CITY BANS MEDICAL MARIJUANA FACILITIES

North Bend Patients WHO Rely on the Plant Want a Safe Place to Get
Their Medicine

Lynne Magnuson is a quiet, upbeat person. She is the cheery-faced,
next-door neighbor.

She is also a medical marijuana user.

Magnuson doesn't drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes or use other drugs.
She has never used marijuana recreationally. She began using it for
relief from symptoms related to her multiple sclerosis.

She wants the North Bend City Council to know that the city's ban on
facilities for the production and distribution of medical marijuana
affects patients like her. The council passed a six-month ban Aug. 2
in a 6-0 vote; Councilman Jonathan Rosen was absent.

"It's not fair that we should have the legal right to get a medication
and not have the right to get it in our city," Magnuson said.

Sick of feeling sick

Magnuson began using medical marijuana two years ago. Diagnosed with
multiple sclerosis in 2002, she had spent seven years on heavy
medications. Sometimes, the cure felt worse than the illness, she said.

The medications clouded her thinking, caused vomiting, fatigue and
other symptoms, and cost her a job. At one point, she took 11 pills a
day and a weekly injection that left her barely able to move for two,
sometimes three days, she said.

"These ones are making you sick, and you got to take these ones for
those -- I just wanted to wean off some of the stuff," she said.

Her mother and aunt had a suggestion: medical marijuana. They both had
seen TV personality Montel Williams tell his audience that he used
medical marijuana for his multiple sclerosis.

Magnuson was skeptical, she said.

"But what are people going to think of me?" she wondered.

After talking with her doctor, she saw a naturopath who gave her an
authorization to use medical marijuana and recommended two
dispensaries -- one in Issaquah and one in Seattle.

After she started using marijuana, Magnuson said she was able to get
off several medications. Her seizures stopped. She was able to keep
food down.

She and other medical marijuana users say that the small amounts they
use don't affect their thinking. One North Bend man said he is more
clear-headed with medical marijuana than he was while taking narcotic
pain medication.

Magnuson said she doesn't know if her improvements are totally related
to marijuana. Many people with multiple sclerosis have anecdotally
reported that it has helped their symptoms, but the few studies on the
subject are inconclusive, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis
Society.

Bans on medical marijuana

Getting medical marijuana has become more difficult for Magnuson. The
collective dispensary in Issaquah was shut down by that city's ban on
medical marijuana facilities.

Several cities in King County and across the state have passed similar
bans. Seattle and King County have not shut down patient-run facilities.

Like many cities, North Bend's administration had been looking to the
state Legislature to clarify the state's medical marijuana laws during
its last session. But that effort failed when Gov. Chris Gregoire
vetoed parts of Senate Bill 5703, which the Legislature had passed
this spring.

The current law leaves too much gray area for providers and users,
according to medical marijuana advocates and law enforcement officials.

Since Olympia failed to clarify the law, a moratorium in North Bend
would give the city time to determine its position, City Administrator
Duncan Wilson said.

The city wants to protect employees from prosecution by the federal
government, which still considers all marijuana illegal, and to study
how facilities should be regulated.

Washington Initiative 692, passed in 1998, allows people suffering
from certain medical conditions to possess a 60-day supply of
marijuana. Under state law, physicians and some other medical
professionals can recommend -- but not prescribe -- medical marijuana
for patients.

Olympia's failure to clarify the law could make it more difficult for
authorized patients to get medicine because more cities will ban
medical marijuana facilities, said Doug Honig, spokesman for the
Washington chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

But cities might not be able to ban gardens for growing medical
marijuana, which are permitted under the law Gregoire signed that went
into effect July 22, said Ian Goodhew, a spokesman for the King County
Prosecutor's Office.

The law allows cities and counties to zone "collective gardens," which
can consist of up to 10 authorized patients.

Castle Rock reversed its ban on collective gardens after lawsuits were
filed against the city. The city changed its course based on legal
advice from the Association of Washington Cities, Castle Rock City
Attorney Frank Randolph said.

North Bend could face a similar lawsuit.

Steve Sarich, a medical marijuana advocate who lives near North Bend,
told the City Council that he is considering suing the city over its
ban. He already filed an injunction to stop enforcement of SB 5703
based on the grounds that the law is too vague to be enforced.

North Bend's ban is unnecessary, too vague to enforce and oversteps
the city's authority, Sarich said.

However, North Bend City Attorney Mike Kenyon told the City Council
that the ban will stand up to Sarich's objections.

Looking for a safe place

If the ban is continued, Magnuson and other patients will have to
travel outside the city to get medication.

"Why did they say we're going to make it legal for you, but we're not
going to give you a safe place to get it?" she said.

Some terminally sick patients cannot travel very far to get medicine.
Some patient-run dispensaries advertise that they will deliver.

North Bend resident Mike Burdick said he just wants a safe place to
get the medicine he takes for chronic knee and back pain.

"We're not trying to do anything illicit. We want to be out in the
open," he said.