COUNTY POT RULES MAY GO UP IN SMOKE

Officials Say Current Medical Marijuana Guidelines Violate Law, May
Have to Be Rewritten

Sonoma County's medical marijuana guidelines, which were years in the
making and involved intense debate, may have to be scrapped and the
process started again because the rules apparently violate state and
federal laws, authorities said.

At issue is how much marijuana a person can legally possess and use
in Sonoma County, and who has the authority to make that determination.

"This is a huge concern to us," said Doc Knapp, a spokesman for the
Sonoma Alliance for Medical Marijuana. "We've been working on these
guidelines since 1997. We have a lot invested in this."

The issue seemed to be settled in 2001, when the Sonoma County Law
Enforcement Chiefs Association formally adopted guidelines regulating
medicinal use of marijuana.

Those guidelines allow three pounds of marijuana per user per year
and, as of May 15, up to 25 plants.

However, the chiefs association, whose members include District
Attorney Stephen Passalacqua and Sheriff Bill Cogbill, apparently was
unaware that they did not have the authority to enact such guidelines
under a state law passed in 2003.

The guidelines also conflict with federal law that makes marijuana
use a crime, according to Martin Mayer, a Fullerton attorney who
briefed the chiefs association and made them aware of the problem in March.

"This has nothing to do with whether you and I agree that someone
should be using marijuana to make them feel better. It has to do with
the law," said Mayer, who advises 71 law enforcement agencies in California.

It's not clear who has the authority to adjust state standards --
which at 8 ounces per user and 18 plants are much less generous than
Sonoma County allowances.

Mayer and Attorney General Bill Lockyer said state law gives that
discretion only to counties.

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors is poised to take up the
issue. Supervisors could decide to adopt the guidelines as they are,
make changes or do nothing and let state law stand.

Supervisor Mike Reilly said he's hoping to schedule a public hearing
as early as the end of this month.

He said the board generally supports Proposition 215, the medical
marijuana initiative passed by California voters in 1996.

"The initiative passed by over 70 percent in Sonoma County," Reilly
said. "Our board has been pretty consistently in favor of marijuana
use by people who need to get marijuana for medical reasons. I don't
expect there will be huge controversy about it."

That would run counter to recent history.

The current guidelines were hammered out following lengthy discussion
between medical marijuana advocates, public health officials and
county law enforcement, including former District Attorney Mike Mullins.

Cogbill's call for tougher and more clearly written rules after
prosecutors dismissed several medical marijuana cases in 2004 was met
with strong opposition from pot advocates, who ultimately succeeded
in keeping the amount of pot a person can have unchanged. They did,
however, have to settle for a reduction in the number of plants.

"You can imagine the kind of debate this is going to create for the
board," Cogbill said.

He and other law enforcement officials view themselves as victims of
poorly written medical marijuana laws and say they were only
attempting to clarify matters for pot users and police when they
crafted the guidelines.

"That morphed into a kind of policy where we were setting the
limits," Sebastopol Police Chief Jeff Weaver said. "That shouldn't
have happened in lieu of this legal information we have."

Confusing the issue is whether cities also have the power to adjust
marijuana limits under state law.

SB420, which was enacted in 2003 as an attempt to clarify medical
marijuana laws, states that cities, in addition to counties, "may
retain or enact medical marijuana guidelines allowing qualified
patients or primary caregivers to exceed the state limits."

A call to the Attorney General's Office on Friday seeking
clarification was not returned.

Larry Robinson, a city councilman in Sebastopol, where officials are
in the process of drafting an ordinance regulating medical marijuana
dispensaries, said enforcing rules for individual patients is a "gray area."

"I don't think any city wants to be the one that either prohibits or
allows a lot more than anyone else and attracts a lot more patients,"
he said. "That's a challenge."

The chiefs association, in the meantime, decided Friday to form a
subcommittee to study changes in how they approach medical marijuana cases.

While police do not have the authority to set the amounts for legal
marijuana use, they can use discretion in determining what resources
to devote to the issue and when to make arrests.

"We have some obligation not to waste taxpayers' money and not arrest
people who have nine ounces if the district attorney is not going to
prosecute, even though that's the law of the land," Cogbill said.

Passalacqua said the current guidelines of three pounds per user and
25 plants will remain in effect in the interim.

The district attorney did not say whether he foresees any further
changes to the rules.

"I certainly imagine that there will be a very spirited debate, and
I'm certainly going to listen to the dialogue," he said. "But I think
the significant thing that hopefully will come out of this is that
it's time for county government and city government to have
consistency for patients' needs."

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WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

* Under a 2003 law, only counties can enact medicinal marijuana
guidelines; law enforcement agencies cannot.

* The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors is poised to take up the
issue. Supervisors could decide to adopt the guidelines as they are,
make changes or do nothing and let state law stand.