Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Contact: http://www.sacbee.com/ Pubdate: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 Author: Tony Bizjak - Bee Staff Writer CITY TRIES TO CLEAR AIR OVER POT USE: BUT COUNCIL SPLIT ON HANDLING PROP. 215 Sacramento city officials want to help part the haze surrounding the state's controversial medicinal marijuana law, Proposition 215. But the key City Hall players are headed in opposite directions -- one wants to restrict medicinal marijuana use, but two others say the city should consider helping to get it into more patients' hands. Councilman Robbie Waters instructed the city attorney Tuesday to draw up a law making it illegal for patients to smoke medicinal marijuana in public. The county already has a ban, which includes fines up to $1,000 and six months in jail, for patients caught smoking in public. Waters' request stems from what he says is a loophole in city and state laws that allow marijuana to be smoked for medicinal purposes outdoors in public. Last year, AIDS patient Ryan Landers was arrested on the K Street Mall for smoking marijuana at an outdoor restaurant, but the District Attorney's Office dropped the charges. Prosecutors said Landers would have prevailed at trial since he legally was allowed to smoke marijuana under Proposition 215, which California voters passed in 1996. Landers, who suffers from nausea, said he needs marijuana to settle his stomach so that he can eat and keep his weight up. Waters contends patients should not have the right to subject others to secondhand marijuana smoke. However, two other council members, Darrell Steinberg and Steve Cohn, argued the city should take a longer look at what it can do to help implement the state law and clear up confusion over who has the right to cultivate medicinal marijuana. Federal officials recently have clamped down on so-called pot clubs -- where medicinal marijuana is distributed -- around the state. Steinberg asked the city attorney to investigate legal options for what the city can do to allow legitimate medical clinics, such as CARES (Center for AIDS Research, Education and Services) to cultivate marijuana for patients. "We ought to protect people from the impact of secondhand smoke," Steinberg said. "But if we are going to discuss this one aspect, we ought to discuss what we can do to implement (Proposition 215), how to ensure that people with AIDS have access to medicinal marijuana without fear of arrest and prosecution." Landers was rebuffed by the City Council last year when he asked for its help to set up and regulate a marijuana distribution club in Sacramento. He applauded Steinberg and Cohn's comments. "That's all I'm trying to do here, see that patients have safe access to marijuana. That's all they need." Waters estimated it could be up to a few months before the city attorney will report back. Copyright 1998 The Sacramento Bee - --- Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)