BROWN DOESN'T END POT DEBATE

Federal Conflict Persists

If state Attorney General Jerry Brown's medical-marijuana
recommendations released this week were meant to clarify a muddied
issue caused by conflicting state and federal law, not all local
officials saw the light.

Some welcomed Brown's effort to protect legal dispensaries and
patients, but others believed the guidelines released Monday were far
from the final word.

San Bernardino County and its Sheriff's Department are challenging
Brown's recommendations with a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"We still think the recommendation is in direct conflict with federal
law," said San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Arden
Wiltshire. "Our sheriffs believe federal law supersedes state law."

Brown's 11-page recommendation tells local law-enforcement officers
not to arrest medical-marijuana patients under federal law if their
conduct is legal under state law.

Furthermore, the directive states that a properly run dispensary
operating as a nonprofit is legal.

"I'm sure the feds want to challenge that," said Claremont Councilman
Sam Pedroza. "It certainly isn't the end of the issue."

Claremont was poised to open a medical-marijuana dispensary but a
change of heart led a council majority to vote against it. The city
now has a ban on dispensaries.

"I think it's a step in the right direction in helping cities out,
but I think we also need the same type of clarification from the
federal government," Pedroza said. "I don't think it'll change our
position from the city yet. Everything is still in flux between the
state and federal government."

California voters passed a proposition in 1996 that legalized medical
marijuana, but the federal government continues to treat this
alternative medicine as an illegal substance.

The contradictory positions have for years created a quandary among
police, lawyers and public officials.

Many local law-enforcement agencies, like the San Bernardino County
Sheriff's Department, have been abiding by federal guidelines on this issue.

"I'm not sure if the new determinations make a difference or not,
it's too soon to tell," said Fontana police Sgt. Jeff Decker. "We
still treat a violation of marijuana possession as a violation of the
federal law."

Decker said arrests of medical-marijuana patients are not common, but
patients who are charged can use a medical-marijuana card in their defense.

The confusion between state and federal governments and a fear that
businesses selling medical marijuana could attract crime have led to
a wave of dispensary bans by cities across the Inland Valley.

Norco banned them in 2007 after a Riverside County judge shut down
the dispensary Collective Solution.

Mayor Frank Hall said the recent recommendations were politically motivated.

"I think it's wrong," Hall said. "I don't think that the state can
pass a law that supersedes the federal government."

The recommendations are the first that a state agency has issued
since voters passed the medical-marijuana initiative 12 years ago.

Claremont Mayor Ellen Taylor, who supports a regulated dispensary in
the city, welcomed Brown's recommendations. She said she's not sure
whether the guidelines will change the city's ban or if there's still
enthusiasm behind establishing such dispensaries.

"You never know. I'd never say 'never,"' Taylor said. "But it's good
that the state is putting some muscle behind (the initiative). It's
about time the state steps up to the state law."