MEDICINAL MARIJUANA CAMPAIGN RECHARGED

San Carlos Man Wants To Establish Dispensary Clinic

Plans to dispense medicinal marijuana are once again surfacing in San
Mateo County, three years after supervisors shot down a similar effort
to open a cannabis club.

Salvador Garcia, a San Carlos amputee whose brother gets relief from
cancer's nausea by eating marijuana-laced cookies, is leading the
charge. Garcia said he wants to open a medicinal marijuana dispensary
clinic in a warehouse in North Fair Oaks, a yet-to-be-determined site
where up to 75 pounds of marijuana would be grown for distribution to
cancer, AIDS and glaucoma patients.

Garcia's proposal to open a similar facility in 1997 led county
supervisors to impose an emergency moratorium. The lawmakers said they
needed time to research legal and land-use issues.

``I don't know what to say other than, `I'm back,' '' said Garcia, a
member of the San Francisco Cannabis Coalition. ``Plenty enough time
has passed for them to have done their studies. It's a
non-controversial issue now, and I don't think they're going to want
to be troubled or headached with running it themselves.''

Garcia's request is headed to the county counsel's office for
review.

Garcia said his club would be the only one of its kind in the region.
Clients would have to present a doctor's letter stating that no other
conventional medicine has worked.

Should the plan move forward, all indicators are that neighborhood and
legal battles loom.

In recent months, North Fair Oaks residents have been quick to oppose
social service uses of their tiny retail strip. Neighbors fought a
recent plan to bring a methadone clinic to the area. .

Would a pot club be well received? ``Following the methadone clinic,
probably not,'' said Dale Miller, chair of the North Fair Oaks
Community Council.

County Counsel Thomas Casey warns of other obstacles.

``If anything, the legal setting is even more complicated than it was
before,'' he said, referring to a slew of recent decisions on
marijuana distribution. ``Before it was sort of a blank slate. Now you
have to factor in what the courts are saying.''

In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215, which allows
seriously ill people with doctor's prescriptions to ease their
symptoms with marijuana. But the law puts such patients in a bind --
while it's OK to use marijuana once they have it, it's still illegal
to purchase marijuana on the streets.

As a result, Bay Area cities have spent years in a dizzying series of
court battles and community protests. Marijuana dispensaries in San
Jose, Oakland and San Francisco have opened and later been shut down
by police.

Meanwhile, voter initiatives fuel the legal issues. In November,
Mendocino residents will vote on a ballot measure that would allow
adults to grow up to 25 marijuana plants apiece for personal use.

San Mateo County supervisors have delayed the dicey issue of doling
out marijuana, choosing instead to study whether it really works as a
pain-killer and nausea-reliever.

Supervisor Mike Nevin, a former police detective, has prompted the
county to establish a community-based medicinal marijuana study
through its public health department. If proved effective, Nevin and
local public health officials vow to open the nation's first
government-run medicinal-marijuana dispensary. The clinical trials are
awaiting final approval from the state and federal Drug Enforcement
Agency.

Dennis Mitrzyk, a Palo Alto musician who smokes marijuana to relieve
back pain, said local people can easily provide the answers to whether
the drug works. And he supports the idea of a dispensary clinic -- if
patients can be protected.

``It's a great idea, but I guess my question would be, since the
federal government continues to harangue and harass the cannabis
dispensaries that are open,'' he said, ``I would want to make sure
that the federal government wouldn't come and swoop in and bust this
dispensary.''