LUNGREN TO LET OAKLAND ENFORCE NEW POT POLICY

Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, July 9, 1998 1998 San
Francisco Chronicle

State Attorney General Dan Lungren said yesterday that he would leave it up
to Oakland police to handle the city's new policy that allows medical
marijuana users to store 1 1/2 pounds of the drug at home.

``We would just hope that law enforcement would do the right thing when
stopping individuals with a pound and a half of marijuana,'' said Lungren
spokesman Matt Ross.

Lungren, a candidate for governor who has vigorously opposed the operation
of medical marijuana clubs, said he has no plans yet to challenge Oakland's
policy. The policy is the state's most permissive to be developed in the
wake of Proposition 215, the 1996 voter-approved medical marijuana initiative.

Ross said it is premature to discuss whether the attorney general would
consider challenging the policy in the future.

Lungren's unusual laissez-faire stance came a day after the Oakland City
Council unanimously approved a policy allowing medical marijuana users to
keep on hand 1 1/2 pounds of marijuana -- up to 24 times what is now
allowed under state law.

The policy was created by a committee of police officers, attorneys,
doctors and members of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, based on
research by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA study showed that patients use a half-pound of medical marijuana a
month. But Lungren, using his own set of guidelines drafted by police,
sheriffs and district attorneys, limited the threshold to about one ounce,
or two plants, a month.

A pound and a half of marijuana is ``quite a bit'' of the drug, which sells
for roughly $4,000 a pound wholesale, said Ross, who questioned Oakland's
figures.

The new policy instructs Oakland police to put a low priority on medical
marijuana growers. Officers are told not to cite or arrest individuals
possessing less than the amount specified under the policy if they provide
proof of medicinal use or caregiver status within two days.

Leaders at the Oakland medical marijuana club hailed the policy yesterday
as a hallmark of city government and voiced confidence that it would
survive any legal challenges.

``The federal government and state government are thwarting local
governments trying to implement their own policies and ways of dealing with
this health issue,'' said Jeff Jones, the club's executive director.

Robert Raich, an attorney who is defending the club against a federal
shutdown order, agreed.

``There's nothing they can do -- the policy applies only to Oakland,''
Raich said. ``The public health and safety of Oakland is something well
within the jurisdiction of the Oakland City Council.''

The medical marijuana controversy has long been complicated by the complex
mix of local, state and federal laws.

Despite Prop 215, federal law -- which supersedes state law -- says that
marijuana used for any purpose is illegal.

In May, a federal judge barred six Northern California pot clubs from
selling medical marijuana in violation of federal law. Also that month, a
San Francisco judge shut down the city's Cannabis Healing Center, the
nation's largest pot club. Another pot club in San Francisco and one in
Santa Cruz have also closed.

In addition to the Oakland cooperative, clubs in Marin County and Ukiah
have defied the federal order to shut down.

On Tuesday, federal lawyers filed a motion in U.S. District Court in San
Francisco, requesting permission for U.S. marshals to close the three
clubs, said U.S. Attorney Michael Yamaguchi. The lawyers also called on the
judge to force the clubs to explain why they have ignored the shutdown order.

1998 San Francisco Chronicle Page A22

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski