COUNCIL BACKS MEDICINAL MARIJUANA PLAN

City Will Urge Officials To Support Bill

There will be no ordinance allowing medicinal marijuana in Santa Barbara
any time soon. Instead, the Santa Barbara City Council on Tuesday voted to
send letters to state and federal officials urging them to support state
Senate Bill 187. That bill would develop a plan to implement the
voter-approved Proposition 215, which in 1996 legalized medicinal marijuana
use in California with a doctor's recommendation. The vote was 4-2, with
Mayor Harriet Miller and Councilman Tom Roberts opposing the measure.

Councilman Rusty Fairly was absent.

Mayor Miller and Councilman Roberts made clear that they weren't opposed to
sending letters, but that they wished the city's Ordinance Committee had
figured out a way to do more and possibly implement Prop. 215 at the city
level. "I am severely disappointed by the recommendation," Mr. Roberts
said. "We've shown the ability to lead here. You have to start somewhere to
address this issue."

Mayor Miller, too, said she was disappointed that "we have people out there
who need this kind of medication," and nothing is being done to help them.
Marijuana is recommended by some doctors to relieve the often debilitating
symptoms of AIDS, epilepsy, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis, as well as
side effects from the treatment of cancer.

But since the passage of Prop. 215, jurisdictions across California have
been debating its legality -- it conflicts with a federal ban on marijuana
use. In a meeting earlier this month, the Ordinance Committee, comprised of
mayoral candidates Marty Blum and Gil Garcia, along with Gregg Hart, said
that guidelines regarding Prop. 215 needed to be clarified.

They also said that unless an agreement to cooperate could be made with
county law enforcement agencies, approving a city ordinance would "provide
a false sense of security over possession or use of marijuana."

The committee members said that the city and county law enforcement
agencies had never reached an agreement concerning how state and federal
laws could co-exist. Council members hope that if Senate Bill 187 is
passed, the city and law enforcement agencies will reach an understanding.
On Tuesday, Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon said he is
just following the law. "We're not doing anything other than what the law
tells us," he said. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that there is no
medical necessity exception to the U.S. Controlled Substance Act, which
prohibits the manufacture and distribution of marijuana except for
government-funded studies.

The high court handed down the ruling as a result of an Oakland cannabis
club's efforts to distribute marijuana to ill patients with a doctor's
recommendation. But Bruce Rittenhouse, a mayoral candidate and longtime
activist on several issues, including medicinal marijuana, told the council
on Tuesday that Prop. 215 has nothing to do with distribution, and that
there's absolutely no reason the city can't implement state law. "I'm
extremely disappointed," Mr. Rittenhouse said. "I am casting stones at the
Ordinance Committee. I think you failed."

Councilwoman Blum, however, disagreed, calling it a sticky issue. "For us
to say it is legal in the city, but the district attorney will prosecute,
is really problematic," she said.