of a medical marijuana bill.

"Members of the committee, this bill is not going anywhere. I wish you'd quit asking the questions and let the witnesses put on their show," he said after committee members questioned the finer points of the bill with witnesses.

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