Pubdate: Sat, 27 Jan 2001
Source: Berkeley Daily Planet (US CA)
Copyright: 2001 The Berkeley Daily Planet
Contact:  2076 University Ave, Berkeley 94704
Fax: (510) 841-5695
Website: http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/
Author: John Geluardi Berkeley Daily Planet Staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

HEALTH COMMISSION ASKS COUNCIL TO PASS MEDICAL MARIJUANA REGULATIONS

The Community Health Commission on Thursday sent a medical marijuana
ordinance, which has been bouncing around city offices for the last 18
months, to the City Council.

The commission and 50 audience members, almost entirely medical
marijuana supporters, listened to presentations from the City
Attorney's Office, the police department, the director of public
health and a variety of advocates before voting to recommend the
council adopt the ordinance.

The ordinance would establish the numbers of plants a qualified
patient can grow and the amount of dried marijuana any one patient can
have in his or her possession for personal use. The commission was
also trying to determine how many plants could be grown by Berkeley's
marijuana collectives.

The collectives are groups of people who assist one another with the
cultivation of medical marijuana.

They come together to share growing costs, gardening tips and in some
cases people join because they've become too ill to take care of a
crop on their own.

The commission sent the recommendation to the City Council last
October only to have it returned to them by City Manager Weldon
Rucker. According to Commission Chair, Mark Chekal-Bain, Rucker wanted
the commission to consider additional reports from the City Attorney's
Office, the director of public health and law enforcement.

Rucker returned the ordinance to the commission requesting that it
reduce the number of plants one person could grow indoors to 10. The
commission had originally proposed 144 plants for a patient who grows
them indoors and 60 plants for one who grows them outdoors. Rucker
also wanted the commission to reduce the amount of dried marijuana a
qualified patient could have on hand to 2.5 pounds from 6 pounds.

The commission, however, decided to keep its original
recommendation.

Advocates argued that while 144 plants sounds like a lot, not all the
plants grown are usable.

Only the female plants flower - that's where medical marijuana comes
from - according to a report written by Chris Conrad, a
court-qualified cannabis expert.

The marijuana yield of a garden can depend on a variety of things
including interrupted electricity, theft, pest infestations and fungus
invasions.

Police department representative Lt. Russell Lopes said the reason for
requesting reduced numbers of plants was one of safety.

He told the council that the police department supports the ordinance
and that he, as a cancer patient, especially supports anything that
will help ease symptoms of life-threatening disease.

But Lopes said the police department is worried about personal growers
cultivating large numbers of plants because of the threat of home robberies.

"There were six home-invasion robberies last year directly related to
residents who had large amounts of marijuana in the house," Lopes
said. "While we support a medical marijuana ordinance, we see an
inherent risk in allowing large amounts to be grown in the home."

Lopes said security worries were also an issue with the collectives
which could theoretically have more than 1,000 plants growing in one
location.

Dun Duncan, who runs the Berkeley Patient Group, said that most
patients who are growing their own marijuana are discreet and the home
invasion robberies Lopes referred to involved drug dealers who made no
secret of having large quantities of marijuana.

Attorney Robert Raich of the American Civil Liberties Union, said
there was another type of home invasion the ordinance should stop.
"The kind of home invasion where thugs carrying guns and badges burst
in and hold you hostage in your own home and then take your personal
possessions."

After the meeting Lopes said Raich's comments were uncalled for. "The
comments were totally inappropriate in what had been a peaceful,
supportive meeting," he said. "But it's not surprising considering the
source."

While the commission stuck to its original proposal for the number of
plants that could be cultivated and the amount of dried marijuana that
could be kept on hand, it could not come to an agreement about the
maximum number of plants that a collective would be able to grow. It
left that determination up to the council.

"I feel very good about the ordinance," said Chekal-Bain. "I wish we
could have come to an agreement about the collectives, but I have full
faith in the council.

We've been working on this for a year and a half. It's time to move it
forward."

The ordinance has not yet been placed on the City Council
agenda.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake