OAKLAND MAY BACK MEDICAL POT PROVIDERS

OAKLAND -- The Oakland City Council is expected tonight to make designated
providers of medical marijuana "officers of the city," giving them legal
immunity from criminal and civil actions.

Robert Raich, attorney for the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, said
the city's support should block the federal government's efforts to shut
down the pot club.

"This will hopefully blast a hole right through the Controlled Substances
Act," said Raich, who is representing the club and its executive director,
Jeff Jones, in the pending federal lawsuit.

The ordinance, which is to get a final vote tonight, is believed to be the
first such measure in California. Council members easily passed it 8-1 last
week in the first of two required votes.

If approved again, the ordinance becomes effective in seven days.

Since the 1996 passage of Proposition 215, which legalized pot for medical
uses in California, there have been a number of legal cases testing the
boundaries of the new law. Both state and federal officials have moved to
shut down cannabis clubs in several cities, arguing that such retail
outlets are not legal under the proposition.

The Oakland club defied a federal shutdown order issued in May, and several
other court challenges to actions elsewhere are pending.

Oakland is acting to make authorized marijuana retailers "officers of the
city," whom the Controlled Substances Act protects from liability when
"lawfully engaged in the enforcement of any law or municipal ordinance
relating to controlled substances."

"We have always had a lot of support from our City Council," said Jeff
Jones, the club's director. "Now I hope we will have a guarantee that
residents in Oakland will have safe access to medical marijuana."

Ignacio De La Fuente was the only council member against the ordinance.
"There's no control . . . no real certification, no way to track (sellers)
and no way to know if this is a loophole that will allow people to abuse
the program," he said.

Oakland City Attorney Jayne Williams expressed concern that the ordinance
may open the city to liability if any of the designated associations are sued.

But Councilman Nate Miley suggested that the city examine the possibility
of setting up its own distribution program as a way of decreasing liability.

Right now, the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative is the only designated
distributor of medical marijuana, although the ordinance can apply to any
authorized cannabis provider.

Jones said his cooperative serves about 1,800 patients.

Raich said he plans to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against the
Oakland cooperative before its Aug. 14 court date.

Copyright 1998 The Sacramento Bee


Checked-by: Mike Gogulski