Pubdate: Fri, 29 Dec 2000
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053
Fax: (213) 237-7679
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Author: David Reyes, Times Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

GROUP TELLS SHERIFF TO OBEY MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

Supporters Want Guidelines Adopted. Carona Says He Won't Alter Department 
Policy.

About two dozen supporters of California's landmark 1996 medical marijuana 
measure urged Sheriff Mike Carona on Thursday to "stop violating the law" 
and allow patients to cultivate and use marijuana without fear of arrest.

"We are here because four years ago, 5.4 million voters in California 
passed the medical marijuana law, and it's being ignored," Steve Kubby said 
as he stood outside sheriff's headquarters in Santa Ana.

Kubby, 55, helped draft Proposition 215, the 1996 measure, and has lived in 
Laguna Beach since his January 1999 arrest in Northern California on 
various drug charges. His case ended in a mistrial on the marijuana 
charges, but the jury convicted him of felony possession of a small amount 
of peyote and a psychedelic mushroom stem.

During a news conference in front of the sheriff's office, Proposition 215 
supporters such as Mira Ingram of Orange County chanted: "When are you 
going to start obeying the law." Ingram, 33, said her doctor has 
recommended marijuana to help ward off pain and nausea from diabetes, 
arthritis and other ailments.

"I have to live in fear in Orange County every day because there are no 
guidelines here on marijuana use," she said. "Patients like me are being 
arrested all the time." The department has arrested few people who claim 
the right to use marijuana under Proposition 215.

Initially, the group was to hand Carona a set of guidelines for use from 
the city of Oakland. But Carona was unavailable, a spokesman said.

The sheriff has said he will not alter department policy, which does not 
recognize the right to use marijuana under Proposition 215, because federal 
law bans marijuana cultivation and use.
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