Pubdate: Mon, 25 Sep 2006
Source: Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
Copyright: 2006 The Press-Enterprise Company
Contact:  http://www.pe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/830
Author: Kimberly Trone, The Press-Enterprise
Note: The "White Paper" is on line as a 10 page .pdf file at 
http://www.thedesertsun.com/assets/pdf/news/2006/0919_damarijuana.pdf
Cited: Riverside County District Attorney Grover Trask 
http://www.riversideda.com
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Riverside+County

SELLING MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Riverside County Wrestles With Regulation

Patients who use marijuana on the advice of a physician might soon be 
able to buy the federally banned drug at specialty stores in Riverside County.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday is scheduled to debate land-use 
policies for medical-marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas, 
putting it in line to be the eighth county in California to regulate 
the distribution of pot to patients.

The meeting is set for 1:30 p.m. at the Riverside County 
Administrative Center, 4080 Lemon St., Riverside.

While Riverside County lags behind some Northern California cities in 
implementing state marijuana laws, activists say the county is 
helping pave the way for medicinal users in Southern California.

"Riverside County is definitely a leader, and one of the reasons it 
is doing so well is because we have an organized group of people 
pushing for it," said Lanny Swerdlow, who heads the Marijuana 
Anti-Prohibition Project in Palm Springs.

Ten years ago California voters gave sick patients the right to use 
marijuana with a doctor's permission. Federal law prohibits its 
cultivation, possession or sale.

In 2003, California lawmakers ordered counties to begin issuing 
voluntary ID cards to help patients and caregivers avoid arrest and 
prosecution by state agencies. Riverside County became the first in 
Southern California to comply.

The law, Senate Bill 420, was a bipartisan effort to enact the will 
of the voters and to create a workable distribution system, said 
former state Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, who authored the bill.

"When the people say, 'Do it,' you do it. If you don't believe that, 
then you get out of the way," Vasconcellos said.

Some Southern California leaders see it differently.

DA Critical of Dispensaries

Riverside County District Attorney Grover Trask recently issued a 
10-page report calling dispensaries illegal and a magnet for crime. 
He is urging the Board of Supervisors to ban them.

Last year the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that medical marijuana users 
can be prosecuted under federal drug laws even though voters in 11 
states have approved its medical use.

But Teresa Schilling, a spokeswoman for state Attorney General Bill 
Lockyer, said California laws make clear that medicinal marijuana is 
to be legal. Lockyer, who has told local governments to follow state 
rules, is defending the laws in court.

"SB420 says local government has to implement ways for patients to 
get access to their medicine. Counties have a choice in how they do 
it. The law allows for dispensaries to be an option," Schilling said.

Riverside County Supervisor Roy Wilson said the conflict is an issue 
of state rights. If Lockyer had determined dispensaries are illegal, 
"the ballgame would be over," he said.

"The people of California said they think compassionate use ought to 
be allowed," Wilson said.

Supervisors in San Bernardino and San Diego counties have filed a 
suit against the state, contending it is trying to force counties to 
set up a program the federal government says is illegal. A hearing is 
scheduled for Nov. 16.

"At a time when drug cartels are flooding our streets with marijuana, 
and gang warfare is rampant, it's impossible for the Board of 
Supervisors to give its blessing to the use of a drug that is 
forbidden by federal law," San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn said 
in a statement earlier this year.

In Palm Springs, where two dispensaries have opened recently, 
officials are waiting on Riverside County supervisors' decision 
before recommending any ordinance to the council.

'Reasonable Provisions'

"We are trying to make reasonable provisions for patients, and 
fashion something that works for Palm Springs and Palm Springs 
residents," city attorney Douglas Holland said.

The proposal heading to Riverside County supervisors would allow as 
many as six patients to collectively grow their own marijuana at one 
location. Larger cooperatives would require a special county permit 
and public hearings.

Only single patients in Palm Springs would be permitted to cultivate 
their own plants under the city's draft rules. Holland said 
residents' concerns mostly are centered on the possibility that large 
marijuana plots could spring up in neighborhoods.

Palm Desert officials also are trying to hammer out regulations for 
dispensaries. Both desert cities have placed moratoriums on further 
dispensaries until they adopt their own rules.

Corona leaders have been trying unsuccessfully in court to close a 
dispensary there. Temecula and Lake Elsinore have banned them.

Temecula Mayor Ron Roberts said until the conflict is resolved 
between state and federal law, the council had to ban dispensaries.

Daniel Abrahamson, director of legal affairs of the marijuana 
advocacy organization, Drug Policy Alliance, said authorities lose 
control when they prohibit dispensaries.

"That's putting your head in the sand and saying, 'We are going to 
let the black market take care of this,' " he said.

Dispensaries are portrayed in a negative light because of the 
controversy over marijuana, said Amanda Reiman, a marijuana patient 
and researcher at the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley.

Reiman said that many dispensaries and cannabis clubs offer 
substance-abuse counseling, illness support groups, coping 
strategies, social events and classes.

"Before communities are quick to say, 'No,' it would behoove them to 
look at the benefits," Reiman said.

Barbara Taylor, a Coachella Valley resident, said allowing 
dispensaries sends a message to teens that marijuana use is normal 
and legitimate.

"I see the dispensaries as nothing more than the illegal distribution 
of marijuana," Taylor said.

If Riverside County supervisors agree to regulate dispensaries, law 
enforcement officials say they will push to see that the rules 
require patients to have a state-mandated identification card issued 
by Riverside County.

Undersheriff Neil Lingle said the card is a tool for law enforcement 
to verify who is complying with the Compassion Use Act and has a 
valid physician's recommendation.

Identification Card Required

Lynnette Shaw, who operates a dispensary in the city of Fairfax in 
Marin County, said patients are required to have either the state 
card or a card from the Oakland public health department.

"The ID has eliminated problems with the police," Shaw said. Her 
dispensary is nine years old and one of the longest running in the state.

Getting the physician's recommendation in order to obtain the ID card 
is not as easy as people think, said AIDS patient Becky Brown.

Brown, 46, of Quail Valley, awakened four years ago after 24 days on 
life support weighing just 80 pounds. She is 5-foot-4.

Earlier this year, Brown said her physician in Riverside County 
suggested she try marijuana. Although he declined to write her a 
recommendation, Brown's physician told her there were doctors who would.

She found a West Hollywood doctor, who required her to bring her 
medical records, fill out a 200-question form, and participate in a 
lengthy interview before he signed a letter saying she qualified for the drug.

"I don't have a criminal record. I am not a junkie and I am not a 
thief," said Brown, who had been taking 20 pills -- some which were 
simply to relieve the side effects caused by drugs to treat her disease.

Brown said marijuana helps her sense of well being, eases nausea and 
stimulates her appetite. At a steady weight of 114 pounds, Brown said 
marijuana has allowed her to abandon more than half the pills she was taking.

"I am a testament to its usage," Brown said. "I am trying to live 
with this disease, not die from it." 
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