REGISTRATION PLAN TO PROTECT MEDICINAL POT USE

More than 2 1/2 years after California voters legalized marijuana for
medicinal use, Attorney General Bill Lockyer today will endorse a statewide
registration system designed to protect qualified patients and growers from
prosecution.

If enacted into law, the plan would allow marijuana clubs operating
quasi-underground in many Northern California counties to conduct business
in the open.

It also would represent a dramatic shift in state policy. Former Gov. Pete
Wilson and former Attorney General Dan Lungren vehemently opposed any
attempt to carry out the ballot measure, despite its approval by voters.

"We have an obligation to fix a poorly worded initiative that was approved
by the voters," said Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for Lockyer.

The new plan is contained in a bill by Senator John Vasconcellos, D-San
Jose, that will be debated tomorrow by the Assembly Health Committee.

Since taking office in January, Lockyer, who supported 1996's Proposition
215 and its legalization of pot for medicinal use, has been quietly assuring
local law enforcement officials that he will not prosecute medical marijuana
use if it is done discreetly.

In March, he created a 30-member task force of prosecutors, police and
marijuana advocates to try to resolve the contradiction posed by the law --
how to legalize pot use for a small group of people, even though its
cultivation, possession and sale are outlawed by state and federal laws.

The result is a plan that would create a voluntary registration for patients
with serious medical conditions, including AIDS, anorexia, chronic pain,
cancer, glaucoma, migraines, persistent muscle spasms or severe nausea.

Registration cards, containing photo identification, would be issued by
county health departments to anyone certified by a physician as suffering
from one of the conditions. Cards also would be provided to qualified
caregivers.

A person with the card would not be subject to arrest for possession,
transportation or cultivation of medical marijuana. The state Department of
Health Services would write regulations to determine appropriate amounts for
possession and cultivation.

Oregon already has a similar system.

Despite being backed by Lockyer and Vasconcellos, the plan has not been
universally endorsed by law enforcement, mostly because the registration
system is voluntary rather than mandatory.

"We will keep talking and working with law enforcement to address their
issues," Barankin said.

Gov. Gray Davis, who opposed Proposition 215, has not taken a position. His
spokesman, Michael Bustamante, did not return a phone call on the issue.

Proposition 215 was written in part by Dennis Peron, whose 9,000- member
Cannabis Cultivators Club in San Francisco was shut down for violating
federal law.

In its place, a number of lower-profile operations have set up shop in
Northern California. Mendocino County already has a card registration
system, but it does not guarantee protection outside the county.