REGISTRATION PLAN ALLOWS COUNTY TO CREATE GUIDELINES FOR MEDICINAL
MARIJUANA USE

SISKIYOU COUNTY - More than four years after the California
Legislature's passage of Senate Bill 420, Siskiyou County is taking
steps to implement a voluntary registration of Proposition 215
recommendation users.

Proposition 215 - also known as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 -
allows people with a valid doctor's recommendation to possess and
cultivate marijuana for personal medical use.

According to Siskiyou County District Attorney Kirk Andrus, SB 420
'puts some rules into Prop 215.'

'Pardon the pun, but SB 420 weeds out those who are in compliance
with the law and those who aren't,' he said.

SB 420 sets a limit on how much cannabis a patient can legally grow and use.

'That limit is up to six mature plants or 12 immature plants,' Andrus
said, 'and up to eight ounces of processed marijuana.'

Sheriff Rick Riggins explained that eight ounces of dried, processed
cannabis 'is a lot.' Eight ounces, he said, fills half of a plastic
five-gallon bucket.

'That should last a person a long time,' he said.

Riggins said that SB 420 allows counties and cities to establish
guidelines for how much marijuana a 215 recommendation holder can
possess and cultivate. As an example of counties with more liberal
guidelines, he cited Sonoma County, where patients were allowed up to
99 plants in a 100-square foot growing area and three pounds of
processed marijuana.

Andrus said that Siskiyou County would maintain SB 420 guidelines.

Terry Barber, the county's public health and community planning
director, said that SB 420 required counties to establish a voluntary
patient identification card system and other provisions, protecting
215 recommendation holders, or even their caregivers, from arrest.

Riggins explained that other SB 420 provisions included:

. Recognizing the right of patients and caregivers to collectively or
cooperatively cultivate medical marijuana;

. Disallowing marijuana smoking in 'no smoking' zones, within 1,000
feet of a school or youth center except in private residences, on
school buses, in a motor vehicle that is being operated, or while
operating a boat;

. Protecting patients and caregivers from arrest for transportation
and other miscellaneous charges not covered in 215;

. Allowing probationers, parolees and prisoners to apply for
permission to use medical marijuana; however, such permission may be
refused at the discretion of the authorities; and

. Making it a crime to fraudulently give false information to obtain
a card, to steal or misuse the card of another, counterfeit a card or
breach confidentiality of patient records in the 215 program.

'This is something that we've needed here for a long time,' Barber said.

She approached both Riggins and Andrus, telling them that she felt it
was necessary to have a registration policy in place.

'We have a lot of people in our county who have 215 recommendations,'
she stated.

The registration plan, she said, was a logical step in keeping track
of law-abiding 215 recommendation holders.

Barber explained the registration process:

. Those issued 215 recommendations by doctors would fill out the
registration forms;

. The recommendation would be shown to public health officials;

. The doctor's status would be checked. If the doctor had any
professional sanctions leveled against him or her, the recommendation
would be disqualified;

. Public health officials would verify that the recommendation holder
had personal, 'face-to-face' contact with the doctor; and

. The recommendation holder would have to meet the medical criteria
described in SB 420, i.e., have medical conditions that ranged from
cancer to glaucoma.

Barber said that the recommendation holder would have a picture taken
of him or her. The registration papers would then be sent to the
State Department of Health for authorization.

Once authorized, the card - with the recommendation holder's picture
on it - would be sent back to the county's Public Health Department,
where it would be issued, Barber said.

'This is a very positive plan for both 215 users and law
enforcement,' Andrus said.

Those 215 holders in compliance don't have to worry about being
bothered by law enforcement, he said. If someone was growing
marijuana and possessed a 215 registration card, law enforcement
would not bother them.

Law enforcement's concern, Riggins said, would then shift to those
holding illegitimate 215 recommendations.

Barber hoped to have the plan in place by early spring. Registration
fees had to be discussed and the plan needed approval from the board
of supervisors.

In the end, Barber believes that voluntary registration process would
'make life easier for 215 users.'

'It's less stress for them to deal with,' she said.