OAKLAND LETS PATIENTS KEEP MARIJUANA

OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - Marijuana advocates praised the city council in
Oakland Wednesday after it approved one of most liberal medical marijuana
measures in the country by allowing patients to keep 1-1/2 pounds of the
drug for ``personal use.''

``This a landmark move,'' said Jeff Jones, head of the Oakland Cannabis
Buyers' Club. Oakland is across the bay from San Francisco.

``Oakland is the first city in the country to adopt guidelines which will
allow medical patients to possess and cultivate the medicine they need.''

The Oakland City Council late Tuesday approved a policy directing police not
to target individuals or confiscate their marijuana if it falls within
guidelines set by the city.

Those guidelines, the broadest set down since California voters in 1996
approved a state law allowing medical use of marijuana, say patients with a
valid doctor's prescription may keep 30 outdoor marijuana plants, 48 indoor
plants or 1.5 pounds of bulk marijuana.

Oakland officials say the amounts were intended to allow patients a three
month supply of marijuana and were established on the basis of U.S. Food and
Drug Administration tests on the drug that ration users to ten marijuana
cigarettes per day.

California Attorney General Dan Lungren, a staunch opponent of medical
marijuana, has set his own guidelines for permissible amounts of the drug --
two plants or one ounce , an amount he says should be enough for 30 days.

Lungren spokesman Matt Ross said Wednesday that these guidelines should be
sufficient.

``We just hope that law enforcement would do the right thing when stopping
an individual with a pound and a half of marijuana,'' he said.

Oakland's move came as the federal government continued its legal drive to
close down marijuana ``clubs'' that have sought to act as supply centers for
the drug after the 1996 state law passed.

Government lawyers, saying the clubs violate federal laws forbidding the
distribution of dangerous drugs, filed a motion with a U.S. District Court
judge in San Francisco Tuesday asking for authority to send U.S. Marshals to
close four northern California medical marijuana clubs.

The federal government also filed motions demanding the clubs demonstrate
why they should not be held in contempt of a preliminary injunction that
ordered them to cease operations -- an order the clubs have so far ignored.

Hearings on the contempt motions will be held Aug. 14.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett