A BUDDING PROPOSITION

Arcata Serves As Role Model For State

WHEN CALIFORNIA VOTERS APPROVED THE MEDICINAL USE of marijuana in 1996, the
issue of how to implement the new law became a challenge for law
enforcement: How do you set up a state distribution system for a drug that
the federal government still says is illegal?

The fog surrounding the medical marijuana issue is finally beginning to
clear. On Monday a special task force unveiled a plan to implement
Proposition 215, passed by 56 percent of the voters three years ago. The
plan calls for a statewide voluntary registry system patterned after a
system already in place one designed and established by Arcata Police Chief
Mel Brown more than two years ago.

"The beauty of the thing is, it's just such a simple program," Brown said in
an interview in his office last week.

As Brown was explaining Arcata's program with a physician's approval,
patients are issued photo IDs to protect them against mistaken arrest
telephone rang. It was David DeAlba, special assistant to Attorney General
Bill Lockyer, asking Brown's advice and making plans to come to Arcata next
month to fish and escape the heat of Sacramento.

Brown, along the Humboldt County District Attorney Terry Farmer, served on
Lockyer's 30-member task force that included other law enforcement
officials, physicians and medical marijuana advocates.

Lockyer's reason for finally setting up a statewide system is partly
personal. The state attorney general's mother and sister died of leukemia,
and he said he would have wanted an alternative to morphine to relieve their
suffering.

"It seemed absurd they were given morphine to deal with their terminal
illness but not this medicine," he said, referring to medicinal marijuana
during a phone interview from his Sacramento office. His mission is to push
for more scientific research into the effects of the drug on various
illnesses and to fix the "ambiguities of the law" surrounding it.

The passage last year (with Sen. Wesley Chesbro, D-Arcata, voting aye) of
Senate Bill 848, sponsored by Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, created
the task force, which began meeting in January. But the panel's specific
recommendations were closely guarded until Monday. (See provisions, page
11.) Hearings on the bill by the Assembly Health and Human Services
Committee began Tuesday.

"This bill represents a remarkable compromise after one of the most elegant
collaborative processes I've enjoyed in my 33 years in the Legislature,"
Vasconcellos said in an issued statement.

"The bill meets Proposition 215's key objective allowing access to medicinal
marijuana for persons with legitimate need and carefully balances concerns
of patients, physicians and law enforcement. It gives law enforcement a
brighter line to ensure resources are not wasted pursuing legitimate
medicinal marijuana patients and are not diverted from pursuing persons who
violate other drug laws," Vasconcellos added.

The Arcata police chief was the person who drew that

brighter line, gaining national media attention in the process. Brown has
been interviewed by Court TV, Rolling Stone and Time magazines, among other
media.

He didn't set out to become a pioneer, but when the initiative passed he
said, "I could hear the train coming."

Like most police chiefs and sheriffs, he could have waited for the attorney
general to issue enforcement guidelines since federal law prohibiting the
sale or use of the drug supersedes state law. But he chose instead to be
pro-active.

"It came down to I'm either going to manage the problem or it's going to
manage me," he said.

At first he called it a pilot program just in case it didn't work. The
system requires a doctor's written approval before his department prints and
issues a photo identification.

Brown said he is satisfied with the results of the 2-year-old program so
far. He hasn't revoked a card yet, and he said the few hours per week he
spends on administration beats the alternative a bogged-down judicial system.

When voters passed what was officially known as the Compassionate Use Act of
1996, buyer's clubs and cannabis centers began cropping up to distribute
marijuana for ailments ranging from glaucoma to epilepsy. Among them was the
Humboldt Cannabis Center in Arcata, one of 10 that narrowly avoided being
raided last year by the U.S. Department of Justice. DOJ won a court order to
shut down most of the state's cannabis clubs for violating federal laws
against marijuana distribution.

The Arcata center not only escaped a raid but survived months of public
feuding by its founders. The facility is marking its success with a move in
late August to a 3,700-square-foot building at 6th and H streets in Arcata,
just three blocks from the police station. The building has been leased by
the nonprofit with an option to buy.

So far, Brown has issued IDs to 75 medical marijuana users on file with his
department, but the cannabis club estimates it serves up to 450 clients.
Some come from Redding or Oakland. Some are transients, just passing
through. And there are others who have moved to Humboldt County because of
the program, according to club President Greg Allen. One patient even came
from Wisconsin.

