CITY COUNCIL SPELLS OUT RULES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

SAN DIEGO - On a 6-3 vote, the San Diego City Council passed an an ordinance
today that spells out rules under which sick and dying patients can grow and
smoke marijuana.

The ordinance allows a patient to possess a pound of processed marijuana and
up to 24 unharvested plants. A caregiver would be allowed to keep up to 48
unharvested plants and could have as much as two pounds of the processed
drug in his or her possession.

Only indoor cultivation of the drug would be permitted; public growing and
usage would be barred.

Each individual patient would be issued a verification card bearing the name
of the cardholder, a serial number, cardholder's photo and card expiration
date.

"This was a difficult issue. It took some persuading to get me to support
it," said Councilman Charles Lewis, who voted for the ordinance. "As a
leader in the city, I have to stand up and do what I think is right.

"I see people who are hurt, people who are sick, people who are dying. I say
to myself, 'What can I do to help?' This will let me sleep better at night,"
he said.

The votes against the ordinance were cast by Mayor Dick Murphy and
Councilmen Jim Madaffer and Brian Maienschein.

"I still think what we're doing here is not a good idea," Murphy said just
before the vote. "The ordinance is inconsistent with federal law. It sends a
bad message that the use of drugs is OK. I cannot support it."

The vote came seven months after the council voted - also 6-3 - in favor of
guidelines that allow patients to possess up to a pound of marijuana and to
grow up to 24 plants.

San Diego police have been relying on the guidelines to determine if
chronically ill pot smokers are complying with state law.

Even though San Diego police have been working within the guidelines,
activists say patients need the legal protections that go along with
formally adding the standards to the municipal code.

More than three dozen people on either side of the issue addressed the
Council during the public comment portion of the meeting, hoping to sway
opinion one way or the other.

Opponents said they were afraid that if people were allowed to grow the drug
themselves, it could fall into the wrong hands, such as teenagers, criminals
and drug addicts.

Donald Thornhill, a special agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration in San Diego, was strongly against the ordinance.

"It really amounts to de facto legalization of drugs," the 20-year DEA
veteran told the Council. "There is no medical use for marijuana - none
whatsoever. Period. It's nothing more than drug legalization."

Susan Wilcox of Carmel Valley said the ordinance would contribute to the
"rampant" drug abuse that was "ripping apart" her community.

Other speakers, many with debilitating medical conditions, spoke on behalf
of the ordinance, saying they weren't trying to have the drug legalized,
just to be available as a medicine.