THE POLITICS OF POT: THE RULES IN BUTTE COUNTY

The Butte County District Attorney's Office has several guidelines
for medical marijuana listed on its website.

Perhaps the most significant guideline District Attorney Mike Ramsey
specifies is that members of a cooperative or their caregivers must
actively participate in the cultivation of marijuana. Other counties
allow for just monetary compensation in lieu of labor.

Qualified patients and/or primary caregivers are allowed under
California law to "associate ... in order collectively or
cooperatively to cultivate marijuana for medical purposes."

No other definition is given and may lead to confusion as to what is
allowed. In Butte County, the following are the guidelines to avoid conflict:

# Do document each "member" of the collective/cooperative along with
their recommendations and contact information and keep documents on
site or reasonably available.

# Do document each member's contribution of labor and resources to
the collective/cooperative. Each member must actively participate in
the cultivation. The collective/cooperative grow must not merely grow
for absentee qualified patients.

# Do not grow more collectively/cooperatively than the sum of each
members' total recommended needs.

# Do not distribute marijuana to anyone at all outside of the
collective/cooperative.