Residents and out-of-towners must submit a physician's note, which Brown
verifies. (He wants assurance he's "not dealing with the janitor.") Then the
patients are allowed to grow and possess up to 10 plants or the equivalent
of up to 8 ounces of dried, processed marijuana. If a patient or caregiver
grows a larger garden, officers confiscate the excess and book the ambitious
grower.

Through mutual agreement, the police chief has reserved the right to pop
into the center at any time without a warrant.

Mendocino County District Attorney Norman Vroman was one of the first to
take notice of Arcata's success and last month he started a similar program
there with a few modifications. Physician notes are verified by the county
public health department and a user may grow up to 24 plants or have up to
two pounds of processed marijuana.

Vroman said he's discovered a few surprising things so far in his county's
new program. For one, many users are over 50 years old, he said. And he has
learned that about half of them don't actually smoke the weed; they ingest
it in food.

The Mendocino district attorney said in a telephone interview from Ukiah he
still intends to pursue commercial pot growers, but he wants to make sure
that "people who need it (for medicinal purposes), get it."

Humboldt's district attorney said prosecuting marijuana growers is "not the
most burning issue" this county faces.

"Each jurisdiction is faced with a challenge of how to deal with this law,"
Farmer said.

Until their new building is ready, cannabis club members, who pay

$20 per month in dues, are occupying a pair of trailers in the parking lot
behind the structure.

On a recent day, people were dropping by the clinic to visit and to smoke.
Ted Marks of McKinleyville, who said he uses marijuana for pain symptoms
induced by an irritable bowel, shared a pipe with Arcata resident Sandra
Rocha, who has suffered from multiple sclerosis for the past six years.

"I've made friends here," Rocha said between hits and telephone duty as a
volunteer. She said a friend with the same degenerative disease introduced
her to the clinic when it first opened. She flashed card No. 12 to show
she's among the "dirty dozen," one of the club's first 12 members.

This club had a rocky start with co-founder J.J. Baker publicly feuding with
Humboldt Cannabis Center founder Jason Browne.

Browne, who now lives in Red Bluff and plans to return to Arcata in a few
months, said in a telephone interview that he's proud of his role in the
passage of Proposition 215 and of the example Arcata's program has set for
the state.

"Sometimes I have to pinch myself that, wow, this is really happening," he said.

In 1995, Browne and others gathered the signatures to have the initiative
placed on the state ballot. He said he did so because of his own medical
condition, chronic back pain, and for many others with conditions "a lot worse."

Debby Goldsberry, founder of the Cannabis Action Network in Berkeley, said
in a telephone interview she is convinced patients have a better chance of
remaining cognizant by smoking pot instead of taking morphine. She had just
returned from a 30-day, 22-city tour of the United States lobbying for
changes in the legal system.

Eight other states including Oregon and Washington have joined California in
enacting compassionate-use laws, according to CAN. Regionally, supportive
medicinal marijuana ordinances are in place for the cities of Berkeley and
Oakland and San Francisco and Marin counties.

The compassionate-use movement has come a long way since crowds a few years
ago congregated on San Francisco sidewalks in front of Dennis Peron's
Cannabis Healing Center and smoked pot in front of TV cameras.

"We wouldn't be here without Dennis Peron," Browne said with admiration.
"And only in Arcata could this (program) succeed the way it has where people
talk candidly about it."

In addition to the bill establishing a state registry, Vasconcellos
sponsored a bill to fund medical marijuana research. That measure,
appropriating $3 million for the University of California, is also being
considered by the Assembly health committee.

The bills put California in a leadership position regarding medical
marijuana reform and in conflict with federal law.

"The (Drug Enforcement Agency) will continue to enforce the law," warned DEA
spokesman Terry Parham from his Washington office. "We're not in a position
to look the other way."

But how likely is it the feds will target California's medical marijuana
users and growers?

Not likely, Parham said. DEA agents are much too busy.

Vasconcellos and others say the federal government has been lacking in
leadership on the medical marijuana issue, sometimes ignoring some of its
own findings. One recent study conducted by the Institute of Medicine and
commissioned by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy under
the direction of President Clinton's drug czar Barry McCaffrey benefits to
prescribing pot for medical use, Vasconcellos cites in a recent report.

