OFFICIALS TO OFFER PLAN FOR STATE-SPONSORED MEDICAL POT PROGRAM

SAN FRANCISCO -- With California's network of medical marijuana clubs on
the verge of total collapse, a coalition of elected officials wants the
state to take over distribution of the plant.

The coalition, led by state Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, will try
to hammer out a concrete proposal for a state-sponsored medical marijuana
distribution program during a May 26 summit at the state Capitol,
Vasconcellos said Monday.

The proposal would be added to a medical marijuana bill currently under
consideration at the state level, a Vasconcellos aide said.

"The hope is to forge an agreement on the best possible situation, to get
something on the table," Vasconcellos said during a conference call with
reporters and coalition members. The planned summit, to be held as a
regular hearing of the State Committee on Public Safety, will include
testimony from the San Francisco and Santa Clara district attorneys,
several city health officers and medical marijuana advocates.

A representative of state Attorney General Dan Lungren, the most vocal
critic of medical marijuana, will also speak at the hearing, organizers
said. Representatives of the federal government, which is seeking to shut
down six Northern California marijuana clubs, declined to take part, a
Vasconcellos aide said.

San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan said he will meet Monday
with San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown to discuss a plan to give that city's
health department authority to distribute marijuana to qualified patients.

"I very much resent the attorney general and the federal government
sticking their nose in local business," Hallinan said during the conference
call. "The people in our county clearly support access to medical
marijuana."

A federal judge issued an injunction May 14 closing six Northern California
marijuana outlets as part of a civil suit brought by the U.S. Department of
Justice.

The club owners have vowed to stay open, hoping their defiance will force a
jury trial on the legality of the clubs.

In November 1996, Californians passed Proposition 215, which legalized
marijuana possession for the seriously ill and their caregivers. The law
urged government officials to propose a workable distribution system for
the plant, which is still illegal to buy and sell.

In the absence of a state-sponsored distribution system, a network of at
least 20 marijuana clubs sprang up to provide medical marijuana. But since
the law passed, most of the clubs have been driven out of business or are
facing serious civil and criminal charges.

"Without standards, we are going to see the same kind of chaos we've seen
for the last 18 months," said Scott Imler, founder of a marijuana club in
West Hollywood. "Some of the prosecutions have been legitimate; others have
been attacks on 215."

Last week, a jury in Orange County convicted the co-founder of a club
there. On Friday, the Drug Enforcement Administration raided a farm rented
by the San Francisco club now called the Cannabis Healing Center. That club
is also a co-defendant in the federal case, and faces criminal and civil
charges brought by Lungren.

Checked-by: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)