TASK FORCE ISSUES ITS CANNABIS PROPOSALS

Patients Would Be Allowed To Keep 3 Pounds Of Pot

Sick people who use marijuana under a doctor's advice could keep up to 3
pounds of the drug without fear of arrest from San Diego police under
guidelines proposed by a citizens task force.

The city's Medical Cannabis Task Force recommendations also would allow
patients to grow as many as 72 marijuana plants for their own use.

Caregivers who grow marijuana for others could keep as much as 12 pounds of
marijuana and grow as many as 90 plants under the guidelines. The
guidelines will be reviewed by the City Council Public Safety and
Neighborhood Services Committee at 2 p.m. tomorrow in a public hearing in
the City Administration Building, 202 C St. The recommendations must be
approved by the City Council.

The guidelines and a proposed city identification-card program for medical
marijuana users are intended to provide patients, those who care for them
and police with a sense of how much marijuana can be legally grown and
stored, said Juliana Humphrey, chairwoman of the Medical Cannabis Task Force.

Humphrey said guidelines and cards would offer no protection against arrest
by federal drug agents. Use and possession of marijuana for any purpose is
still against federal law.

The City Council created the 12-member task force in 2001 to implement
Proposition 215, a 1996 state measure allowing the medical use of marijuana.

"There are people who want to think this isn't for real, that there's no
such thing as medical marijuana patients, that anything more than a couple
of joints (and) someone's having too much fun," Humphrey said. "Frankly,
that's not the case."

Humphrey said the typical person who would be affected by the guidelines is
a cancer patient who uses marijuana to ease the side effects of chemotherapy.

Critics say the guidelines are too ambiguous and allow people to grow and
keep too much marijuana. They say the guidelines send a message to young
people that smoking marijuana is acceptable.

"We're not saying no. We're just saying let's be responsible about this,"
said John Redman, executive director of the San Diego Prevention Coalition.
"I don't think the coalition, myself or the city of San Diego are trying to
deny people in need."

Redman said the guidelines go too far in allowing sick people to smoke
marijuana in public. If marijuana use is allowed, it should be used at home
and not in public, he said.

Redman said tighter definitions are needed as to who qualifies to be a
caregiver and grow marijuana for others. For example, he said people with a
history of drug abuse, minors and convicted felons should not be allowed to
grow marijuana.

Humphrey said the task force set 3 pounds as an acceptable amount based on
a survey of San Diego doctors who recommended marijuana to their patients.
The survey showed that the typical dosage ranged from three to five
marijuana cigarettes per day, the task force said. The task force said 3
pounds of marijuana would be about a one-year supply for someone using four
cigarettes a day.

The task force said patients may have to keep a one-year supply on hand
because marijuana plants grown outdoors are harvested once a year. She said
as many as plants would be needed to produce about 3 pounds.

Among California cities and counties that have adopted guidelines for the
medical use of marijuana, the task force said the amount of marijuana
allowed ranges from a half-pound in Arcata and Marin County to 3 pounds in
Oakland and Sonoma and Tehema counties.

Although the guidelines are meant to protect patients from arrest by
police, they cannot provide protection arrest by federal drug agents, who
have been cracking down on medical marijuana growers.

San Diego medical marijuana activist Steve McWilliams was arrested last
week on federal drug charges. He has pleaded innocent and was released on bond.

McWilliams had been a member of the task force but resigned because he said
it wasn't moving fast enough. He also disagreed with some of the limits the
proposed guidelines would set.

Police policy in deciding when to make an arrest is determined on a
case-by-case basis. Some medical marijuana users have complained that
police have arbitrarily taken away their plants.

Humphrey said the proposed guidelines were drafted with an eye toward the
federal law because the limits the guidelines set for possession and
cultivation were intentionally kept below those that would require
mandatory prison terms upon conviction in federal court.

Ray Huard: (619) 542-4597; ray.huard@uniontrib.com

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A City Council committee has approved guidelines that
would allow sick people to keep up to three pounds of marijuana and grow up
to 72 plants for their own use without facing prosecution from city police.

The guidelines, adopted Wednesday by the Public Safety and Neighborhood
Services Committee, is expected to go before the full council for approval
later this year.

Caregivers who wish to grow marijuana for up to six patients would be
allowed to keep as much as 12 pounds of the drug and grow up to 90 plants.

"I believe this is right. I believe it's right for suffering people to have
some relief," Councilman George Stevens said.

The guidelines were recommended by a 12-member panel set up by the City
Council in 2001 to implement Proposition 215, the 1996 state measure
allowing medical use of marijuana.

Critics, including police Chief David Bejarano, have said the guidelines
are too vague, allow people to keep and grow too much and imply that the
city condones the use of marijuana for any purpose.

Bejarano sent a memo to Councilwoman Tony Atkins expressing his concern
that allowing people to grow and keep large quantities of marijuana would
"attract theft and violence to neighborhoods and place patients and
caregivers as well as the neighbors at risk."