MENDOCINO POT MEASURE A FIRST

Pinches Joins Green Party Fight

Cattle rancher Johnny Pinches, a conservative former member of the
Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, stepped outside his isolated home
last week and held the phone toward the sky so a caller could hear the
"whump, whump, whump" of a government helicopter passing overhead in search
of marijuana gardens.

Pinches said the noisy helicopters are becoming a nearly daily experience
for him and other backwoods residents who live on the slopes of Island
Mountain, a rugged pot-growing region where the borders of Mendocino,
Humboldt and Trinity counties meet. Pinches and his neighbors are braced
for even more flights as the harvest of the county's infamous cash crop,
estimated to have a street value of nearly $1 billion, reaches its peak
over the next several weeks.

Before the illicit crop is in, local, state and federal law enforcement
agencies will spend more than $1 million to wage their annual
anti-marijuana campaign in the so-called "Emerald Triangle." It's a war
that Pinches contends can never be won, despite 15 years of effort.

"I may be just an old hillbilly, but I figure all that money would have
been better spent on fighting hard drugs like methamphetamine, and the
rampant abuse of alcohol," Pinches said.

To that end, Pinches has capped years of advocating the legalization of
marijuana as a county supervisor and Republican state Senate candidate by
endorsing a local measure on the November ballot that calls for
decriminalization of the personal use of pot.

Measure G, if passed by local voters, would allow pot to be grown for
personal use, a first in the country. Drafted by local Green Party members,
the ballot measure goes beyond local pot ordinances adopted in San
Francisco and Berkeley that merely instruct local police agencies to
minimize the priority of marijuana enforcement.

Pinches said that as a political independent he's not worried that his
endorsement of the measure might taint any future political ambitions.

"I don't care who the other supporters are. To me, it simply makes no sense
to be doing what we're doing in regards to marijuana," Pinches said.

If passed locally, Measure G would permit limited cultivation and
possession of up to 25 marijuana plants per adult but would continue to
make the transportation and sale of pot illegal. It also directs the county
sheriff and district attorney to make marijuana law enforcement and
prosecution their lowest priority and orders county officials to lobby
state and federal agencies for the decriminalization of marijuana nationwide.

So far, the marijuana measure has escaped local controversy and faces no
organized opposition.

But some local school officials and youth leaders worry passage of Measure
G will send the wrong message. "It's pretty fundamental. We already have
problems with marijuana use in the schools, as we do with cigarettes and
alcohol. Drug use of any kind should be discouraged," said Gary Brawley,
superintendent of the 6,000-student Ukiah Unified School District.

Even if Measure G passes, Brawley said, the school district will continue
to enforce its "zero-tolerance" marijuana policy.

Rick Klug, youth and family adviser at the First Presbyterian Church in
Ukiah, also said Measure G sends the wrong message. "I understand some of
the arguments surrounding marijuana, but frankly I just don't think we need
to be advocating drug use of any kind," he said.

As it is, federal officials say Measure G isn't worth the bother. "Until
marijuana is reclassified under the federal drug control act, its
cultivation and use remains subject to federal prosecution no matter what
state and local agencies do," said Gretchen Michael, a spokeswoman for the
U.S. Justice Department.

Measure G backers say they've tried to tailor provisions of the initiative
to current marijuana enforcement policies of Mendocino County Sheriff Tony
Craver and District Attorney Norman Vroman: targeting major pot-growing
operations while ignoring "mom-and-pop" growers unless brought to law
enforcement's attention.

Still, Craver and Vroman said they will not endorse the measure.

"People should have the opportunity to make a statement about law
enforcement priorities, but the fact of the matter is we are sworn to
uphold laws despite questions about their effectiveness," Craver said.

He said he's not an advocate of recreational marijuana use, but he said he
agrees with Measure G proponents that current state and federal criminal
laws surrounding pot are ineffective.

"There are a lot of legal, social and medical issues involved that aren't
adequately addressed, but that's not my job," Craver said.

"Under state and federal laws, marijuana cultivation and use is illegal and
because of that we will continue to go after the big operators," he said.
He said he doesn't "have the time or staff to worry about mom-and-pop
growers unless they're brought to our attention."

Vroman said he's worried passage of Measure G might signal outsiders that
there will be no marijuana enforcement in the county, traditionally one of
the highest producers of the illicit weed.

"I fear people think growing marijuana is suddenly going to be legal and
there will be no prosecution in Mendocino County. They're going to be sadly
mistaken," Vroman told a crowd of Measure G proponents two weeks ago.

Despite the reservations of Vroman and others, proponents are confident the
measure will win voters' endorsement.

Pinches said he doesn't find that surprising in a county where 64.5 percent
of local voters in 1996 supported Proposition 215, which allows the use of
marijuana for medical reasons. Although passed by state voters, Proposition
215 continues to be legally challenged by federal agencies, which claim
jurisdiction over the cultivation and use of marijuana.

"By and large, people who live here are fed up with the antics surrounding
the government's costly anti-marijuana campaign," he said.

He said every time he sees a government helicopter flying overhead, he
figures it costs taxpayers $700 to $800 an hour. "Yet down in Laytonville
at the high school, the kids can't play winter sports in the gym because it
leaks so badly. Where's our priorities?"

Pinches signed the ballot argument in favor of Measure G, which was placed
on the November ballot by a unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors
after promoters collected more than twice the required number of signatures
from registered voters.

Other signers include Millie Lehrman, founder of the Ukiah Cannabis Club;
Ukiah physician Peter Keegan; Ann Deirup, a county leader for the Gray
Panthers; and Richard Johnson, publisher of an environmental weekly
newspaper and chief organizer of the Measure G campaign. Former Rep. Dan
Hamburg, D-Ukiah, is a member of the campaign committee.

You can reach Press Democrat Staff Writer Mike Geniella at 462-6470 or
e-mail at mgeniella@pressdemocrat.com.