POT WAR LINGERS ON FOR REGION

Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series.

When it comes to current drug laws, perhaps none are more
schizophrenic than the ones surrounding the issue of medical
marijuana. Legal in some states - including California - outlawed in
others and still very much illegal at the federal level, small
counties like Amador often serve as ground zero in the battle over
conflicting drug policies.

"Technically, people possessing marijuana at the state level can be
prosecuted at the federal level," explained Melinda Aiello, chief
assistant district attorney for Amador County.

While Amador was one of the first counties to implement a medical
marijuana identification card program created by the state
Legislature in 2003, it has been less receptive to the idea of
licensed pot dispensaries setting up.

In the summer of 2005, the county instituted an indefinite moratorium
on issuing use permits to businesses where individuals could obtain
marijuana with a licensed doctor's recommendation.

The rationale then was that a June 6, 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling
that the federal government could enforce federal drug laws in states
with conflicting legal codes could potentially leave the county
vulnerable to lawsuits.

Even back then, it was a bitter pill to swallow, with then-District 3
Supervisor Richard Vinson calling a legal system that allows alcohol
and tobacco sales but outlaws medical cannabis "terribly confused."

That confusion has persisted, with more than a third of California
counties so far refusing to implement ID card programs like the one
in Amador, and many local municipalities enforcing their own moratoriums.

One Man's Fight

Allen Toupe is not your stereotypical marijuana user. He doesn't have
droopy eyes and giggle uncontrollably or even utter a single "man"
during an hour-long interview. The Ione father of two is one of a
growing number of people both locally and nationally hoping to alter
the perception of medicinal cannabis, which continues to encounter
fierce opposition in some circles.

Toupe's own medical history reads like a Russian melodrama. Nearly
losing his left foot to a grisly Rototiller accident at the age of 3,
Toupe was infected with dirty blood during a transfusion, leaving him
with Hepatitis C. Years later, he was diagnosed with a rare strain of
cancer called cryogobulinemia, which turns one's blood into cold,
clotted sludge. As a result, Toupe had his colon and bowels removed
three years ago, which is what ultimately convinced his doctor to
recommend marijuana for the pain.

Toupe credits the recommendation with saving his life from an
overload of legal, opiate-derived pharmaceuticals like methodone and
liquid Oxycontin and helping him keep his 10-year-old son.

"I was completely incapacitated," he said of the effect legal
pharmaceuticals had on him. "Those drugs weren't helping me."

Toupe was something of a pioneer in terms of medical marijuana ID
cards. When the county geared up its program in 2005, Toupe was the
23rd person in the state to get one. The last time he renewed his
card, he was listed as No. 1,415.

No Consensus

Each California county has its own unique experience with the medical
marijuana issue. Amador and Calaveras counties have ID card programs,
but no licensed businesses where patients can fill their
prescriptions. El Dorado County has neither an ID card program nor
any dispensaries, but at least one of those issues will be revisited
this month, with that county's board of supervisors set to discuss a
possible ID card program at an upcoming meeting.

"No decision has yet been reached, including whether dispensaries
will be allowed in the county," said Margaret Williams, public
information officer for the El Dorado County Department of Public Health.

Yet while the county as a whole currently has a temporary moratorium
against medical marijuana dispensaries, the city of Placerville
approved them in 2004 and has one currently in operation. The manager
for the dispensary said he had a relatively easy time gaining
approval for the nonprofit business and has encountered no legal
headaches since.

"Counties and cities don't really have a leg to stand on," Matt
Vaughn, corporate executive officer of Medical Marijuana Caregivers
Association, said of the precarious legal position local
municipalities put themselves in by erecting moratoriums. "It just
takes a legal challenge to (overturn) it."

After the MMCA threatened its own legal challenge against Placerville
in 2004, the city formed a committee to draft its dispensary
ordinance and passage was granted. Since then, Vaughn said his
business has not had to weather one federal raid, which hasn't been
the case for several other dispensaries operating in the state.