A STEP FORWARD ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

At long last we might be on the verge of concrete progress in implementing
Proposition 215 (or Section 11362.5 of the the California Health and Safety
Code), which allows patients with a doctor's recommendation to use
marijuana as medicine, in Orange County. A recent appearance by patients
and advocates at a Board of Supervisors meeting seems to have persuaded
some officials that positive action at the county level is both appropriate
and necessary.

Sheriff Mike Carona has scheduled a meeting with Anna Boyce, the Mission
Viejo registered nurse who was a proponent of Prop. 215, and former
gubernatorial candidate and cancer patient Steve Kubby. "We're ready to
listen and see what it will to take to address their concerns," Sheriff
Carona told us this week.

Meantime, Board of Supervisors chairman Chuck Smith told us he has asked
county staff to begin research on if and how Section 11362.5 could be
implemented.

Section 11362.5 creates an exception to the laws against cultivating,
possessing and using marijuana for patients with a recommendation from a
licensed physician. It doesn't mention sales, transportation or
distribution, but appeals courts have suggested the authorities work out
ways to relax these laws without endangering the laws against recreational
use.

The problem, as a group of patients led by Ms. Boyce and Mr. Kubby
explained to the supervisors November 9, is that some patients are not in a
position to grow their own marijuana, whether because of their physical
condition or because of where they live. And without local protocols or
guidelines as to how many plants can be grown or how much can be possessed
before police decide to make an arrest and let the courts sort matters out,
many patients still live in constant fear, three years after California
voters created a legal right to marijuana for medical purposes.

Short of having pharmacies stock marijuana, there must be a way to create a
small "white market" for patients or a regulated dispensary where they can
get access to medicine. The state Legislature, in the face of a threatened
veto from Gov. Davis, decided not to act on a bill written by a task force
convened by Attorney General Bill Lockyer. So it is up to local government,
which might well be the most appropriate approach, considering the vast
variety of localities in California.

Some have contended that California localities are powerless to implement
Section 11362.5 because federal law prohibits any use of marijuana. But the
California Constitution requires agencies to implement California law even
in the face of a claim that it conflicts with federal law, unless and until
an appeals court has determined that federal law supersedes it. No court
case has been filed against Prop. 215 on the grounds of conflict with
federal law.

Two cities, Arcata in Northern California and Oakland in the Bay area, have
developed and passed local ordinances to regulate the distribution of
medical marijuana. San Jose and San Francisco have taken important steps
toward implementing the medical marijuana law. A medical marijuana
distribution center is operating in West Hollywood with no interference
from the federal government. All of these efforts offer lessons that can be
useful to the supervisors in crafting a set of guidelines appropriate to
Orange County.

Sheriff Carona's meeting with Anna Boyce, Steve Kubby and others later this
month will be helpful. While the Sheriff's Department has some flexibility,
however, it is supposed to enforce the law, not make it. The sheriff's job
would be easier if the supervisors developed and passed specific guidelines
for medical marijuana in Orange County. That would help both patients and
law enforcement officers understand in advance what kinds of marijuana use
are medically legitimate and what is still outlawed.

That's where the staff research requested by Supervisor Smith comes in. The
staff should make it a high priority and bring implementation of Section
11362.5 to the supervisors' agenda as soon as possible.

Orange County might not be the first place one would expect to find a
working medical marijuana law, but it is exactly the kind of place that
would find a way to help patients who say they need it.