A year after approval of Prop. 215, medical use of pot still clouded

By Jon Matthews
Bee Capitol Bureau

Bob Dole warned, "Just don't do it."

President Clinton's drug czar, Barry McCaffrey, called it a "dangerous
precedent."

But a year ago today, California voters ignored the pleas of many
wellknown politicians and law enforcement leaders and approved a landmark
medical marijuana initiative.

Proposition 215, which passed with 56 percent of the vote, changed state
law to let marijuana be used for medical purposes when approved by a
physician.

Now, on the first anniversary of that vote, backers believe the initiative
has aided their push to let Californians suffering from cancer and other
serious illnesses seek relief through puffing or eating marijuana.

"We're definitely far more encouraged than discouraged," said Dave Fratello
of Americans for Medical Rights.

Medical marijuana "is far more acceptable because millions of Californians
voted for it, and that was a message heard around the country," added state
Sen. John Vasconcellos, a Santa Clara Democrat.

But many controversies and uncertainties still cloud the air around medical
marijuana. Local governments have had vastly different reactions to the
measure, and federal laws continue to outlaw the drug regardless of
Proposition 215.

"Federal marijuana law remains the same. The law has not changed," said
Brian Morton, spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy.

While Morton said studies of the medical effects of marijuana are
continuing, drug czar McCaffrey still believes that "this is something that
should be dealt with through the medicalscientific community, not through
politics and not through voter plebiscite."

Although California voters didn't agree with McCaffrey, stillunsettled
issues remain:

While some cities have sanctioned "clubs" to sell medical marijuana, the
proposition didn't establish any local or statewide distribution systems.

Many government officials are still struggling over how to interpret the
initiative, and the courts in many cases have yet to issue their final word.

State legislation originally intended to help implement Proposition 215 and
pay for a major new medical study of marijuana stalled in the Legislature
in September. A studyonly version of the bill, by Vasconcellos, could be
reconsidered when lawmakers return to session in January.

Nonetheless, Proposition 215 backers believe thousands of ill Californians
are using marijuana. Scott Imler, director of a Los Angeles cannabis
buyers' club who said he personally uses marijuana to control seizures,
reported that a recent statewide conference of such clubs calculated a
combined total of about 6,600 patients.

Fratello said a major milestone came in May when a U.S. district court
judge ordered the federal government not to punish California doctors who
recommend marijuana for patients with cancer and other serious diseases.

"Our basic view is that the federal government has really not taken the
vote on Proposition 215 to heart. They are finding a lot of excuses to go
slow, rather than reclassify the drug and let it be used as a medicine," he
said.

"One of our hopes going into the election was that more patients would feel
more open about talking to their doctors. But I think we are only part way
there because of the threats the drug czar shouted at California."

State Attorney General Dan Lungren, who was a strong opponent of
Proposition 215, said law enforcement officials have tried to come up with
"appropriate," albeit narrow, guidelines for interpreting the measure. But
he added: "The question of the availability of marijuana for medicinal
purposes is still somewhat muddled.

"We need to recognize what the law of the state of California is," he said,
"but we also need to make sure it is viewed on a very limited basis."

Lungren, the presumptive 1998 Republican nominee for governor, now supports
a study, through the Vasconcellos bill, of "both the positive and negative
health aspects" of marijuana. But he said he still believes passage of the
measure sent the wrong message to California youth.

"I think there was a message conveyed to young people that not only is
marijuana not bad for you, but it might even be good for you," he said.

However, Proposition 215 backers said critics' predictions that the measure
would lead to rampant, uncontrolled drug use have simply not come true.

"All the fears . . . that it would create anarchy, that it would be
impossible to prosecute marijuana growers and dealers, that kids would have
unlimited access none of that has come true," Fratello said.