VISALIA PUTS OFF MEDICAL POT ISSUE

City Council delays work on ordinance as group plans clinic.

The Visalia City Council studied state law covering medical marijuana
Monday after news that a local group plans to open a clinic and farm
to supply patients with the drug.

Using marijuana to relieve pain with a doctor's recommendation is
legal after Californians voted Proposition 215, also called the
Compassionate Use Act, into law in 1996.

It is not, however, legal under federal law.

The Supreme Court plans to weigh in on the issue during its current
term.

In the meantime, Visalia Police Chief Jerry Barker wonders how he
should enforce the state law here.

"It's very murky as it is now," he said.

Barker told the council the law is vague about the number of plants a
person can have, where they can be grown and where medical marijuana
can be used. There was also confusion over the definition of the
"primary caregiver" who can supply the marijuana.

"The city, I think, has to address those issues," Barker said. "It
would make our job a lot easier if that was more clearly defined."

City Attorney Dan Dooley asked council members whether they wanted him
to begin research to develop an ordinance clarifying the state law's
gray areas so officers could comfortably enforce it here.

He also asked whether the council wanted to regulate medical marijuana
"dispensaries" or "cannabis shops" and other aspects of the issue.

Regulations could include conditional-use permits for people wanting
to open such businesses, limits on where marijuana can be smoked and
the amount of marijuana that can be possessed by patients and suppliers.

Jeff Nunes and a small band of supporters from the nonprofit
organization Medicinal Marijuana Awareness and Defense attended
Monday's meeting.

Nunes wants to open a medical marijuana clinic and farm that could
eventually employ 1,000 people. He said he knows of about 100 people
in Visalia who use marijuana for medical purposes and that the number
will grow if there is a safe place to get it.

The clinic would give the marijuana to qualified people for free --
the nonprofit organization would accept donations to survive -- and
would employ doctors and nurses to make sure it is used legally.

Nunes gave the council copies of the city of Oakland's ordinance
clarifying the state law.

But after much discussion, the council voted 4-1 to table the matter
and wait before looking into an ordinance.

Council Member Don Landers said it's up to the state to clarify the
law, otherwise the 58 counties and every city could create their own
conflicting ordinances.

"I think it's the state's responsibility and obligation," he said.
"That's why I am adamantly opposed to taking any position on this issue."

Others, such as Bob Link, said the city should wait to hear what the
Supreme Court has to say before making a decision. That might not be
until 2005, Dooley noted.

Council Member Jesus Gamboa cast the only dissenting vote, saying
Visalia police officers need to know how to enforce the law now.

Nunes said he'll keep trying and plans to approach Tulare County about
an ordinance. He said there is inconsistency in how the police enforce
the law and how the district attorney decides to file charges.

An ordinance could also minimize confusing encounters between Nunes or
his future clinic and the police.

Nunes has used marijuana to relieve pain from a serious back injury he
got after slipping on water at a restaurant and for an abnormal disc
in his neck he said came from wrestling. Other drugs adversely
affected him so much he could barely communicate with his fiancee, he
said.

In September 2003, 15 officers came to his home and took 18 marijuana
plants, but Nunes was not arrested. He said he and the city eventually
came to a confidential agreement about the removal of the plants.

Nunes and his supporters will move ahead with plans to open a clinic
and farm. The clinic would offer strains of marijuana designed to help
specific ailments such as AIDS, cancer and glaucoma. The farm would
also use the plants for the other products they can produce, including
paper and shelled hemp seed that is used as a nutritional supplement.