READY TO INHALE

Alan Bock Says The Medical-marijuana War Is Over, And The Good Guys Won

Alan Bock may know more about pot than your average Rastafarian. As senior
editorial writer for The Orange County Register, Bock has spent much of the
past several years following the never-ending battle over Proposition 215,
the medical-marijuana initiative approved by California voters in November
1996. Bock covered the 1998 trials of David Lee Herrick and Marvin Chavez,
co-founders of the Orange County Cannabis Co-op; despite the passage of
Prop. 215, both were convicted of selling marijuana and sentenced to
several years in prison. (Herrick's conviction was overturned after he
spent two years in jail, and Chavez was released on bail last year, pending
his appeal). Last month, Bock published Waiting to Inhale: The Politcs of
Medical Marijuana (Seven Locks Press), a book on Prop. 215 and the
medical-marijuana movement. And he recently returned from Washington, D.C.,
where he sat in the U.S. Supreme Court as justices heard arguments in a
case involving the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Collective. Bock says the
Supreme Court hearing convinced him that there are still conflicts between
the five-year-old Prop. 215 and federal law, but that the war is over in
California, and medical-marijuana advocates have won.

OC Weekly: The title of your book is Waiting to Inhale. Is the waiting over
in California?

Alan Bock: In most jurisdictions in California, if you have a valid
doctor's recommendation and a membership card in a cannabis cooperative,
the police are not going to take you to jail. They may investigate to see
whether your card is valid and create a certain amount of hassle, but they
probably aren't going to charge you with possession. The main roadblock
right now for patients is being able to find doctors who are willing to
write prescriptions for medical marijuana. There are a few doctors in
California who have not just been willing but eager to do this-but most aren't.

OC Weekly: Why?

Alan Bock: In part because the California Medical Association has been very
conservative in its instructions to doctors on this issue. But the real
reason is that a lot of doctors aren't aware of how well they are protected
under state law. Right after Prop. 215 passed, former U.S. drug czar Barry
McCaffrey threatened to take away licenses from doctors who wrote
prescriptions for medical marijuana. But a group of doctors in San
Francisco won a federal injunction against McCaffrey, so the federal
government is now under a court order not to harass doctors who recommend
cannabis in accordance with California law.

OC Weekly: Prop. 215 said cannabis should be made available to terminally
ill patients as well as those suffering from "any other illness for which
marijuana provides relief." Why haven't state officials written up a set of
regulations for doctors that spell out the medical conditions for which
they can prescribe cannabis?

Alan Bock: John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) has introduced several bills
in Sacramento that would require the California Department of Health
Services to set up a registry of patients who would be issued a card from
the agency. The medical conditions outlined in those bills were more
strictly defined than what was outlined in Prop. 215. But at every turn, it
was obvious that the governor-first Pete Wilson, then Gray Davis-was going
to veto the bill. So those bills never even left Sacramento.

OC Weekly: Cannabis clubs in San Francisco, Oakland, Humboldt and West
Hollywood that popped up shortly after Prop. 215 passed are still going
strong. Meanwhile, the Orange County Cannabis Co-op is long-gone. Does the
responsibility for this rest with local law enforcement, cannabis
activists, or both?

Alan Bock: Probably a little bit of both. A big part of the trouble in
Orange County had to do with DA prosecutor Carl Armbrust, who handled both
the Herrick and Chavez trials. During the Chavez trial, I spoke to Armbrust
in the courtroom hallway for several hours. He was an old drug warrior on
the verge of retirement. His last hurrah was to prove that this Prop. 215
thing wasn't going to work. So he prosecuted Marvin. On the other hand,
Armbrust did so only after a judge warned Chavez not to dispense any more
marijuana through his co-op, which Chavez ignored. Of course, it was an
undercover officer who got Chavez to do this, by begging him and pleading
with him because "the pain" was so terrible. So Marvin did what the guy
asked him to do; he shouldn't have. It may be that his only crime was
compassion, but under the circumstances, it was not a wise move.

OC Weekly: Armbrust is out of the picture now; so are former OC Sheriff
Brad Gates and District Attorney Mike Capizzi, both of whom campaigned
vigorously against medical marijuana both before and after Prop. 215 became
law. Are their replacements any better?

Alan Bock: I think it's important to note that there have not been any
medical-marijuana prosecutions in Orange County since the Marvin Chavez
trial. Neither DA Tony Rackauckas nor Sheriff Mike Carona is likely to make
any statements in favor of a government-supervised program to implement
Prop. 215, but they're probably even less eager to prosecute any more
patients. Maybe through their silence on this issue, they are acceding to
the unruly will of the people.

OC Weekly: That's a nice thought, but is the battle over medical marijuana
really over?

Alan Bock: The battle over medical marijuana has been fought, and for the
most part, it's been won. Now the main focus among the cannabis co-ops is
teaching people how to grow marijuana. I know of a marijuana patch out in
Victorville that serves eight patients. Two guys live there, and the others
show up on the weekend to help grow the plants. That kind of stuff is going
on all over the state right now. There is still a threat of federal law
enforcement going after cannabis co-ops and large-scale medical-marijuana
growers, but studies show that 90 percent of drug prosecutions are carried
out at the state level. And California's law on this matter is pretty
unambiguous: if you have a doctor's recommendation, you have the right to
possess and cultivate cannabis. If you cultivate it for personal use and
aren't transporting it or distributing it, then you shouldn't have any
problems.