MEDICAL POT USERS LEARN LAWS

Tulare CO. Is Expected To Consider Tuesday A Ban On Dispensaries

VISALIA -- Medical marijuana users are not druggies or potheads,
said supporters at an informational meeting Saturday at the Visalia
Convention Center.

"It's not just a bunch of people partying," said Rick Morse,
president of the Tulare chapter of Americans for Safe Access. "It's patients."

Morse and several speakers provided information to about 50 people
on state law and local ordinances governing medical marijuana.

The Tulare County Board of Supervisors is expected to take up a
measure Tuesday to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in the county
until an ordinance passes. Tulare and Visalia already have such ordinances.

Participants at Saturday's meeting agree that there should be limits.

"You can't just have them popping [up] anywhere," Morse said of the
dispensaries. "We welcome the county and city ordinances. We'd just
like them to coincide with the state law."

It is important to know your rights, said Aaron Smith of Safe Access
Now. Smith cited a statewide proposition approved by voters in 1996
that allows people to possess or cultivate marijuana for medical
purposes with a doctor's recommendation.

"It's state law and that's something we have on our side," he said.

It is important to know who to contact if you run into trouble with
law enforcement officials, said James McLean, president of a medical
marijuana dispensary in Tulare.

Usage of medical marijuana should also be discreet, Morse said,
especially for the safety of children.

Melanie M. of Tulare, who asked not to be identified by her full
name, said she used to have such severe migraines that she couldn't
go to work some days.

Doctors prescribed Vicodin, but the medication made her nauseous.

Then she got the required doctor's recommendation to receive medical
marijuana about three years ago.

Since then, Melanie said, she has only missed two or three days of work.

But in January, she was fired from her bookkeeping job of six years
when she refused to sign an employee handbook. The handbook required
employees to retake a drug test and consent to the search of their cars.

She said she didn't try explaining her situation to the former
employers because she didn't think they would understand.

She is looking for a job but may end up doing freelance work.

"I don't want to have to deal with the temp service," Melanie said.
"I don't want to go through drug testing."