COUNCIL TO HEAR PROPOSAL FOR MARIJUANA CLUBS

The City Council will consider tonight a local activist's proposal to
legalize medical-marijuana clubs.

Westside resident Bruce Rittenhouse is asking the council to adopt an
ordinance similar to one in Santa Cruz that legalizes the clubs in that
city. Police Chief Jacque McCoy has recommended that the council kill the
proposal.

Rittenhouse is seeking to legalize the clubs under Prop. 215, a 1996
statewide ballot measure that made the growing and use of marijuana legal
for medical purposes.

Marijuana is used by some AIDS patients to combat the "wasting-away" effect
of the condition and by cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy to counter
chronic nausea.

Since the passage of Prop. 215, law enforcement agencies statewide have
consistently fought the measure's implementation.

The council's evening session starts at 6 at City Hall, 735 Anacapa St.