LOCKYER SAYS MENDOCINO DOSE TOO HIGH

UKIAH -- Attorney General Bill Lockyer is questioning the "excessive'' use
of pot allowed under Mendocino County's new medicinal marijuana program, an
amount equivalent to a dozen or more marijuana cigarettes a day.

As it is, the amount of pot an approved medical patient may possess in
Mendocino County is four times the amount allowed in Arcata, the hip
Humboldt County town where a groundbreaking program to issue photo
identification cards to medicinal marijuana users was pioneered two years ago.

But Mendocino District Attorney Norman Vroman said Monday that Lockyer's
objections were unjustified and politically motivated, and that he would
not reduce the amount of pot allowed in the county program.

Vroman said many medical patients mix marijuana in their food or inhale pot
smoke through vaporizers. Those methods use up more marijuana than smoking
it, he said.

Lockyer's complaints were outlined in a letter sent Aug. 24 to Vroman and
Mendocino County Sheriff Tony Craver. Vroman said Monday the letter was
meant to obscure the fact that Lockyer and state legislative leaders have
been unable to agree how much pot medical patients could possess under a
proposed statewide ID card program modeled after those in Mendocino County
and Arcata.

"If the state wants to provide some definitive guidance, we will be happy
to attempt to bring our policy into conformance. Until then, we're going to
continue the way we are,'' Vroman said.

The Legislature, hung up on the issue of how much marijuana medicinal users
should be allowed to possess, adjourned Friday without acting on a Senate
bill that would have created a statewide version of Mendocino County's
program. The measure by Sen. John Vasconellos, D-San Jose, would have
required the state Health Department to issue emergency regulations
addressing the amount of marijuana a person could have possessed for
medicinal purposes.

Rand Martin, Vasconellos' chief of staff, said Monday the measure is likely
to be taken up during the next legislative session. Martin said the volume
issue, and questions raised by law enforcement agencies about how to verify
the legitimacy of a patient who chooses not to register under the proposed
state program, "surfaced very late in the session.''

Noting worries Gov. Gray Davis might veto the measure if it was passed with
those issues unresolved, Martin said, "We decided it might be wiser to take
some more time.''

Vroman said he disagrees that the limits set in Mendocino County are
excessive. "From what we learned about how marijuana is used for medicinal
purposes, the amount we set was fair and reasonable,'' he said.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's a non-story,'' he said.

Medical marijuana proponents sided with Vroman, noting federal guidelines
related to testing of the medicinal benefits of pot allow the use of up to
10 marijuana cigarettes a day. Under those guidelines, a three-month supply
for participants in the federal experiment amounts to l 1/2 pounds.

Ukiah attorney David Nelson, who represents a local medical marijuana club,
said Monday Mendocino County's provisions are "somewhere in the middle''
when compared with other medicinal marijuana plans adopted or contemplated
around the state.

The issue may become moot if legal issues surrounding provisions of
Proposition 215 and the proliferation of local clubs that distribute
marijuana to medical patients finally are resolved.

On Monday, a federal appeals court raised the possibility of reopening six
closed medical marijuana clubs to patients who could show that they need
pot to prevent imminent medical harm. Marijuana clubs in Ukiah and Fairfax
have continued to operate pending federal action.

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Cooperative is online at:
http://www.ce9.uscourts.gov/
Look under: Court of Appeals Opinions are now online!
And it has also been posted by marijuananews.com at:
http://www.marijuananews.com/oakland_case_ninth_circuit_rulin.htm