Pubdate: Wed, 06 Sep 2000
Source: Record, The (CA)
Copyright: 2000 The Record
Contact:  P.O. Box 900, Stockton, CA 95201
Fax: (209) 547-8186
Website: http://www.recordnet.com/
Author: Francis P. Garland, Lode Bureau Chief, LODE TACKLES MEDICAL POT HAZE

SAN ANDREAS -- Calaveras County supervisors Tuesday night considered a set 
of guidelines to help policy makers and law enforcement officials cope with 
the clouded issue of medicinal marijuana.

The county's Medical Marijuana Task Force -- comprised of doctors, 
pharmacists, law enforcement officials and one patient who uses marijuana 
to relieve problems associated with a tumor -- developed the local 
guidelines during the course of four meetings over six-months.

The board approved several of the recommendations and was considering 
others late Tuesday night.

The guidelines, which are not legally binding, were developed to help local 
law enforcement officials and medical marijuana users follow the proper 
legal paths in the wake of the passage of Proposition 215, the 
Compassionate Use Act of 1996. The voter-approved initiative made it legal 
for people suffering from certain serious medical conditions to use 
marijuana with a doctor's approval or recommendation.

The development of local guidelines was pushed by Angels Camp resident 
David Jack, who uses marijuana to counter the effects of a brain-stem 
tumor. Jack was concerned local residents with a legal right to grow and 
use marijuana for medical reasons were being persecuted and asked county 
officials to draft guidelines to stop the harassment and let both law 
enforcement and medical marijuana users know what's acceptable in terms of 
usage and possession.

At Jack's request, the board created the task force earlier this year.

The task force made four recommendations, but the one that attracted most 
of the attention was a proposed interagency protocol to help law 
enforcement determine which cases merit investigation for marijuana 
possession and/or sales and which cases appear to be legal possession under 
Prop. 215.

The task force could not agree on the amount of marijuana a patient or 
primary caregiver should be able to possess or cultivate for medicinal 
purposes.

The group voted 10-3 in favor of the protocol, which -- among other things 
- -- would allow legal medical marijuana patients or their primary caregivers 
to have three flowering and three non-flowering plants and 1.3 pounds of 
processed marijuana.

Jack said those limits won't work for him and many other medical marijuana 
patients. He suggested the limits be set at 25 plants and 4 pounds.

"If there's any illegal activity, investigate and prosecute," he said.

Sheriff Dennis Downum, who called Prop. 215 a "horribly written law that is 
full of pitfalls," asked the board not to take action on the interagency 
protocol because the public might consider the board's endorsement as 
something that's "somehow written in stone."

District Attorney Peter Smith said the guidelines would be a factor -- but 
not be the ultimate factor -- in whether or not he decided to file criminal 
charges. As of press time, the board had not made a decision on the 
interagency protocol.

In addition to the protocol, the task force recommended the board lobby 
state officials to establish statewide standards and policies for 
implementing Prop. 215 and also continue its support for the state Medical 
Marijuana Research Project.

The task force also presented medical recommendations on the use of medical 
marijuana, essentially a position paper drafted by Drs. Rodger Orman, Ryan 
Thompson, Paul Jacobson and Jakob Jaggy. The board accepted that paper on a 
3-2 vote, with Chairman Tom Tryon and Supervisor Terri Bailey casting 
dissenting votes.

The doctors concluded the use of marijuana should primarily be considered a 
"comfort measure" in the care of a terminal patient with a life expectancy 
of less than one year.

To reach Lode Bureau Chief Francis P. Garland, phone 736-9554 or e-mail  ---
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