STATE MARIJUANA LAW CRITICIZED AS TOO LOOSE

Law Enforcement, Medical Personnel, Patients And Lawmakers Are Finding
Problems In Interpretation

SACRAMENTO -- California's groundbreaking medicinal marijuana law is being
used in other states as a model of how not to write a law to allow
chronically ill patients to smoke the drug.

The Compassionate Use Act of 1996 doesn't define the specific amounts of
marijuana allowed or say if patients should be registered or required to
carry an identification card, and that has created confusion among law
enforcement officials, medical personnel, patients and lawmakers, said Gina
Pesulima, spokeswoman for Americans for Medical Rights, a group that
advises grass-roots organizations promoting medical marijuana laws.

"Proposition 215 was pretty loosely written," Pesulima said. "We help other
states draft tighter laws, which will make it easier for everyone involved."

Since California voters approved the 1996 law, voters in Alaska,
Washington, Oregon and Maine have approved similar laws.

Voters in Nevada and Colorado also approved initiatives, but will vote
again on their measures this fall. Colorado's was disqualified from the
ballot after the election, and Nevada's is a constitutional amendment,
which requires approval in two successive elections.

The Hawaii Legislature recently approved a law decriminalizing marijuana
for medical purposes.

Medical marijuana advocacy groups estimate that thousands of people are
using the drug under the new laws. Oregon has a voluntary registry that
includes about 1,000 patients, Pesulima said, but many users fear giving up
their privacy and don't register.

California Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, has sponsored a bill that
would tighten state law by establishing a registry or identification card
system and urging consistent enforcement.

The bill was put in the inactive file in the state Assembly, but Rand
Martin, a consultant from Vasconcellos' office, said he expects it to be
approved this year.

In the meantime, San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan on Friday
announced a plan to issue city ID cards allowing sick people to use
marijuana. The cards, which cost $25 and require a doctor's note, allow
patients to avoid local prosecution if caught possessing the drug.

Last month, Martinez became the first city in Contra Costa County to
approve a medical marijuana ordinance regulating dispensaries. City
councilmembers have said the law was too vague, and the council was forced
to come up with the ordinance after receiving a petition to open a
dispensary shortly after Prop. 215 passed.

Today, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer is expected to decide if an
Oakland club is allowed to distribute medicinal marijuana. He hinted last
week he may be forced to permit it because the U.S. Justice Department
hasn't rebutted evidence that cannabis is the only effective treatment for
a large group of seriously ill people.

Gov. Gray Davis has approved spending $3 million over three years to
research the benefits and efficacy of marijuana, which is used by some to
ease the pain of terminal or chronic illness.

Advocates say research could help solve problems that arose from the 1996
measure, such as how best to take the drug, how much to prescribe and how
law enforcement officials should treat those with a doctor's recommendation.

Even officers who fight drug use support the research, said John Lovell, a
lobbyist for the California Narcotic Officers Association.

"We've always supported all dispassionate research into the effects of any
drugs. I don't think anyone has any investment in ignorance," Lovell said.

There are no definitive plans yet for the research, which will be done
within the University of California system.

Possession and cultivation of marijuana remains illegal under U.S. law, and
federal officials have repeatedly told state officials that medical
marijuana users risk federal prosecution.

Federal defendants who have tried to use the state's law as a defense have
failed, said Thomas J. Ballanco, the defense attorney involved in the two
biggest cases using the defense. He lost both.

In one of them, B.E. Smith was convicted of growing marijuana on federal
land in Trinity County. Smith has a doctor's recommendation for marijuana
and said he was growing the plants for himself and others who were able to
smoke it under the Compassionate Use Act.

Smith is serving a 27-month prison sentence and is appealing the conviction.

"In the cases I've seen at the state level, it has been a successful
defense," said Ballanco, who had a client who had her marijuana plants
seized, then returned by the Los Angeles Police Department. "We just backed
up a truck to the LAPD and drove off with a bunch of marijuana," Ballanco said.

Pesulima's group, Americans for Medical Rights, provides legal assistance
for patients who have been arrested on drug charges and are using the
Compassionate Use Act as a defense in state courts.

"We're confident that patients are able to use the law as a defense," she
said. "In the cases where there's more of an ongoing battle, it's usually
because they have more than the amount allowed for personal use or they are
using in public, which is clearly not allowed."