Page D 1 ©1997 San Francisco Examiner

Policies bloom with medical pot

Across the state, cities are dealing with how to handle Prop. 215 in many
different ways

Jim Herron Zamora
OF THE EXAMINER STAFF
Examiner correspondents Donna Horowitz and Eve Mitchell
contributed to this report.

In San Jose, cops prodded a group of residents to grow
their own marijuana. In Fort Bragg, authorities nixed a
proposal to establish a medicinal marijuana dispensary
in the local police precinct. Up the coast in Arcata,
officials are considering licensing individual pot
smokers who claim they have a medical need for the weed.

These are some of the myriad ways communities across the
state are dealing with the passage of Proposition 215,
which legalized marijuana for medical use but failed
to outline how to regulate distribution of the drug.

Some communities Berkeley and Oakland, for instance
have adopted a "handsoff" policy that generally
discourages city interference in pot distribution.

Other cities, such as San Jose, are attempting to
strictly regulate distribution. Still others including
Monterey, Concord and Palo Alto have passed temporary
moratoriums on the distribution of medical marijuana in
the hopes that state legislators may pass laws that

clarify how the drug can legally be distributed.

"There's a big segment of the criminal justice system
that has to readjust their thinking to medical
marijuana," said Santa Clara County Assistant District
Attorney Karyn Sinunu, who oversees drug prosecutions.
"We're getting educated."

Sinunu, a prosecutor for 12 years, said that after
seeing a good friend use marijuana to ease the suffering
of stomach cancer, she had become convinced that the
drug should be legal for medical use.

"It's really difficult getting quality dope to people
who need it," she said. "There's no such thing as
FDAapproved dope, but there should be."

Few authorities argue that a sick person with a
recommendation from a doctor is now allowed to grow,
possess and use marijuana. But unless a patient has
wellhoned horticultural skills, the weed has to
magically appear in their hands because the production
and distribution of marijuana is still illegal.

"It's still against the law to sell marijuana, transport
marijuana and grow large quantities," said Marin County
Sheriff Bob Doyle. "Until there's something that
clarifies the whole issue, I'm opposed to cannabis
buyers clubs."

Fairfax is the only community in Marin where marijuana
distribution is officially sanctioned by the local
government. The Cannabis Buyers Club of Marin, which
distributes marijuana to about 425 people, is run by the
Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, a patient advocacy
group.

Others have asked for approval to distribute medical
marijuana there, but the Fairfax Town Council instituted
a 45day moratorium on new applications so planners

could establish guidelines. The issue comes again before
the council Sept. 2.

Fairfax Councilman Frank Egger said he hoped other
cities in Marin would follow suit and establish their
own clubs. "I would hope that there would be a
dispensary in different parts of the county," said
Egger. "It's the law of the state of California, even
though the attorney general (Dan Lungren) doesn't want
to accept it. It's the law, and we intend to implement
it."

In Contra Costa County, no group has so far publicly
sought legal permission to distribute marijuana. Several
public officials there and elsewhere hope it stays that
way and not only because of the legal confusion
surrounding the new law.

Some officials fear that clubs could become a magnet for
nuisance and criminal activity. Even authorities in
communities where the clubs are supported have those
worries.

"We had a lot of concerns about nuisance issues," said
Oakland police Lt. Pete Peterson of the Vice and
Narcotics Section. "We don't want any smoking at the
clubs or panhandling outside. We didn't want people
hanging around there who shouldn't be there."

Nevertheless, marijuana "is a legal drug for those who
need it. You cannot legally prohibit that," said Daniel
Abrahamson, director of legal affairs for the Lindesmith
Center, a drug policy think tank. "If (local
governments) decide that they don't want a local supply,
then that means they're implicitly or explicitly
endorsing the transportation of medical marijuana."

Some communities are using zoning laws barring
businesses from certain areas to restrict cannabis
clubs. San Jose recently used a zoning law to shut down

a pot club operating from a home.

In San Francisco, prosecutors have worked out protocols
with the Department of Health for the safe distribution
of marijuana. The City is home to the Cannabis
Cultivators Club, whose leaders are still facing charges
of selling marijuana after the club's Market Street
office were busted by state agents last year several
months before the passage of Prop. 215. That club has
been criticized for its relaxed attitude about what
constitutes a medical need.

Marijuana is still against federal law. Although the
feds haven't started prosecuting smallscale users, they
have waded into the medical pot controversy. Federal
drug agents seized 331 plants at San Francisco's Flower
Therapy Club in April, but no charges have been filed in
that case, which remains under investigation. That club
had worked with local prosecutors and health officials
to avoid any problems, but that did not deter federal
agents.

The risk of federal prosecution is a worry for those who
provide pot to the sick.

"I never know if the federal government is going to come
here," said Jeff Jones, director of the 1,200member
Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative.

Jones goes out of his way to be discreet. The offices of
the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative are on a busy
street downtown, but there is no sign out front, and the
group doesn't want its address to be published. Patients
present photo membership cards at a pharmacystyle
counter for their daily limit of onequarter ounce.

"We're not trying to publicize ourselves," said Jones.
"The people who need to know about us find out about us.
We just don't want the pot smokers on the street to come

down here. People who have HIV know about us. People who
have cancer know about us."

After months of negotiations with local groups, Oakland
adopted a handsoff policy that placed enforcement of
marijuana laws as its lowest priority. The club is on
good terms with Oakland police.

"They are interested in meeting us halfway," said Lt.
Peterson. "We're putting trust in them that they are
upholding their part of the bargain."

The club provides police with a 24hour number to
confirm that a person is a registered member.

In Santa Cruz County, the marijuana groups provide cards
to users and certificates to growers for medicinal
purposes. Valerie Corral has been growing marijuana for
20 years to treat her epilepsy and provide it to other
sick people for free. After years of legal battles, she
now has a good working relationship with local police.

"I think that the most important thing that we do is
remember that we are taking a medicine and treat it with
the respect of a medicine," said Corral, who heads the
Wo / Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz.
"That means we shouldn't be out on the street, puffing
it and getting secondhand smoke on the face of people
who don't want it."

Peter Baez, who dispenses marijuana from his San Jose
club, which resembles a doctor's office, has a problem
he never envisioned: "Police were telling me I had to
grow my own pot."

Local authorities believe that the only legal way to
obtain medical marijuana is grow your own, ideally at a
facility zoned especially for that purpose, Sinunu said.

But South Bay authorities have waffled about whether
Baez should grow marijuana on site or try to grow it

elsewhere. Baez would prefer to grow it at a more secure
warehouse.

"We believe in the idea of medical marijuana, and we're
trying to make this work," Sinunu said. "But this is not
easy. We're still learning as we go along."