MEDICAL POT PUTS DOWN TULARE ROOTS

Dispensary Tries To Find Niche In Tangle Of City, State And Federal Laws.

TULARE -- When James McLean decided to open a new nonprofit in town,
he had a few more obstacles than other small-business operators.

McLean recently opened Charity Caregivers of Tulare, or CCOFT, a
medical marijuana information center and dispensary that serves about
50 patients from throughout the central San Joaquin Valley.

CCOFT opened in March as a branch of a Bakersfield dispensary,
American Kenpo Kung Fu School of Public Health, and within the past
couple of weeks began providing medical-grade cannabis to patients
with a doctor's prescription and an identification card certifying
them as users of medical marijuana, McLean said.

"We're not here for people to get high. We're out here for people's
health," McLean said.

Patients who previously had to drive to Bakersfield or the Bay Area
or Los Angeles to buy medical marijuana -- or who had to resort to
buying from street-level drug dealers -- now bring their membership
cards and doctors' prescriptions to CCOFT. There they can obtain
dried marijuana buds that can be smoked or leaves to be steeped to
make teas or liniments; ready-to-eat, cannabis-laced cookies and
breads and other forms of marijuana.

It all contains tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive
ingredient that provides the high for recreational users but also
offers relief from nausea or pain from cancer treatments or AIDS,
chronic pain from injuries or arthritis and symptoms from other ailments.

There is no small amount of legal ambiguity as cities try to square
long-standing practices to stem illegal drug sales with provisions of
the state's medical marijuana laws, including Proposition 215, the
Compassionate Use Act approved by California voters in November 1996.

Some cities and counties, for instance, have ordinances that regulate
providers of medical marijuana, while others don't.

The California chapter of the National Organization to Reform
Marijuana Laws, or NORML, estimates more than 100,000 patients in the
state are legally protected under the proposition. The group also
reports that about 125 medical cannabis clubs or dispensaries operate
in California.

"I went to the Police Department and told them what I wanted to do,
and they said I could operate as an information center," McLean said.
"But the state law says caregivers can possess and provide for their patients.

"So we're 'in the gray,' " he said -- not exactly fibbing to
authorities about what's going on, but not going out of his way to
draw undue attention either.

After checking with the police, "I went to City Hall to get all my
permits," McLean said. "I told them what I wanted to do, and they
said I had to be located in the right zoning -- either commercial or
industrial -- and I've got my business license and tax number under
botanical herbs."

The California NORML Web site includes a partial list of cannabis
growers clubs or cooperatives, support groups and dispensaries
throughout the state. All but a handful are outside the Valley; the
closest are in Bakersfield, Merced and Modesto.

As a branch of a Bakersfield dispensary, McLean said, CCOFT falls
under its federal and state nonprofit status.

He also had to find a place to conduct business -- something easier
said than done.

"I had some trouble with that," McLean said. "When I told them what I
wanted to do, they'd kind of pull back; some landlords are afraid, or
they don't want to accept the idea."

Eventually, he found a site in a nondescript office in the downtown
area that met the appropriate zoning requirements.

CCOFT and other medical cannabis providers hang their legal hats on
Prop. 215 and 2003 provisions of the state's Health and Safety Code.

Prop. 215, approved by 55.6% of California voters, declared that ill
people have the right to use marijuana for medicinal purposes when
deemed appropriate by a physician and allows possession or
cultivation of marijuana by the patient or by the patient's "primary
caregiver." The law also protects California physicians from
punishment for recommending medical marijuana to patients.

Senate Bill 420, signed into law in October 2003, set out rules for
qualifying patients and established limits for how much marijuana a
patient or caregiver could possess -- 8 ounces of dried marijuana per
qualified patient in addition to six mature or 12 immature marijuana
plants per qualified patient.

Dispensaries operate as surrogate "caregivers" for the patients who
rely on them for their medical cannabis needs -- patients essentially
hand over a portion of their possession and cultivation rights in
lieu of growing their own marijuana.

Tulare City Manager Kevin Northcraft said his city has no ordinance
to deal with medical marijuana or dispensaries serving a collective
of patients.

"It seems like the state law would take precedence," Northcraft said
last week. "If someone came in seeking a business license for that,
we'd need to look at the state law to see what the legal restrictions are."

Northcraft was surprised to learn about the new nonprofit dispensary
in Tulare and said city officials -- including the police chief and
city attorney -- would have to review the medical marijuana laws.

"If they're violating state law, they may have been less than
truthful in their applications," he said.

While some cities have rules regulating dispensaries and some have
adopted outright bans, others are awaiting a Supreme Court decision
on a California case involving marijuana grown for personal use.
Unlike California, federal law considers marijuana use illegal, even
for medical purposes.

Since California became the first state in the nation to allow
medical marijuana, nine other states have followed suit: Alaska,
Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and
Washington state. Legislatures in Rhode Island, Minnesota and Texas
also have medical marijuana bills pending.

But while Tulare has no law specifically prohibiting medicinal
marijuana or a dispensary, Tulare City Attorney Steve Kabot said he
believes the federal law trumps the state law.

"I would anticipate that either the Police Department or even
concerned citizens would communicate with the U.S. Attorney's
Office," Kabot said. "Even with the state law, it still constitutes a
violation of federal law, and federal authorities have consistently
prosecuted these types of cases and won."

Tulare's dispensary serves as a provider in lieu of patients growing
their own marijuana. Its functions are similar to a co-op in that
money patients pay for their marijuana goes toward the production and
acquisition of the products.

As far as where the product comes from ... well, McLean's not ready
to talk specifics.

"The product will usually come to us," he said. "We encourage people
to grow for us."

Growers may include patients whose allocation of six mature plants or
12 immature plants is more than they need and who contribute the
excess to help others. Others apparently make a cottage industry of
producing ready-to-eat marijuana snacks or other goods.

McLean isn't only a provider of medical marijuana, he's also a user,
taking cannabis for chronic pain from injuries he received in a
traffic accident several years ago. He rolls up his sleeve to show
some nasty scars on his arm.

"I took Vicodin for two years, and my kidneys were all messed up," he
said. "I started using marijuana medically about a year ago, and my
kidneys are getting back to normal now."

While THC levels in some street-grade "stress" pot may be about 2% to
7%, the potency of better-quality or medical marijuana can be 25% or higher.

Rather than smoking marijuana, McLean said he prefers edible forms
because it provides better and longer-lasting relief, without the
euphoric high and without the toxic effects of smoke on the lungs.

"You don't get the buzz. You're getting the relief," he said.