MEDICAL-MARIJUANA BACKERS TARGET

Marin County Prosecutor For Recall

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - In most places, district attorneys are bounced
out of office if they appear too soft on crime. In this liberal
county, that logic could be reversed.

Marin County District Attorney Paula Kamena faces a recall vote May
22 in part because advocates of medical marijuana argue she is too
tough on marijuana smokers.

At issue is Proposition 215, a law California voters passed in 1996
that allows people to use marijuana for medical purposes if they have
a doctor's permission.

Implementation of the measure has proved difficult, however, because
it is vague on where patients can get marijuana, how much they can
possess and who is qualified to grow it.

County officials have varied widely in how they approach the issue.

Kamena says she's been unfairly painted as a pot prosecutor. Since
she took office in January 1999, medical-marijuana cases have made up
a tiny percentage of her office caseload - 73 out of more than 30,000
- - and most were dismissed or ended in plea bargains.

Kamena says she's declared that her office won't prosecute if
individuals have no more than six mature or 12 immature plants and a
half-pound of dry marijuana.

But opponents say Kamena's guidelines, far from being lenient, follow
federal law, which considers marijuana a contraband and effectively
gives police a license to confiscate it, whether or not they make
arrests.

"Every joint, every gram, every leaf, anything they can get their
hands on, it's `Ha, ha, ha, the DA says this is all against federal
law,' " says Lynette Shaw, director of the Marin Alliance for Medical
Marijuana and a leader in the recall campaign. "It's been really
mean, and it's hurt the health of hundreds of people."

The alliance doesn't just want to get rid of Kamena. It has a list of
five other county prosecutors organizers want turned out of office.

"This could be the start of something," says Chuck Thomas, spokesman
for the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, which is not
involved in the recall.

Kamena says the problem is that Proposition 215 is "very convoluted
and very complex. It is, in short, a mess. The idea of people who are
ill who can benefit from marijuana - I don't have an issue with that
at all."

Dennis Peron, who wrote Proposition 215, disagrees.

"The only people who have any trouble understanding the law is the
cops and the district attorneys. What it is they don't understand is
compassion," he said.

In Marin County, an enclave of stunning views and breathtaking home
prices just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, Proposition 215 passed
with 73 percent of the vote.

The recall petition against Kamena began on a quite different issue.
It was started by parents angry about child-custody cases in Marin
courts. That drive fizzled, but medical-marijuana advocates took up
the cause, getting enough signatures to force the election.

The wording of the petition remains limited to the child-custody
complaint, and Tom Van Zandt, a patent attorney, is running for the
job if Kamena is ousted.

Forced to campaign a year ahead of schedule, Kamena has been busily
listing her achievements, including working to improve official
response to sexual-assault victims and opening a center where
children who may have been sexually abused can be interviewed in a
homelike setting.

"The question is, 'Do I deserve to be fired?' And my answer is,
'Absolutely not,' " Kamena says.