MEDICAL MARIJUANA TALK SET

Nearly four years after California voters passed Proposition 215, making
marijuana legal for medicinal purposes, the San Diego City Council will
discuss ways to implement the law.

Mayor Susan Golding announced yesterday that the controversial questions of
who is legally entitled to use marijuana and how they may obtain it will be
taken up by the council Aug. 14.

"The mayor is eager to reconcile all of the issues surrounding medical
marijuana," said her spokesman, Ric Grenell. "There are many issues
regarding this, and she wants to explore all of them."

Council members Christine Kehoe, George Stevens, Byron Wear and Valerie
Stallings sent a letter to Golding yesterday urging her to convene a
session to discuss medical marijuana that would include the district
attorney, police, advocates of Proposition 215, medical experts and others.

"As a matter of fairness, we need to let the public know what's legal and
what isn't," Kehoe said. "It's very confusing now for everybody. If you're
ill and have a physician who thinks marijuana could be helpful, you're
between a rock and a hard place in San Diego.

"This was passed by the voters in 1996. Burying our heads in the sand isn't
helping."

Golding's announcement follows the implementation of a photo-identification
system for medical-marijuana users in San Francisco this week and a federal
judge's ruling that an Oakland co-operative which once supplied the drug to
sick people there can reopen.

Steve McWilliams, who operated a similar marijuana co-op here before
running afoul of police a year ago, welcomed Golding's announcement of a
council discussion.

"Perhaps their consciences are finally taking over," said McWilliams, who
has often led medical-marijuana advocates into council chambers to protest
San Diego's failure to implement Proposition 215.

"When they see how easily this (implementation) has been done in Santa
Cruz, Oakland, Arcata and other places, I don't see why they should have
any reservations."