Pubdate: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA) Copyright: 1999 Sacramento News & Review Contact: 1015 20th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 Fax: (916) 498-7920 Website: http://newsreview.com/sacto/ Author: Mike Pulley NO MORE REFER MADNESS While more than two years have passed since California's voters approved the growing and smoking of marijuana as a legitimate medicine for sick people, the Clinton administration and much of the state's law enforcement community is still behaving as if Proposition 215 didn't exist. Dozens of medical marijuana patients have been spied on, arrested, jailed as if they were criminals. Many of the arrests have occurred in the Sacramento region, particularly in Placer County where narcs appear to be specifically targeting these patients. Some doctors are now being investigated by the Medical Board of California for recommending cannabis, actions that were first exposed by an SN&R story on Feb. 18. The most heinous arrest occurred in January when Placer County narcs joined forces with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to bust Steve Kubby, the Libertarian Party's 1998 gubernatorial candidate. Fifteen years ago Kubby was diagnosed with a terminal adrenal cancer, a disease that no one has lived with for more than five years. Vincent DeQuattro, a specialist who treated Kubby at the University of Southern California Medical Center, has said that Kubby is a medical miracle because smoking pot has played a part in keeping his tumors in check and keeping him alive. The physician recently sent a letter to Placer County officials informing them that they are endangering Kubby's life by depriving him of medical pot. In the Kubby case and almost all others, cops have no evidence that patients are growing cannabis for any reasons other than legitimate medical use. The cases against patients hinge on an absurd guideline handed down by former state Attorney General Dan Lungren, Proposition 215's leading opponent. Lungren's office decided that the growing of two plants provides more than enough marijuana for the needs of patients. Law enforcement is routinely charging patients with cultivation of marijuana with the intent to sell based solely on Lungren's two-plant rule, while Prop 215 says patients can grow as much pot as they and their doctors feel they need. It is time for law enforcement agencies to leave behind the era of reefer madness and recognize the will of the voters in California and five other states that recently passed medical pot laws. Charges against Kubby and all other medical pot patients should be dismissed. State Attorney General Bill Lockyer's new task force on medical marijuana should adopt guidelines that are reasonable and in line with intent of Prop 215. The Medical Board should drop ridiculous investigations into the practices of physicians who have recommended marijuana. Finally, the Clinton administration should make marijuana a "schedule two" drug so that physicians can prescribe it. Any behavior short of these actions verges on despotism and disrespect to the citizens of this country. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake