BREAKING THE MEDICAL-MARIJUANA LOGJAM

Arcata's Top Cop May Have Devised Solution To Prop. 215 Standstill

More than two years after California voters approved Proposition 215,
the ballot initiative legalizing the medical use of marijuana,
prospective patients throughout the state still find it exceedingly
difficult to access and consume medicinal cannabis in a safe,
affordable and legally sanctioned manner. The open enmity of man
law-enforcement officials and the extra-legal shenanigans of some
Prop. 215 proponents have combined to deprive thousands of California
citizens of what, under state law, is now simply another form of medicine.

It is possible that his situation may soon change. Unlike his
predecessor, anti-Prop. 215 zealot Dan Lungren, California Attorney
General Bill Lockyer has decided not to actively pursue prosecution of
medical-marijuana caregiving associations sanctioned by local law
enforcement. Lockyer has also formed a statewide task force to study
ways to more precisely define and effectively implement the sometimes
hazy provisions of the initiative.

In addition, some medical-marijuana proponents are now3 touting as
"the best available solution" an enabling ordinance drawn up in large
part by a member of law enforcement. In the city of Arcata deep
in the heart of California's marijuana rich "Emerald Triangle"
police chief Mel Brown, together with local marijuana caregivers,
fashioned a measure approved by the Arcata City Council that
incorporates much of Prop. 215 into the city municipal code. Humbolt
County activist Robert Harris, who assisted in assembling the
ordinance, is convinced the Arcata example can serve as a model for
other California cities.

"We need to bring the battle out of the courtrooms," Harris says, "and
into the council chambers."

In January of 1997, Brown became the first law enforcement official in
the state to announce he intended to implement the provisions of Prop.
215. Working with members of his city's Humbolt Cannabis Center, Brown
devised a pre-certification program to assist patients in lawfully
accessing medical marijuana.

"The stupid thing gained national recognition, for some crazy reason,"
Brown says. "People just went nuts. I guess it was the oddity of law
enforcement working together with those darn marijuana types."

For Brown, however, the program was "a simple matter of departmental
self-preservation." In the days following the passage of Prop. 215,
"it seemed like everybody in this town caught with marijuana- and
believe me, there's a lot of it up here said, 'hey, I've got a
letter from Dr. Feelgood saying I can have this.'" But with the city's
certification program in place, "nobody who doesn't actually have one

tries to tell my cops they have a recommendation from a doctor."

Recognizing that Brown had put himself "out on a limb a bit," city
officials sought to codify his department's policy in Arcata's
municipal code. The resulting ordinance, which Brown says mostly "just
parrots what Prop. 215 says," was assembled primarily by Brown, City
Attorney Nancy Diamond, and Jason Browne of the Humbolt Cannabis
Center, who Brown credits with "wanting to help patients, rather than
advance some pro-legalization agenda." Approved by the Arcata City
Council, the measure became law in March 1998.

Under the Arcata ordinance, a medical-marijuana patient presents a
photo ID to the Arcata Police Department, together with the name of
the doctor who recommended the herb. After using the Internet to
access an American Medical Association site providing professional
information on every physician in the state, Brown calls the doctor,
asking questions using data culled from the AMA site "to make sure I'm
not talking to some janitor." Once satisfied he is indeed in contact
with the physician, Brown then determines whether the doctor has in
fact recommended medical marijuana for that patient. If the
prospective patient passes this test, a card is issued anointing the
recipient as a legal consumer of medical marijuana. To maintain
privacy, each patient is identified in the department database only
"in code-there's no way to put a name on it," Brown says. "It
requires a willing police officer and a willing patient to decode it."

Brown also maintains an agreement with the Humbolt Cannabis Center
authorizing "a 24-hour warrantless right to search their facility. My
argument was, if they're legitimate center, they have nothing to hide,
and they accepted that." Brown additionally worked with the center to
"set it up like a farm co-op," where patients and caregivers "share in
resources and production, so no money is exchanged." Brown says this
helped shield the center from state and federal prosecutions, as
agencies in those jurisdictions particularly frown on operations that
seem to be turning a profit.

Brown says people occasionally try to take advantage of the ordinance,
inevitably to their sorrow. For instance, Humbolt County District
Attorney Terry Farmer has decreed that 10 plants is the limit a
medical-marijuana patient may grow for personal use. "We've had
patients who were growing, say 46 plants the county drug task
force comes in , yanks out 36, leaves 10, and then refers the person
to the DA's office for prosecution," Brown says. Arcata's ordinance,
he stresses, "is not a stay-out-of-jail-free card."

Brown believes his city's policy serves "legally legitimate patients
and caregivers, as we don't want to unnecessarily detain or take
things from these people. People's individual constitutional rights
mean a lot to us. And it helps the department because I don't want my
cops wasting their time in court on stuff that's not going to be
prosecuted."

The Arcata ordinance "works well here," Brown says. "Whether it would
work well in Chico, I don't know."

Four members of the Chico City Council say they would be willing to at
least discuss implement an ordinance similar to Arcata's, although two
remain extremely skeptical of the very legitimacy of medical marijuana.

Mayor Steve Bertagna believes "the jury is still out on whether
marijuana really has medical uses." He regards marijuana as "a
transition drug" with "great potential for misuse" and is therefore in
the main "adamantly opposed to loosening up at all on this issue."
Still, Bertagna would not rule out consideration of a city
medical-marijuana ordinance, "though I'd need to hear the medical
community talk about it."

Councilmember Rick Keene also expressed "real reservations about it.
Whatever state law requires we'll of course conform to, but I don't
feel any more comfortable with medical marijuana now than when the
thing was on the ballot." Keene publicly opposed Prop. 215, believing

it "primarily an attempt by those who want to see marijuana legalized
as a recreational drug to get in through the back door." He remains
convinced that, medical, marijuana "is not really necessary," and
before considering an ordinance like Arcata's, Keene would need
"evidence from people in the medical profession, not just some folks
from the Cannabis Club. I want to hear from doctors. I want to hear,
'I'm an oncologist, and I have X number of patients dying of stomach
cancer, and I've found marijuana really helps them.'"

Councilmember Bill Johnston offered that "it's not unreasonable to
take a look at it," while Councilmember David Guzzetti "would support
wanting more information" on the Arcata ordinance. Guzzetti believes
"we're way behind he times in dealing with this matter," noting that
"voters throughout the state have been thwarted as to what they
thought they were going to get in approving Prop. 215."

Yet Guzzetti cautions that local officials who attempt to even
rigorously apply the provisions of Prop. 215 probably do so to their
political peril. In the fall of 1996, former Butte County Sheriff Mick
Grey appeared before the Chico City council seeking support from that
body in opposing Prop. 215. When Guzzetti and then-mayor Michael
McGinnis, both seeking re-election in November 1996 balloting, decline
to support Grey's resolution, they were excoriated in a succession of
slick mailers sent to Chico voters accusing the pair of a "cavalier
endorsement of illegal drugs" that "undermine(s) our efforts to
convince our children to remain drug-free." Guzzetti managed to secure
re-election, but McGinnis was driven from office.