Pubdate: Sun, 17 Apr 2011
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Page: A16
Copyright: 2011 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Kim Murphy, Reporting from Medford, Ore.
Bookmark: http://www.drugsense.org/cms/geoview/n-us-or (Oregon)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.)

MIXING MEDICAL POT AND GUNS A CONCERN

Sheriffs in Oregon Are Fighting in Court to Revoke Weapons Permits of Users.

Cynthia Townsley Willis, a retired school bus driver and grandmother 
of four, carries a spray bottle of marijuana-infused skin oil in her 
purse to treat her frequent, painful muscle spasms. Her Walther P22 
pistol most often gets slipped into a shoulder holster under her 
jacket -- driving the lonely roads that traverse the hills and dense 
woodlands of the Rogue Valley, who knows when she might need it?

Here in the pot belt of rural southern Oregon, possibly the only 
thing more ubiquitous than marijuana is guns, and Willis, who is 
legally registered with the state as a medical marijuana user, feels 
better when she has both.

But Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters doesn't, and he is trying to 
pull Willis' concealed weapons permit. Willis, a diminutive 
54-year-old California native, is now one of four plaintiffs in a 
case before the Oregon Supreme Court to determine whether medical 
marijuana users are entitled to the same gun-carrying privileges as 
everyone else.

Sheriffs across Oregon say that the state's 13-year-old medical 
marijuana law has spawned tens of thousands of hobby users, and see 
this case as a crucial step toward preventing what they consider a 
dangerous mix of guns and drugs.

"This whole medical marijuana thing is a farce, and you can quote me 
on that," said Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin, president of the 
Oregon State Sheriff's Assn., who believes only a fraction of the 
state's nearly 40,000 registered medical marijuana users have a 
legitimate need for the drug.

"I always ask them, 'How many times a day do you medicate?' They say 
it's like four or five times a day," Bergin said. "Well, that's 16 
hours a day you're running around stoned. Do we even want them behind 
vehicles? No. Do we want them carrying around a gun? Absolutely no."

Oregon essentially requires sheriffs to issue concealed weapons 
permits unless the applicants have a history of violence, threats or 
illegal drug convictions.

The sheriffs argue that forcing them to issue the permits to 
marijuana users puts them in conflict with federal law, which makes 
it a crime for users of illegal drugs to possess a gun. Although 15 
states (plus Washington, D.C.) now have medical marijuana laws, the 
substance remains illegal under federal law.

"We'll enforce any law that's out there, but when they're 
conflicting, we have to do our best to decide which of those laws has 
dominance," said Washington County Sheriff Rob Gordon.

Willis and others say owning and carrying a gun is an accepted part 
of life in rural Oregon, and that those who rely on marijuana to 
treat legitimate medical issues shouldn't be rendered defenseless.

In the case of Willis, who drives several miles each day from her 
home in rural Gold Hill to volunteer at a medical marijuana supply 
shop in Medford, her muscle spasms are so severe that often she can 
barely stand. Eating a marijuana cookie or rubbing cannabis oil on 
her skin is the only way she's found to relax her muscles. She never 
uses enough to get high, she said.

Paul Sansone from Gales Creek in Washington County, another plaintiff 
in the case, started carrying a concealed handgun in the 1980s for 
self-defense, and said the sheriff at the time actually helped him buy his gun.

Since then, the county has gotten a new sheriff, and Sansone 
developed a chronic gastrointestinal condition that gives him such 
severe nausea he is almost unable to eat. The only thing that helps 
is small quantities of medical marijuana.

Two trial court judges and a state appeals court sided with Sansone, 
Willis and the other two plaintiffs. The Supreme Court heard oral 
arguments in the case in March, and is expected to rule in the coming months.

In his ruling in 2008, Circuit Court Judge Steven L. Price said the 
plaintiffs were "hardworking, honest, conscientious people who use 
medical marijuana as contemplated by the statute to alleviate pain 
and their symptoms. They are similarly responsible in their use and 
possession of weapons."

But sheriffs say there are growing questions about how to maintain 
public safety as medical marijuana use rapidly escalates.

"I think that 100% of our home invasion robberies have been tied to 
narcotics, and probably 95% of those, this is just my best guess, 
involve medical marijuana growers," Sheriff Gordon said. "It's just 
ripe for somebody to get hurt."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake