IS MARIJUANA MEDICINE?

California Focuses On Legal Distribution Of Pot To Patients

Big Shift In Attitude Could Clear The Smoke Over Proposition 215

A progressive attorney general and a veteran South Bay lawmaker are
taking steps that could result in a major victory for Californians who
long have struggled to use medicinal marijuana with legal protection.

State Attorney General Bill Lockyer has formed a task force to figure
out how medicinal marijuana can be distributed under voter-approved
Proposition 215 without running afoul of federal laws.

And state Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, cochairman of a task
force whose members include medical experts, federal officials and
state law enforcement representatives, intends to introduce two bills
this month to bolster that mission.

Their efforts could pick up considerable momentum if a couple of
soon-to-be-released reports recommend a federal reclassification of
marijuana to make it more accessible for research and
prescription.

Meanwhile, the influential California Medical Association, recognizing
that the state's new administration "appears to have quite a different
attitude toward Prop. 215," might position itself to play a key role
in the drugs distribution.

"If some sort of medical marijuana distribution is likely in Cali-
fornia ... in order to minimize any harm to patients and/or public
health, CMA should actively Participate in creating the structure
under which such distribution takes place," suggests an internal
medical association memo dated Jan. 11. Officials of the association,
which has two members on the task force, have not yet taken that position.

But if the association does so later, the position would be consistent
with its "damage control" approach in other medical controversies,
such as endorsing needle exchanges for drug addicts.

'The same type of proactive involvement may be appropriate here,
especially in light of the fact that five other states have enacted
marijuana initiatives similar to Prop. 215 and will be searching for
the means to implement their new laws."

Already, the shift in attitude since the Nov. 3 election is
noticeable.

Where former Attorney General Dan Lungren had no qualms about
overriding local prosecutors' decisions by calling in federal drug
agents and prosecutors, Lockyer has switched to a hands-off policy,

"This department should be a support system for local law enforcement
and local DAs rather than the top of the pyramid," Lockyer said. "Our
policy is to respect the discretion exercised by local elected
officials. San Francisco is different from w, , Bakcrsfield,
Bakersfield or Redding or some other community." 1

Meanwhile, he is working with attorneys general in the five other
states that approved medicinal marijuana initiatives in November to
push for r changes in federal policy that outlaws marijuana, both
medicinal and recreational.

And the task force lie called together for the first time last
Tuesday Will try to "address gaps and omissions and ambiguities left by
Prop. 215.

"The basic policy ... is 'clinics, not cults. 'We really need to
provide medicine for people that need it, and not be an open door to
recreational use," Lockyer said.

Long Struggle

From the outset, California struggled to implement Prop. 215, or the
Compassionate Use Act of 19913, because of all the gaps, omissions and
ambiguities Lockyer mentioned, and the fact it conflicts with federal
law.

Like many of the people who had opposed the ballot initiative, Lungren
and former Gov. Pete Wilson feared Prop. 215 was a front for those who
want to legalize recreational marijuana. Opponents also resented the
in-your face attitude some medicinal marijuana providers took to
publicize and advance their cause.

"The brunt of the reaction pretty much occurred in the autumn of
last year, before the election - that was when they pulled out all the
stops," said Dale Gieringer, coordinator of California's National
Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) chapter.

"They had their greatest strength then. They had elected officials in
California who were supporting the crackdown, and they hadn't the
votes from the other states yet ratifying California's decision ion."

A San Francisco cannabis club twice was shut down by the courts; as
was Oakland's cooperative once last year, for violating federal drug
laws.

Despite die court-ordered closures, cannabis clubs in San Francisco,
Oakland and other cities still are, distributing medicinal marijuana
a while keeping as low a profile as possible,

Whether and how hard local law enforcement cracks down on clubs or
users depends, to a large extent, on how district attorneys read the
law

Alameda County Deputy District Attorney ~ Jeff Rubin said his
prosecutors treat marijuana cases like all other - they look at the
facts and decide whether a provable crime without a valid defense was
committed. To him, Prop. 215 "is no different than any other defense
that could be available to a defendant charged with a crime,"
including claims of self defense, duress or entrapment.

