Pubdate: Thu, 24 Jun 1999 Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA) Copyright: 1999 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Contact: http://www.seattle-pi.com/ Author: Aviva L. Brandt, The Associated Press 3 GROUPS PUBLISH A GUIDE TO STATE'S MARIJUANA LAW Three groups that supported the initiative to legalize marijuana for medical use in Washington issued a guide yesterday to explain the law to patients, physicians and others. The 13-page guide, written in a question-and-answer format, explains who is eligible to use marijuana for medical purposes under the law, what it is used for, how to document doctor recommendations and other issues. It also includes the full text of the law and a suggested form for doctors to use in recommending marijuana use. American Civil Liberties Union spokesman Jerry Sheehan said he hoped the guide would also help police and prosecutors better understand what the law covered. Sheehan said he saw a newspaper article quoting an Eastern Washington sheriff "saying, 'We don't know what the law means so we'll arrest people and let the court sort it out.' "So this will hopefully help law enforcement understand that this is the law for them to enforce, too." The only arrests of people using marijuana for medical reasons since the law went into effect have occurred in Tacoma, he said. In January, a blind AIDS patient and his mother were arrested after Tacoma police found three marijuana plants in their home, but the Pierce County prosecutor's office decided not to press charges after determining they would be covered by the new law. In May, a Tacoma man was charged with unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance after authorities found 157 marijuana plants at his home. David Teatsworth, 43, said he was growing the marijuana for 11 patients covered by the medical marijuana law, which allows patients too sick to grow their own marijuana to have a caregiver do it. The guide defined a caregiver as someone responsible for the housing, health or care of the patient, including family members, roommates and close friends. The caregiver must be designated in writing. The law doesn't address whether someone can grow marijuana for more than one patient. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea