PROPOSITION 215 SLAMS INTO APPEAL PROCESS

More than a year after voters ushered in California's controversial medical
marijuana law, those who use the drug to soothe their ailments are still
caught in the smoky crossfire between hardnosed prosecutors and unabashed
pot advocates.

Armed with a doctor's written permission to use marljuan a, thousands of
Bay Area residents with AIDS, glaucoma, cancer, arthritis and other painful
diseases continue to toke up while the official sanctioning of
voterapproved Proposition 215 wends its way through the courts and the
state's local governing bodies.

The battle tide turned again Dec.12 when the California 1st District Court
of Appeal barred cannabis clubs from selling marijuana to patients because
they do not meet the measure's criteria of a "primary care giver." The
court's ruling on the thorny issue of distributing medical marijuana
highlights. The haziness of Proposition 215, an initiative even the author
now concedes was purposely vague.

According to Presiding Justice J. Clinton Peterson, "If the drafters of the
initiative wanted to legalize the sale of small amounts of marijuana for
approved medical purposes, they could have easily done so.

But like the 20 or so medical marijuana clubs that have been allowed to
flourish since the passage of Proposition 215, the Oakland Cannabis Buyers'
Cooperative will stay open while an appeal is pending. "Unless they come
up with a better alternative I'm going to keep doing this until they put me
in jail," said Jeff Jones, who oversees the distribution of up to five
pounds of pot a week.

Standing on the sidelines for no~w is the California Legislature, which
typically passes "enabling" laws following the passage of ballot
initiatives. Legislators have shown a reluctance to establish any
statewide policies for enacting Proposition 215, leaving the task of
interpreting the vague measure to politicians.

Meanwhile, until stopped from doing otherwise, smokers like Max Gorgal will
continue to seek relief where they can. The 55yearold New York native who
has had arthritis for 30 years, has found since arriving in the Bay Area in
May that buying and smoking marijuana to ease his pain is much easier.

Every time I buy an ounce in New York, I wonder if I'm gonna be hauled off
to SingSing (prison)," Gorgal said while painting the interior of the San
Francisco Cannabis Cultivators Club. "Here, it's fine."

Similar sentiments were expressed by Frederick Demchuk, a 59yearold
father of six who suffers from chronic arthritis and prefers marijuana over
Ibuprofen. Pot is a more effective killer and doesn't cause the sweating
and jitteriness that popping four of the overthe counter pills at a titne
does, he said.

"Whether you call it marijuana or medicine.. you know what's good for you."
the San Jose technical writer said between quick tokes on a small blue bong
at the San Francisco cannabis club. At the two extremes of the great
marijuana debate are state Attorney General Dan Lungren', who casts himself
as a lawandorder champion in fighting Proposition 215 tooth and nail, and
San Francisco cannabis club owner Dennis Peron, who wrote the measure and
has made it no secret he also favors the legalization of pot for everyone.

Since campaigning for the initiative as a strictly compassionate way of
helping desperately ill people, Peron now freely declares that "all use of
marljuana is medical. . . . it cheers people up that's a medical reason."

As he sits at a desk strewn with several pipes and potstuffed plastic
bags, the 51yearold Peron who cites alcoholism as his reason for
smoking said he intentionally made the proposition's language vague.

"The sore losers said the people were tricked," Peron said. "But the
marijuana laws are no more ambiguous now, and they're on the side of the
people especially sick people."

Lungren acknowledges he is in the awkward position of enforcing a law he
strongly opposed. In his interpretation, Pro. 215 allows someone who is
sick to grow a couple of marijuana plants and gives researchers permission
to study the drug's effectiveness.

Nevertheless, he promises to continue trying to shut down Peron's marijuana
club, over the objection of San Francisco's district attorney.

"A major concern still is that It sends a bad message to kids," said
Lungren's spokesman, Malt Ross.

As the two rivals continue to duel each other in court both also intend
to run in the Republican primary for governor county and federal
attorneys throughout the state struggle to draw distinctions between
respecting and abusing one's rights under Proposition 215.

Unchartered territory

Some counties, such as Contra Costa, have taken the hardened stance
Lungren has.