San Mateo County District Attorney James Fox takes a similar approach
toward users.

"Of course ... if somebody has five kilos and! says it's for
medicinal purposes, we would tend to disbelieve that," Fox
said.

But the way Fox interprets the law. neither clubs nor clinics should
provide medicinal marijuana. Only a patient or primary care giver has
the right to grow it.

"That's not to say the law cannot be changed," he said. "But absent a
change in the law, we are not going to just wink at distribution
centers in San Mateo County."

A change in the law is exactly what Vasconcellos has in mind, and he
intends to introduce two bills this month to accomplish just that.

One bill would establish a $1 million-a-year University of California
medicinal marijuana research program, said Vasconcellos' spokesman,
Rand Martin. Although Republican opposition sank a similar bill last
year, Martin said the senator believes it could pass this year with
more Democrats in the Legislature and Democrat Gray Davis as governor.

The second bill, as yet unwritten, would create a legal framework for
medicinal marijuana distribution. Vasconcellos hopes Lockyer's task
force will help him find a way to operate such a system in a manner
"that doesn't generate further arrests and law enforcement closing
them down and the various other tragic scenarios we've seen play out
over the last two years," Martin said.

Federal Law Unchanged

If Vasconcellos succeeds, there is still federal law to consider. U.S.
Justice Department spokesman Brian Steel said federal agencies must
uphold laws passed by Congress, and "marijuana possession and
distribution, according to the U.S. Congress, is illegal.

"We are just as committed to enforcing the laws that Congress has
passed, notwithstanding what local law enforcement has done,". Steel
said. "There is no sea change. Our policy is the same,"

Congress passed a bill last October reaffirming that it supports "the
existing federal legal process for determining the safety and efficacy
of drugs, and opposes efforts to circumvent this process by legalizing
marijuana ... for medicinal use without valid scientific evidence and
the approval of the Food and Drug Administration."

Bad as that may sound for marijuana advocates, it actually is what
they wanted to hear because the bill also ordered the Food and Drug
Administration to prepare a report on enforcement of a law that would
require marijuana to meet "extensive scientific and medical standards"
before it is deemed a safe, effective drug.

Pro-marijuana forces hope that report will recommend switching
marijuana from Schedule I - a federal list of dangerous, illicit,
non-medicinal drugs - to a less restrictive schedule subject to
research and prescription. Marijuana now is more restrictively
scheduled than PCP, cocaine and methamphetamine.

The deadline for that report was Jan. 2 1.

"We're still working on the report," agency spokesman Larry Bachorik
said last week.

As state and federal agencies toiled to shut down the Oakland Cannabis
Buyers Cooperative last year, the Oakland City Council tried to
legally and politically protect the group by declaring its leaders
officers of the city.

Councilman Nate Miley, who helped lead the effort, said he is glad
Lockyer is calling the shots now and medicinal marijuana is catching
on in other states.

"I think that is just great," he said. "If the political scene hadn't
changed ... oh boy, I'd feel like we were fighting an uphill battle on
a slippery slope. But this is not an issue that's going to go away.

Miley said he is banking on Lockyer and Vasconcellos to set things
straight. Cities at least should be able to regulate medicinal
marijuana clubs through zoning and business licenses, he said.

Jeff Jones, president of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, also
believes the tide has changed.

"The federal government isn't going to come in over the attorney
general and say, 'This isn't right,'" he predicted. "If they don't
have local ground support, they're going to stay away, I think. They
see the handwriting on the wall now, just a little bit, that there is
a lot of support for this."

Summing up the battle ahead, Jones said "it's the great debate of
1999. 1 think they're going to come to some conclusions before the end
of this year as to what to do with this issue."