Pubdate: Mon, 21 June 1999 Source: Orange County Register (CA) Section: Metro Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register Contact: http://www.ocregister.com/ BREAKTHROUGH POSSIBLE ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA After more than two years of foot-dragging,California might be as close as it ever has been to implementing Prop.215, the medical marijuana initiative approved by 56 percent of the voters in 1996. State Attorney General Bill Lockyer's task force on medical marijuana has been meeting regularly for several months and is close to issuing recommendations that can be translated into legislation. Register editorial writer Alan Bock,working in Palo Alto last week as a Media Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford, spoke with Attorney General Lockyer after Mr.Lockyer delivered a speech in Santa Clara. The task force's work is "pretty much wrapped" by now, Mr. Lockyer said. Members of the task force representing various interests are checking with their constituency groups and haggling over final language. The task force could present its report this week or next. Santa Clara Democratic Sen.John Vasconcellos, who heads the Senate Public Safety Committee and co chairs the attorney general's task force, has already introduced what is called a "slot bill" designed to contain the task force's recommendations when they are issued. Attorney General Lockyer (who supported Prop. 215 in 1996 and made it clear he was still a supporter during his campaign last fall) was candid about the politics of the issue. He believes that if law enforcement groups, which were well represented on the task force proposal, any bill will have little chance of legislative passage. Law enforcement organizations and lobbies are powerful political players, to be ignored at one's peril. Mr. Lockyer is keenly aware that whatever the task force proposes could still bump up against federal law, which forbids sale of marijuana. He says that when he visited Washington earlier in the year (and was almost threatened with arrest by "Drug Czar" Gen. Barry McCaffrey) he talked with Vice President Gore and Attorney General Reno about authorizing more research, and he points out that the federal government has recently loosened the restrictions on medical marijuana research. But the federal government continues to maintain marijuana on Schedule I, reserved for drugs with severe abuse potential and safety problems and no known medical value. It shows little inclination to change. Official spokesmen are close-mouthed about the possible shape of task force recommendations, but conversations with others familiar with the deliberations suggest that they will involve a statewide voluntary patient identification card, possibly to be issued through the state Department of Health Services. The Department of Health Services will then be asked to issue more detailed regulations covering such controversial issues as how much a certified patient may grow or possess without facing law enforcement hassles. It will be encouraging if medical marijuana, by virtue of being handled by the Department of Health Services, is officially viewed as a health issue rather than a law enforcement issue. But if patients and caregivers have to wait 18 months or more for DHS regulations before they know where they stand, it will constitute a considerable burden on them - and on law enforcement personnel, most of whom would like to have a "bright line" to differentiate medical marijuana users from recreational users. In practice, the task force recommendations could be overtaken by events. Several court cases and appeals are now pending that could clarify the law. Some advocates are openly growing marijuana for medical uses and a few doctors are beginning research projects designed to bring cannabis-based medications to market. Even if it comes a bit late, however, a palatable task force report will be a welcome step forward as an indication that California's state government has decided to try to implement Prop. 215 - even if imperfectly - rather than to resist it. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D