LEGAL QUANDARY SNAGS MEDICAL POT USERS

Marysville Case Puts Spotlight On Clash Of Federal, State Laws

Washington state's legitimate medical marijuana users face a problem. They
can legally grow their own pot or purchase it, but anyone who gives or
sells them marijuana, its seeds or plants could be charged with a felony.

"That's the problem," said Dr. Rob Killian of Seattle, author of the
medical marijuana initiative approved by voters in 1998. "People don't know
where to go to get it."

The problem can't be fixed by prosecutors or by the state Legislature
because lawmakers can't override federal law, which doesn't recognize
marijuana as a legal drug, Killian said.

"We're trying to change that," he said, adding medical marijuana supporters
were denied a hearing in Congress.

"We believe the more states that pass this, the more pressure will be put
on Congress to change the federal law," Killian said.

Beverly Foxx, 64, who has been staying in Everett, stoked up the issue in
Snohomish County two weeks ago when Marysville police evacuating a motel
because of a natural gas leak seized about 35 marijuana plants from a room
rented to her son, Alex Rundquist.

Foxx, who says she's authorized to use marijuana under the initiative,
wants her plants back. But police kept the plants and sent a report to the
Snohomish County prosecutor's office for a review that could take weeks.

Foxx has threatened to light up a marijuana pipe in the Marysville police
station to get the issue before a judge in hopes of clarifying the law and
getting her plants back.

She has papers signed by several doctors regarding her medical problems,
but the papers predate the initiative's passage. At least one of the
doctors now says Foxx doesn't qualify as a legal medical marijuana user.

Among her medical problems, she said, are cancer, a cyst behind one eye,
arthritis and intractable pain.

Foxx said she has new documentation from two doctors and her attorney will
meet next week with the Marysville officer who seized her plants so he can
review her paperwork.

After that, Snohomish County prosecutors will decide whether Foxx will be
charged. They did not want to discuss the case before they receive all the
paperwork from Marysville police.

The initiative was specifically crafted to keep the state out of federal
court, Killian said. Under the law, physicians are allowed to discuss with
patients marijuana's risks and possible benefits, and if the benefits
outweigh the risks, the doctor can state it in writing. Doctors cannot
prescribe marijuana, and they're prohibited from discussing where or how
patients can get it.

There are things in the law that need to be clarified, such as what
constitutes a legal 60-day supply of pot. So far, authorities say there has
been no test case on which a court could issue a ruling.

A bill this year to allow the state Health Department to define such a
supply was supported by police and prosecutor associations, and passed the
state Senate, but was blocked in a House committee by Rep. Mike Carrell,
R-University Place, Killian said.

A proposal last year to create a registry of authorized users also died in
committee, he said.

That leaves patients who are legally entitled to use marijuana, as well as
police charged with enforcing the law, in a quandary.

"In my opinion, this law was about protecting people on the local level,
where most drug arrests happen," said Killian, a family physician who
specializes in HIV and AIDS. "Marijuana is ubiquitous and available
everywhere. Patients have had little trouble getting access to it."

However, anyone who supplies it to them runs a risk.

No concrete numbers are available regarding how many patients use marijuana
medicinally because there is no registry, authorities say.

It is used to reduce extreme nausea, such as from cancer or chemotherapy;
to increase appetite to allow normal food consumption; to control muscle
spasms, seizures and chronic pain; and to reduce eye pressure in glaucoma
patients.

Organizations such as Green Cross in Seattle provide information and
support to medical marijuana patients, along with the pot itself. The co-op
serves more than 1,000 patients per month, according to JoAnna McKee, its
co-founder and director.

"Green Cross should be teaching people how to grow their own, but they
charge for pot. It's an absolute business venture," Killian said.

A 60-day supply is about a pound of marijuana, McKee said, although the law
doesn't define it. Some patients grow their own plants and if they have
extra, they provide it to the co-op to share it with others, she said.

"It's given away for cost," she said. "We ask for a donation to cover the
cost of the lights and stuff for the patients. It's totally a nonprofit
organization.

"We know that right now there are patients who are dying who couldn't get
the medicine for themselves, who are not capable of growing it for
themselves. You can't just tell them, 'I'm sorry, I can't help you.' "

Police and prosecutors don't target such groups or monitor to whom
marijuana is distributed, but those people could be charged and prosecuted
for supplying marijuana, authorities say.

The biggest stumbling block is determining how much pot is enough.

"Nobody knows for sure what that is," said Dan Satterberg, chief of staff
in the King County prosecutor's office.

"You'll know it when you see it; you'll know it when it's excessive. I
don't think prosecutors are going to want to go after a case where it's a
62-day supply. But if you've got hundreds of plants or pounds of pot, then
that's something a defendant can argue and something for a jury to
consider," Satterberg said. "Our policy is to enforce the law."

His office works directly with King County police agencies to provide
consistency in how they approach possible medical marijuana cases.

One of the great flaws of the initiative is that it didn't set up any
distribution network, he said. A doctor simply documents that patients have
one of the qualifying diseases or intractable pain.

"Then the patient is essentially on their own to enter into a criminal
transaction with people who don't sell regulated items," Satterberg said.
"They're buying it on the street. And at some point up the chain, someone
has committed a felony crime that has no defense to it," he said

Ahead of many other police agencies, the Seattle Police Department has
developed a draft enforcement policy to guide officers investigating
marijuana cases in which people claim a legal right to possess and use it,
said Leo Poort, the department's legal adviser.

The policy requires officers to take and test a sample, as well as to
document the amount of marijuana a person has, along with their
documentation, and to ask what the person's daily dose is.

"We've asked them to consult with us when they see such as case," and to
refrain from arresting and booking a person "until we figure out what we've
got," Satterberg said.