BERKELEY'S POT LIMIT IS 2.5 POUNDS

The Berkeley City Council settled the burning question last night of how
much stash is too much stash for medical purposes. By an 8-to-1 vote, the
council allowed a "qualified patient" to possess as many as 10 marijuana
plants and 2 1/2 pounds of dried marijuana, disappointing more than two
dozen medical marijuana activists who had urged the council to adopt a more
liberal limit.

"As one who has seen medical marijuana work and who has also been witness
to illegal use of marijuana, it's hard to say which way we should go," said
Councilwoman Margaret Breland, one of four council members who initially
favored the generous limit but accepted the lower amount because they
lacked a majority vote.

California's Proposition 215, passed by voters in 1996, allows marijuana
cultivation and use by qualified patients for "personal medical purposes"
but does not set any limits on how much pot a patient can keep.

Last night, the council mulled two options:

- -- The city manager's recommendation, which sets the limit at 10 growing
plants and 2 1/2 pounds of dried marijuana, unless a doctor allows more.
The limit for a collective of patients would be 50 plants and 12 1/2 pounds.

- -- A recommendation by Berkeley's Community Health Commission, favoring 144
plants and six pounds of pot per person, and no limit on the quantity kept
by a collective.

Arnold Pouncy, 65, a retired Berkeley instructor of school bus drivers who
uses marijuana for a spine injury, said he felt the council had failed him.

"Last year, I had six plants and they all went down with worms," he said.
"I had no medication unless I went to the Cannibis Club, but that becomes
very expensive on a fixed income."

The city manager and the commission have been at loggerheads for the past
two years during an attempt to balance California's "compassionate use
initiative" against concerns about crime and public safety. Neither the
state Legislature nor the attorney general's office has clarified the issue
for local communities.

The commission, appointed by the City Council, proposed the higher amounts
based on Oakland's medical marijuana ordinance. But the Berkeley city
manager's report says Oakland's rules "provide for an inordinately large
number of marijuana plants -- 20 times more than the average number of
plants allowed in other jurisdictions across the state"-- and should not be
followed.

Marin County allows a patient as many as 12 marijuana plants and as much as
a half pound of dried marijuana. Mendocino County allows 18 plants and two
pounds of dried pot. Nevada County allows 10 plants and two pounds of pot.

San Francisco and the counties of San Mateo, Alameda and Contra Costa have
no quantified limits but decide whether a person has too much pot for their
own use on a case-by-case basis.

"There's an adage, 'You know it when you see it,' " said Contra Costa's
chief deputy district attorney, Dale Miller. "You have to look at each case
individually. The facts are never the same."

"Allowing 144 plants per person for 'personal use' and allowing unlimited
plants and dried marijuana by Medical Marijuana Collectives will generate
large surpluses that can easily be diverted to illegal use and illegal
sales," wrote Berkeley City Manager Weldon Rucker in a report to the
council. "This in turn may give rise to neighborhood theft, fears and
violence. . .

At $4,500 per pound, a crop of this size would be worth $54,000 per patient."

Outside the meeting room last night, Don Duncan, a member of the Berkeley
Patients Group, a medical marijuana collective, said the city's concern
about large quantities of marijuana promoting crime is misplaced.

"Some people have lots of jewelry or cash in their house," he said. "It's
necessary for patients to protect their medication and their privacy."

From a health standpoint, Dr. Poki Namkung, Berkeley's health officer,
reviewed current research on medical marijuana dosages and determined that
2 1/2 pounds of marijuana is an ample year supply for medical purposes,
Namkung said.

Berkeley has avoided endorsing pot clubs with nonpatient staff, like
Oakland's Cannabis Buyers Club, which has been ruled illegal in state
court. The Oakland case is currently being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.