CLARIFY RULES ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Fifteen years after state voters approved marijuana use by those in
medical need, it's time for state and federal officials to hammer out
reasonable guidelines for implementation. Our current system is not
working.

At the same time, pot cultivators and distributors need to recognize
that some of them are part of the problem that has led to this month's
announced federal crackdown on the rapidly growing medicinal pot
industry. While voters blessed providing for suffering patients, they
did not approve turning California into a base for distributing
marijuana across the nation.

This is not a debate over the legalization of marijuana for the
general population. While there are many thoughtful arguments for
treating pot like alcohol, California voters last year rejected that
idea. Clearly, they did not want the state to act unilaterally on that
in defiance of federal law.

Meanwhile, the battle over medical marijuana rages on. We've been at
this since 1996, when voters approved Proposition 215 "to ensure that
seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana
for medical purposes" when recommended by a physician.

In 2003, the Legislature and then-Gov. Gray Davis approved legislation
setting down specific rules for implementation. Among them:
Cultivation and distribution were not to be for profit.

At the same time, all pot remains illegal at the federal level. Yet,
the Obama administration's Justice Department has been consistent
about its enforcement. It has stated that it will not go after
patients and caregivers operating within state law. On the other hand,
it has said it will aggressively pursue for-profit marijuana
enterprises. The administration first served notice in 2009, and has
not changed its position.

Too many weren't listening. Producers and distributors marketed their
product like candy, going so far in San Jose as to employ a sign-waver
to try to attract customers to one dispensary. Some doctors handed out
prescriptions indiscriminately.

City officials in communities such as Oakland and Richmond viewed pot
as just another growth industry and tried to tap it as a source of tax
funds.

Collectively, they were daring the federal government to step in. So
it should have been no surprise when U.S. prosecutors on Oct. 7
announced a crackdown on the profit-making enterprises.

Meanwhile, local officials, doctors and nonprofit marijuana
distributors who are trying to comply with state law and the voters'
wishes remain in legal limbo, uncertain what they can and cannot permit.

State legislators and Gov. Jerry Brown must step in.

They must craft rules for a reasonable cultivation and distribution
system that ensures patients get the pot they truly need -- no more,
no less. For its part, the Obama administration must join the
discussion and signal what it is willing to accept.

This should not be a back-door entrance to general pot legalization.
That's a different debate, and it's not what voters approved.

Moves in that direction are not only drawing the federal reaction,
they are hurting efforts to help those in medical need.