MIXING MEDICAL POT AND GUNS A CONCERN

Sheriffs in Oregon Are Fighting in Court to Revoke Weapons Permits of Users.

Cynthia Townsley Willis, a retired school bus driver and grandmother
of four, carries a spray bottle of marijuana-infused skin oil in her
purse to treat her frequent, painful muscle spasms. Her Walther P22
pistol most often gets slipped into a shoulder holster under her
jacket -- driving the lonely roads that traverse the hills and dense
woodlands of the Rogue Valley, who knows when she might need it?

Here in the pot belt of rural southern Oregon, possibly the only
thing more ubiquitous than marijuana is guns, and Willis, who is
legally registered with the state as a medical marijuana user, feels
better when she has both.

But Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters doesn't, and he is trying to
pull Willis' concealed weapons permit. Willis, a diminutive
54-year-old California native, is now one of four plaintiffs in a
case before the Oregon Supreme Court to determine whether medical
marijuana users are entitled to the same gun-carrying privileges as
everyone else.

Sheriffs across Oregon say that the state's 13-year-old medical
marijuana law has spawned tens of thousands of hobby users, and see
this case as a crucial step toward preventing what they consider a
dangerous mix of guns and drugs.

"This whole medical marijuana thing is a farce, and you can quote me
on that," said Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin, president of the
Oregon State Sheriff's Assn., who believes only a fraction of the
state's nearly 40,000 registered medical marijuana users have a
legitimate need for the drug.

"I always ask them, 'How many times a day do you medicate?' They say
it's like four or five times a day," Bergin said. "Well, that's 16
hours a day you're running around stoned. Do we even want them behind
vehicles? No. Do we want them carrying around a gun? Absolutely no."

Oregon essentially requires sheriffs to issue concealed weapons
permits unless the applicants have a history of violence, threats or
illegal drug convictions.

The sheriffs argue that forcing them to issue the permits to
marijuana users puts them in conflict with federal law, which makes
it a crime for users of illegal drugs to possess a gun. Although 15
states (plus Washington, D.C.) now have medical marijuana laws, the
substance remains illegal under federal law.

"We'll enforce any law that's out there, but when they're
conflicting, we have to do our best to decide which of those laws has
dominance," said Washington County Sheriff Rob Gordon.

Willis and others say owning and carrying a gun is an accepted part
of life in rural Oregon, and that those who rely on marijuana to
treat legitimate medical issues shouldn't be rendered defenseless.

In the case of Willis, who drives several miles each day from her
home in rural Gold Hill to volunteer at a medical marijuana supply
shop in Medford, her muscle spasms are so severe that often she can
barely stand. Eating a marijuana cookie or rubbing cannabis oil on
her skin is the only way she's found to relax her muscles. She never
uses enough to get high, she said.

Paul Sansone from Gales Creek in Washington County, another plaintiff
in the case, started carrying a concealed handgun in the 1980s for
self-defense, and said the sheriff at the time actually helped him buy his gun.

Since then, the county has gotten a new sheriff, and Sansone
developed a chronic gastrointestinal condition that gives him such
severe nausea he is almost unable to eat. The only thing that helps
is small quantities of medical marijuana.

Two trial court judges and a state appeals court sided with Sansone,
Willis and the other two plaintiffs. The Supreme Court heard oral
arguments in the case in March, and is expected to rule in the coming months.

In his ruling in 2008, Circuit Court Judge Steven L. Price said the
plaintiffs were "hardworking, honest, conscientious people who use
medical marijuana as contemplated by the statute to alleviate pain
and their symptoms. They are similarly responsible in their use and
possession of weapons."

But sheriffs say there are growing questions about how to maintain
public safety as medical marijuana use rapidly escalates.

"I think that 100% of our home invasion robberies have been tied to
narcotics, and probably 95% of those, this is just my best guess,
involve medical marijuana growers," Sheriff Gordon said. "It's just
ripe for somebody to get hurt."