LOCKYER SUGGESTS MEDICAL MARIJUANA BE DISTRIBUTED QUIETLY

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Attorney General Bill Lockyer told San Francisco
authorities to let pot clubs dispense marijuana for medicinal use if they
can do so discreetly.

"If local law enforcement is supportive of implementation of Proposition 215
and their policies don't provoke outside prosecution, I have no intention of
intervening," said Lockyer, a Democrat who supported the 1996 ballot
initiative to legalize pot for medical use.

His predecessor, Republican Dan Lungren, was an aggressive opponent of
medicinal marijuana who sought repeatedly to shut down San Francisco's
Cannabis Cultivators Club.

Last year, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ordered the shutdown of
several San Francisco Bay area pot emporiums, including the San Francisco
club, for violating federal laws against marijuana distribution.

On Friday, Lockyer met with Tom Ammiano, president of the city's Board of
Supervisors; District Attorney Terence Halllinan; City Attorney Louise
Renne; and Dr. Mitchell Katz, director of the city's Department of Public
Health.

"I respect local community values," Lockyer said.

Lockyer has appointed a task force to determine how California can implement
Proposition 215, despite federal disapproval. He said he and the attorneys
general of other Western states with similar pot propositions plan to lobby
in Washington on Monday.

"I think Lockyer can defy the feds," said Jeff Jones of the Oakland Cannabis
Buyers Club, which no longer dispenses pot but refers patients to groups
that are distributing the drug.

The U.S. Attorney's office declined to comment on Lockyer's statement that
quiet pot distribution probably would not spark federal prosecution.