NO POT CITATIONS

Then: Fearing that residents with a doctor's permission to smoke marijuana
would do so in public areas, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors
passed an ordinance in March that would fine legal smokers of pot up to
$1,000 for lighting up in public.

District Attorney Jan Scully said the ordinance was necessary to clear up
ambiguities in Proposition 215, a 1996 voter-approved initiative that
legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes. Scully argued that medical
users of pot should not smoke in public areas, because doing so would send
a confusing message to youths and expose others to pot smoke.

The ordinance passed on a split vote, with Supervisors Illa Collin and
Roger Dickinson opposing, saying the ordinance's fines were too steep and
the local law could lead to harassment of medicinal pot users.

Now: Sheriff's deputies have issued no citations or warnings under the new
ordinance, which was officially logged on local books two months ago,
sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Jim Cooper said.

"Most (medicinal pot smokers) use a good deal of discretion," said Cooper.
"We haven't had any problems with it."