MARIJUANA MEASURE WON'T MAKE DIFFERENCE, OFFICIALS SAY

UKIAH -- Mendocino County's vote to decriminalize pot for personal use will
have national significance, advocates said Wednesday.

"It's a message that will be hard to ignore," said former Rep. Dan Hamburg
of Ukiah, a Measure G proponent.

But local, state and federal authorities said they are making no change in
how they go about enforcing pot laws following Tuesday's approval of the
Green Party-sponsored ballot measure by a 58-42 percent margin.

"Nothing changes. Absolutely nothing. State and federal laws treating
marijuana as an illegal substance remain in effect," said Nathan Barankin,
spokesman for state Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

Barankin said North Coast pot advocates can celebrate all they want, "But
the reality is their vote is only symbolic."

The federal Drug Enforcement Agency agreed.

As to prospects for eventual decriminalization of marijuana nationwide,
agency representatives Wednesday cited a recent report on non-medical
marijuana use by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at
New York's Columbia University.

Among that report's conclusions: "It is clear that decriminalization of the
drug would certainly increase use among the nation's teens and children. In
a society that looks to government to protect it from unsafe cars and toys
- -- and that recognizes that the availability of guns increase their uses --
it is hard to understand why anyone would take actions likely to make this
drug more readily available to our children."

Mendocino's Measure G would allow cultivation and possession of up to 25
pot plants for personal use.

That amount has been unlikely to prompt law enforcement action in the
county since approval two years ago of Proposition 215, the medical
marijuana initiative.

Mendocino County District Attorney Norman Vroman said Wednesday he expected
Measure G to win, given county residents' weariness of a costly government
anti-pot campaign "that's lucky to net 10 percent of the pot grown every
year in this county."

Nevertheless, Vroman said when it comes to prosecuting marijuana
cultivation cases, "It's going to be business as usual."

"People would be very mistaken to assume that because Measure G passed,
Mendocino County will become a safe haven for marijuana growers," said Vroman.

Vroman said local authorities may tacitly look the other way at so-called
"mom-and-pop" growers because of staffing and money concerns, but any
reported marijuana cultivation operations whether large or small will be
investigated and prosecuted if warranted.

"That's the law. We will do our jobs," said Vroman.