Two weeks ago the federal government did ease restrictions on Marinol, a
byproduct of marijuana used to counter symptoms of AIDS and side effects of
chemotherapy, the Associated Press reported. The "rescheduling" puts Marinol
in the same category as drugs like Codeine. Although some say the
availability of Marinol by prescription could eliminate the need for
marijuana, others disagree.

Browne said since it's easy to overdose on Marinol and it's not as
effective, users prefer smoking marijuana.

The use of Marinol as a substitute, how marijuana gardens will be regulated,
how to test and grade marijuana for potency, and the conflict between state
and federal laws are among the many issues that may take years to resolve.

In the meantime, at least one Humboldt County official has been outspoken on
the topic.

"I think the federal government ought to butt out and allow the will of the
voters," said Supervisor Roger Rodoni, who represents southern Humboldt.

Rodoni along with 3rd District Supervisor John Woolley, who represents
Arcata voted against accepting a $250,000 grant to fund the Marijuana
Eradication Team again this year. (They were outvoted 3-2.)

"For 20 years, we've been chasing these people around," Rodoni said in his
office after the meeting. "Why should we fill up our jails with people who
didn't create any victims?"

He thinks legalizing the drug would close down the money machine and the
"symbiotic relationship" between drug agents and growers. But Rodoni said
he's no friend to the large-scale, commercial pot grower.

Sgt. Steve Knight, of the Humboldt County Drug Enforcement Task Force, said
big growers are precisely the target of the grant money, not small-time
medicinal users.

"Let's be realistic. All we're trying to do is control marijuana," Knight said.

A sampling of ailments cannabis is thought to treat:

- -AIDS

- -Menstrual

- -Obsessive cramps compulsive disorder

- -Hepatitis

- -Chronic back

- -Tension headache

- -Cancer pain

- -Parkinson's disease

- -Lupus

- -Multiple sclerosis

- -Cerebral palsy

- -Nauseas

- -Epilepsy

- -Hypertension

- -Migraines

- -Hot flashes

- -Chronic fatique

- -Glaucoma syndrome

- -Schizophrenia

- -Anorexia

- -Irritable bowel

- -Panic disorder

- -Arthritis

SOURCE: DR. TOD MIKURIYA.

KEY PROVISIONS OF SENATE BILL 848

* Establishes an identification card program for persons in need of
medicinal marijuana and for her/his designated primary caregiver. Under the
authority of the state Department of Health Services (DHS), the county
health department would process applications and determine if the patient is
qualified for a card.

* Clarifies existing law that a patient or primary caregiver who is legally
in possession of a registry card is immune from arrest for possession,
transportation, delivery or cultivation of medicinal marijuana.

* Defines a qualified person as one who submits all required identification
information plus documentation by his/her attending physician that s/he has
a serious medical condition (defined in the bill) and that the medical use
of marijuana is appropriate.

* Requires the county health department to confirm the attending physician
has a license in good standing in California and to verify the accuracy of
the medical records submitted by the patient.

* Requires the county health department to issue to an approved applicant a
registry identification card (renewable annually) that includes the
patient's name, address and birth date, his/her designated primary caregiver
and a photograph.

* Authorizes the county health department to deny a card to any applicant
who fails to provide required information or who falsifies any information.

* Requires the county health department to provide information about the
cardholder to DHS which shall provide that information to the California Law
Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS), the Department of Justice's
tracking system accessible by law enforcement officials. CLETS will allow
local law enforcement to immediately confirm the legitimacy of a person's
registry card. DHS is required to make the same information available
through a toll-free, 24-hour telephone number.

* Requires DHS to promulgate science-based regulations defining amounts of
marijuana that can be legally possessed for medicinal purposes.

* Allows qualified persons to collectively or cooperatively cultivate
marijuana and directs DHS to design regulations that ensure the consistency
and quality of medicinal marijuana and protect against illegal diversion of
the marijuana.

* Authorizes employers to make decisions about whether to permit the use of
medicinal marijuana on their premises.

* Prohibits the smoking of medicinal marijuana in any place where smoking is
prohibited, in or within 1,000 feet of a school or youth facility, on a
school bus, in a vehicle that is being operated or while operating a boat.

* Sentences for up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine for anyone who
fraudulently applies for a registry card, steals or uses another person's
card or counterfeits a card as well as anyone who breaches the
confidentiality provisions of this program.

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