MEDICAL MARIJUANA TASK FORCE DEBATES AMOUNT PATIENTS CAN HAVE

SAN ANDREAS -- Members of a task force developing guidelines for Calaveras
County medical marijuana users don't see eye to eye with users over what's
enough marijuana to meet patients' needs.

The county's Medical Marijuana Task Force on Tuesday night endorsed
guidelines allowing patients to keep six plants and 1.3 pounds of marijuana
on hand at any time.

But local medical marijuana user and task force member David Jack said that
amount will not meet his needs -- and will leave others who count on
cannabis to provide relief from debilitating illnesses searching for solutions.

The task force -- made up of doctors, pharmacists, health-care workers and
law enforcement officials -- will present its recommendations to the Board
of Supervisors Sept. 5.

The task force was established to develop guidelines after some medical
marijuana users claimed they were being targeted for prosecution for doing
something legal.

Proposition 215, approved by the state's voters in 1996, legalized
marijuana use by those with certain medical conditions upon approval or
recommendation by a doctor.

The county's guidelines are meant to clarify what constitutes legal,
personal possession vs. illegal possession or cultivation.

Jack said Wednesday he was disappointed in the guidelines approved Tuesday
because the group earlier set the limit at 30 plants and four pounds of
processed marijuana.

But both District Attorney Peter Smith and Sheriff Dennis Downum objected
to the larger amount, and Smith asked Jeanne Boyce, the county's health
director, to revisit the numbers at Tuesday's meeting.

Downum said he could support the allowance of six plants and 1.3 pounds of
marijuana because those are guidelines established by the state Department
of Justice.

"For me, personally, it's the best we can do," Downum said.

But reducing the accepted amount to six plants -- three flowering and three
non-flowering -- and 1.3 pounds of processed marijuana won't meet some
medical marijuana patients' needs, Jack said, including himself.

"I thought 30 plants and four pounds was reasonable," he said. "This is
going to be very difficult for patients."

Task-force member Dr. Jakob Jabby opposed reducing the amount of marijuana
a legitimate patient should be allowed because plant yields vary and so do
patient needs.

"If we do set a guideline with regard to quantity, we need to be absolutely
certain every patient who is on medical marijuana is covered for what he or
she needs," he said.

Jack has helped establish a congregational caregiver program to provide
marijuana to those with a legitimate right to it. The program was thrust
into the spotlight earlier this month when law enforcement agencies raided
the Northern Lights Church in Wallace -- a church Jack is affiliated with
- -- and destroyed 287 plants there.

Smith has yet to file charges in the case.

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