"This was a thinly disguised effort to legitimize the wholesale production
and distribution of marijuana under the guise of helping sick people,"
Contra Costa District Attorney Gary Yancey said. "It's beyond me how anyone
can Interpret this initiative as meaning you can sit around at some pot
club and get zonked."

City councils in Concord and Palo Alto have passed "urgency ordinances" to
prevent any marijuanadispensing establishments from opening in their
communities.

Where cannabis clubs do operate, their methods of distributing medical
marijuana largely reflect the tolerance of the local elected officials who
have allowed them.

In San Mateo County, Board of Supervisors President Mike Nevin wants the
county to run pharmacies that distribute to the sick marijuana confiscated
by police. County law enforcement agencies plan to destroy $165,000 worth
of marijuana being held in evidence.

'Proposition 215 didn't have a complete package to answer the question of
distribution and cultivation," Nevin said. "There's a control problem. And
since we haven't gotten a lot of leadership at a state level, local
government is left to figure it out."

Up north in the Humboldt County college town of Arcata, Police Chief Mel
Brown personally approves identification cards bearing the city seal
for eligible patients. "If somebody would've told me two years ago that I'd
be giving out ID cards to carry marijuana, I'd said they were crazy," Brown
said. "But life changes."

Marin County's health and human services director, Thomas Peters, has
proposed a countywide verification system similar to Arcata's. "We're on
unchartered and uneven terrain," he said. 'A pervasive uncertainty has been
allowed to linger a full year after the passage of the proposition."

The spirit of 215

In Oakland, police work closely with the founder of the Oakland Cannabis
Buyers' Cooperative to develop guidelines. Inside a nondescript downtown
office building, the club is taking on the role of a model potselling
citizen.

At the 1,400member club, smoking is prohibited on the premises, patients
must show a cityrecognized ID card to three different people before buying
pot, doctors' recommendations I are closely monitored, and the club pays
sales taxes.

"I think we're viewed a lot more legitimately in the community since
(Proposition 215) passed," said club founder Jones, who makes a point of
calling marijuana a "medicine."

During the past year, the 23yearold Jones has met regularly with the
city's elected leaders and police officials to establish procedures that
comply with both the new state law and a city ordinance authorizing the
medical use of pot.

"We're trying not to abuse the law because we don't want it changed," Jones
said.

The Oakland club obtains tis pot from a variety of sources, including
illegan dealers,o fo anywhere from $2 to $16 a gram, defending on the grade
slightly cheaper than street value. But KJones said club members, who
refine their growing technique at regular "cultivation" meetings, now
supply about 60 percent of the marijuana.

"We're aware of the spirit of 215," said Oakland police St. Pete Peterson.
"We're trying to make it work."

Anthougd Proposition 215 allows the use of pot to relieve the pain and
nausea of "seriously ill Californians," it also cites "any other Illness
for which marijuana provides relief." Peron is trying to use that semantic
opening to push the legalization of marijuana.

Peron, whose club was raided and shut down for several months last year,
disputes Lungren's charges that minors were allowed insided his club and
that street dealers bought pot there to resell on the streets. Yet he is
steadfast in operating the club under a loose interpretation of Proposition
215.

To buy pot there, patients need only acquire a doctor's "letter of
diagnosis" of a condition that marijuana can alleviate. And although it is
filled with sick people, the club's atmosphere pulsating music, nightly
entertainment, social smoking offers a glimpse of Amsterdam, where pot
use is legal for everyone.

After opening in 1992 with 75 percent of its members HIV positive, the San
Francisco club now figures that the majority of its 8,000 members today
have other maladies, including cancer, chronic pain, anxiety and
hypertension.

Gerhart Von Lotringen of Oakland said he recently started going to the
Market Street center to "exercise my rights under Proposition 215." The
38yearold epileptic, who has used marijuana since he was a teenager,
noticed early he could often stave off a seizure if he "smoked a little
bit."

And though his neurologist would not recommend the drug, Von Lotringen
asked the doctor for a simple letter of diagnosis. "I wanted to have it
legally. . Apparently, it's taken care of," he said.