MEDICAL POT RULES APPROVED

Nonbinding Guidelines Set For Possession, Cultivation

SAN ANDREAS -- Calaveras County supervisors say legitimate users should be
able to possess up to 2 pounds of marijuana and cultivate up to six plants
at any one time to meet their medical needs.

Calaveras County Supervisors voted 3-2 Monday to adopt the guidelines for
medical pot. The so-called interagency protocol is designed to clear up
confusion over how California's medical-marijuana law should be applied
locally.

Supervisors Terri Bailey and Paul Stein voted against the guidelines, which
are not binding and not in ordinance form. Both said the state -- not
counties and cities -- should develop rules for Proposition 215.

Local law enforcement officers also have reservations about the guidelines.

Undersheriff Randy Grasmuck said the protocol clouds the issue because
medical-marijuana users might consider the board's approval to be the law
- -- and it isn't.

Grasmuck said deputies have generally based their decision on whether to
bust pot users or growers on the likelihood the district attorney would
prosecute the cases.

"Now there's another consideration," said Grasmuck, who said his department
would have preferred to see no protocol approved.

Grasmuck said the protocol numbers put his department at risk for being
sued for false arrest.

But Peter Smith, the district attorney, said he thought the protocol was a
good idea, particularly since they include "conservative" amounts of
marijuana that a legitimate patient can possess.

"People need to have some sense of what is considered legal and illegal,"
said Smith, who added that his office would continue to evaluate
medical-marijuana cases on a case-by-case basis, even with the new protocol.

"What it does is provide a buffer zone for people who can legitimately use
it under the law. It gives them a sense of what they can do without getting
their lives turned upside down."

Voters approved California's medical-marijuana law in 1996. It legalized
the use of marijuana to treat certain illnesses. However, the state never
developed guidelines to implement it, and some counties and cities are
creating their own.

At the request of a local medical-marijuana user, Calaveras County
supervisors appointed a task force earlier this year to help make sense of
Proposition 215 at the local level.

The group included law enforcement officials, doctors, pharmacists and
Angels Camp resident David Jack, a medical-marijuana user. It presented its
recommendations to the board last month. However, supervisors rejected them
on a 3-2 vote.

Board Chairman Tom Tryon voted against the proposal last time because it
did not allow users to possess a large enough quantity of marijuana.
Monday, Tryon changed his vote. Supervisors Merita Callaway and Lucy Thein
maintained their support for the proposed protocol, although it differed
slightly from the one the task force recommended last month.

That proposal would have allowed users to possess three flowering and three
nonflowering plants and 1.3 pounds of marijuana. But Tryon suggested
removing any reference to flowering vs. non-flowering, and Callaway asked
that the amount of processed marijuana be increased from 1.3 pounds to 2
pounds to make sure those who need marijuana would have enough on hand.

Callaway said it was important for the board to adopt a protocol as a
"safety zone" for all concerned. "We need to start somewhere," she said,
"and this is a start."

Jack was not happy with the protocol because he said the six plants and 2
pounds of marijuana won't be enough to meet some legitimate users' needs.

"But at least a line has been drawn," he said. "It's certainly better than
where we had stood."

Dr. Dean Kelaita, the county's health officer, told the board he personally
would have recommended that the protocol limits be set at 25 plants and 3
pounds of marijuana. But he said it would be pointless for the board to
adopt amounts that the sheriff and district attorney would not recognize.

"These are conservative numbers," he said. "But it is a starting point."

To reach Lode Bureau Chief Francis P. Garland, phone 736-9554 or e-mail
garnel@goldrush.com