Pubdate: Tue, 10 Sep 2013
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Joe Garofoli
Page: A1

FOR POT CLUBS, STATE OVERSIGHT GETS NEW PUSH

With federal authorities demanding more oversight of California's 
medicinal marijuana dispensaries, the state Legislature is again 
trying to create order where there has been chaos.

On the eve of a U.S. Senate hearing on changing federal marijuana 
policy, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, on Monday 
introduced AB604, his latest attempt to regulate the state's 
estimated 1,000 dispensaries.

The Medical Cannabis Regulation and Control Act is similar in many 
ways to AB439, an Ammiano-crafted measure that narrowly failed this 
year in the Legislature. But advocates say this version provides more 
safeguards that law enforcement officials have long demanded, plus it 
is co-written by Sens. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Mark 
Leno, D-San Francisco, two of the more influential politicians in Sacramento.

Patchwork of regulations

The measure would create the Division of Medical Cannabis Regulation 
and Enforcement within the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control 
to oversee not only the state's dispensaries, but also the 
production, processing, distribution, transportation and testing of 
medicinal pot. Advocates hope the measure will provide uniform rules 
to guide providers and law enforcement in place of the quilt of laws 
now in place.

In California, more than 50 cities and counties have approved laws 
regulating medical marijuana dispensaries, while more than 200 
municipalities have banned them. Northern California has been home to 
scores of medicinal pot clubs, but some large regions of the state - 
such as San Diego and much of the Central Valley - have no medicinal 
pot outlets.

"Not only are patients in California barraged by virtually daily 
closures of dispensaries due to aggressive attacks by the Justice 
Department, but the patchwork system of local bans and regulations in 
the state leaves hundreds of thousands of patients without safe 
access to medical marijuana," said Don Duncan, California director of 
Americans for Safe Access, a national medical marijuana advocacy organization.

"This time, the legislation gives law enforcement what they wanted 
before," said Diane Goldstein, a retired Redondo Beach (Los Angeles 
County) police lieutenant who is a board member for the drug reform 
group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, which supports the 
measure. "If they don't support it, they're just being intransigent."

But a top lobbyist for a coalition of California law enforcement 
agencies called the measure "a terrible bill."

"It's as objectionable as its predecessor," said John Lovell, a 
lobbyist for the California Narcotics Officers Association. Included 
in the bill, Lovell said, are numerous loopholes that would enable a 
club to slip past a city's ban on medical cannabis centers. Lovell 
also was dubious about whether the Department of Alcoholic Beverage 
Control could manage cannabis facilities "when they can't even keep 
up with complaints about neighborhood liquor stores and bars."

National perspective

It will be a rush to get this legislation through the Legislature. 
Friday is the last day for each house to pass bills. But advocates 
think they might have the political muscle to do it.

"The difference (from Ammiano's previous attempt) is that the 
leadership of both houses is going to make an effort to pass it," 
said Dale Gieringer, who leads the California chapter of the National 
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Nationally, the issue has come into greater prominence as the Justice 
Department recently tried to clarify its rules on when federal 
authorities should crack down on medicinal marijuana operations in 
the 20 states where voters have approved medicinal pot.

On Tuesday, a top Justice Department official will testify before the 
Senate Judiciary Committee in an effort to offer some clarity on how 
the federal government will treat the two states where marijuana is 
legal to all adults and the 20 where it is available only for 
medicinal purposes. The Drug Enforcement Agency still officially 
classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug with "no currently accepted 
medical use and a high potential for abuse."

Last month, Deputy Attorney General James Cole wrote in a memo that 
the feds weren't going to be as focused on "states and local 
governments that have enacted laws legalizing marijuana in some form" 
and have "strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems."

The question that many inside and outside California's medical 
marijuana industry ask is: Do federal authorities think California 
has a strong system? The memo didn't mention California or medicinal 
marijuana specifically.

Question of size

In July 2012, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag in San Francisco - who has 
cracked down on dozens of dispensaries that she says are violating 
federal law - wrote: "The larger the operation, the greater the 
likelihood that there will be abuse of the state's medical marijuana 
law and marijuana in the hands of individuals who do not have a 
demonstrated medical need."

Cole's memo, however, states that prosecutors "should not consider 
size or commercial nature alone" in determining whether a dispensary 
violates federal guidelines on marijuana.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom