© 1997 San Francisco Chronicle

Memo Over Medical Pot Causes Stir

San Mateo Countyrun dispensaries are proposed

MARK SIMON

SAN MATEO COUNTY

San Mateo County Supervisor Mike Nevin has proposed what would be the
state's first publicly run facility for the distribution of medical
marijuana.

Responding to a proposal for a privately run dispensary, Nevin said in a
memo to his board colleagues that the county consider assuming the
responsibility of obtaining and distributing the marijuana through its
hospital and health clinic pharmacies.

Putting the county in charge of medical marijuana ``would provide the best
means of controlling distribution and ensuring that the needs of those who
truly need to use marijuana for medical purposes are adequately met,''
Nevin said in a memo distributed yesterday.

The county's source of marijuana could be the contraband quantities seized
by local law enforcement, he said.

Both San Mateo County Sheriff Don Horsley and Health Services Director
Margaret Taylor were intrigued by Nevin's proposal.

``I think it's really interesting. We're definitely going to take a look at
it,'' said Taylor.

Horsley said he'd like assurances that the quality of the marijuana would
be consistent and free of contaminants and that the use of the contraband
marijuana would cause no problems in prosecuting the people arrested in the
marijuana seizure.

``But I'd be willing to consider it if those issues can be addressed,'' he
said.

NOT SO FAST: If the initial county reaction was positive, a spokesman for
state Attorney General Dan Lungren was just as immediately negative.

Lungren is suing a San Francisco cannabis club, contending that it is an
illegal operation and that only physicians and primary care providers are
authorized under the new law to cultivate and distribute medical marijuana.

The county, even through its medical staff, would not qualify as a primary
care provider or the physician of record, said Lungren spokesman Matt Ross.

``The biggest question to us is whether cannabis buyers clubs are legal. No
matter who's running the club, the attorney general believes they are
not,'' said Ross.

Ross confirmed that no public entity in California distributes medical
marijuana.

Last week, supervisors imposed a 45day moratorium on private cannabis
clubs in the county, while they considered the best way to distribute
medical marijuana.

The moratorium came after Salvador Garcia proposed opening a cannabis club
in North Fair Oaks, an unincorporated area just north of Atherton.

When the initiative approving the use of marijuana for medical purposes was
approved, ``We answered one question. Yes, it's legal for medical use,''
Nevin said yesterday.

``We didn't answer the more practical questions of cultivation and
distribution. This answers both. . . . We're carrying out the will of the
people.

``Why should we give this responsibility to anybody other than government
itself to carry out the unknowns of what is now law?'' Nevin said.

SOME BASIC NUMBERS: The county has five pharmacies operated either directly
or under contract, said Taylor.

It's likely that only a few people in the county have been prescribed
marijuana, although no official count has been taken, Taylor said.

Sheriff Horsley said the county seizes an average of 110 pounds of
contraband marijuana a year, with a street value of about $165,000, he said.

It's a modest amount of marijuana in a county where the drug enforcement
priorities focus more on illegal methamphetamines and cocaine, he said.

But it should be enough to treat the relatively small number of patients
who would be prescribed medical marijuana, said Taylor.

Horsley said the county's entry into the medical marijuana field is a
chance to assure consistency of dosage and quality.

He suggested that the county could even become a marijuana grower.

``If you want to have some control over dose or strength, then it makes
sense to me to have somebody grow it and know what the potency of the
marijuana would be. Who would be best to do that?'' he said.