LUNGREN BACKS IDS FOR POT USERS

Proposal: Attorney general endorses San Mateo County plan.

By Alan Gathright
Mercury News Staff Writer

State Attorney General Dan Lungren called ``enlightened'' a San Mateo
County proposal to issue identity cards to patients using medical
marijuana, making it easier to smoke or grow pot without fear of arrest.

The plan, Lungren said, is ``a far more enlightened approach than setting
up a cannabis buyers' club.''

His comments came as a county counsel report released Thursday advised the
board of supervisors to reject as illegal a request to open a private
marijuana dispensary in the North Fair Oaks district of unincorporated
Redwood City. The county imposed a 45day ban on the dispensary Oct. 7, and
its applicant, Salvador Garcia, has called for a ``Lift the Ban'' rally at
next Tuesday's meeting by patients, doctors and supporters.

But Lungren and county law enforcement officials were united in their
opinion Thursday that Proposition 215, the medical marijuana measure that
Californians passed last year, does not legalize pot distribution by
private ``cannabis clubs.''

He opposed Proposition 215 and is prosecuting the San Francisco Cannabis
Buyers Club for illegal pot sales. He's also appealing a San Francisco
judge's ruling that allowed the club to remain open until there's evidence
of illegal sales.

Meanwhile, Supervisor Mike Nevin said he will ask Lungren in a meeting
today to support a 12month pilot project allowing San Mateo County health
clinics to dispense marijuana seized by police to patients who show the
identity card. County Counsel Thomas Casey advised supervisors that
distribution by the county would also be illegal under Proposition 215 and
would require a change in state and federal laws.

``My program takes the underground motive and the profit motive out of
it,'' said Nevin, a former police detective. ``I'm trying to find a
compassionate way of getting this drug that is now legal to the sick and
dying people who need it.''

Conflicting rules confuse

Conflicting rules across California about how medical marijuana can be
distributed show the confusion over Proposition 215, which allows a
physician to approve marijuana use by ill people and allows their primary
caregiver to cultivate the weed. But the proposition offered cities and
counties little guidance about how to execute the measure.

Some advocates argue that the cannabis clubs can act as ``primary
caregivers,'' and officials in San Jose, San Francisco and Alameda counties
have allowed the clubs to exist under police regulation. Palo Alto has
temporarily banned dispensaries.

On Dec. 2, Marin County supervisors are expected to pass the first medical
marijuana identification program in the country, said county health
director Thomas Peters. ``Because we at the local level are all hampered by
the lack of state leadership on this issue, we're admittedly entering
uncharted territory,'' Peters said.

San Mateo County Undersheriff Greg Munks agreed, saying: ``When you have
legislation by proposition you end up with a law filled with loopholes and
questions. In the meantime, you have 58 counties scrambling to figure out
58 different ways of dealing with it.''

Lungren, an anticipated Republican gubernatorial candidate, was visiting
San Mateo County as part of a tour to meet with county law enforcement
officials through out the state.

Pepper spray report today

He also announced that his office today would report on a review of 25,000
police cases on the use of pepper spray. The report will be released in the
wake of a federal investigation into logging protesters' charges that they
were ``tortured'' by Humboldt County sheriff's deputies who swabbed the
spray in their eyes.

Lungren said he generally believes that, when properly used, pepper spray
has reduced serious injuries in potentially violent confrontations between
police and suspects. But as the state's top lawman he wants to review
police practices and training procedures.

Lungren said he is also concerned about the statewide explosion of illicit
methamphetamine, which is the biggest crime problem facing nearly all 58
counties he's visiting.

He said methamphetamine or speed is a ``multiheaded monster'' that
fuels violent crime and child abuse. Toxic dumping by illegal labs has
become the second largest contamination problem in the state, he said.

Stressing that state and federal agents are expected this year to raid a
record 2,000 labs in California 75 percent of the national count
Lungren said: ``The problem is it's everywhere. Out of the first 50
counties I've visited, 49 told me it was the drug of choice and the biggest
problem they had.''

During 1995, state agents seized 465 labs and 18,000 pounds of ``meth,''
compared with 362 labs and 1,409 pounds in 1991. In San Mateo County, some
45 pounds of meth estimated to be worth $1.1 million were seized last year,
compared with 14 pounds in 1995.