MAKING I-692 WORK

AN overwhelming majority of voters sent law enforcement a loud message
last November when they approved Initiative 692, the medical marijuana
measure: Treat sick patients with compassion.

At the same time, voters sent a clear message to patients who use
medical marijuana: Get your papers in order and comply fully with the
law.

Pierce County Prosecutor John Ladenburg held up his end of the bargain
this week when he announced he would not charge a blind AIDS patient
and his mom after they were arrested for growing three marijuana
plants in their home. Unfortunately, it is I-692's chief sponsor, Dr.
Rob Killian, who flunked in this first test case of the law.

I-692 requires patients and their primary caregivers to show "valid
documentation for any law enforcement official who questions the
patient regarding his medical use of marijuana." Not just any piece of
paper; it's spelled out quite plainly in the law that valid
documentation means "a statement signed by a qualifying patient's
physician or a copy of the qualifying patient's pertinent medical records."

Neither the Tacoma AIDS patient, Kelly Grubbs, nor his caretaker and
mother, Tracy Morgan, had the proper papers when authorities came to
their home after Grubbs' emergency medical beeper was accidentally set
off two weeks ago. Grubbs' physician? Dr. Rob Killian.

Killian notes that he had discussed medical marijuana with Grubbs; he
criticized Tacoma police for proceeding with the arrest and said the
cops should have called him. But there's nothing in I-692 that makes
oral consultation an acceptable form of valid documentation.

Physicians who want to make the law work are right to worry about the
threat of federal criminal prosecution, which still hangs overhead.
All the more reason to work with law-enforcement agencies to come up
with a mutually acceptable standard form that protects doctors and
meets the patient-documentation mandate of I-692. The police shouldn't
have to play medical sleuths or mind-readers.