YUBA SUPERVISOR TOUGH ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

If you want strong opinions from Yuba County Supervisor Andy Vasquez,
just mention "prescription for medical marijuana."

Using "prescription" and "medical" implies a standard Vasquez said he
believes can't be applied for 1996's Proposition 215, which legalized
the controlled substance for medical purposes in California.

"It was a loosely written law," Vasquez said. "It was passed without
a lot of serious scrutiny."

Vasquez has taken the lead in pushing for more education, and
oversight, of marijuana in Yuba County, saying it's harming teens and
children and being used in violation of common sense.

Next month, at Vasquez's request, a doctor from the county's Health
and Human Services Department will make a presentation on marijuana's
health effects to the Board of Supervisors.

Previously, Vasquez commissioned a report by Yuba County Counsel
Angil Morris-Jones on the county's legal options to address medical marijuana.

But Morris-Jones, in giving the report to county supervisors last
week, said the county's options are limited for addressing the issue
of minors being prescribed medical marijuana.

"It's state law," she said.

The county continues to investigate, with the possibility of a
proposal for supervisors by the end of the year, a possible ordinance
on medical marijuana grow sites and how they affect their neighbors.

Sheriff Steve Durfor, who's working on the ordinance with other
county officials, said it's in response to a surge in complaints by
neighbors of growing operations legal under Proposition 215.

"Their quality of life is being greatly affected by grow sites,"
Durfor said, adding District Attorney Patrick McGrath and
Morris-Jones are looking into how the ordinance can pass legal muster.

Vasquez said possible restrictions on age and usage are his goal.
Going into a Yuba City restaurant bathroom where the smell of
marijuana forced it to be aired out, combined with a story of a teen
whose predisposition to schizophrenia was exacerbated by marijuana
use, he said, make the case for him.

"I don't believe anyone has a right to force an intoxicant on
someone," he said. "Whether it should be legal, that's a question for lawyers."

The director for the California chapter of the National Organization
for the Reform of Marijuana Laws said some of Vasquez's stances are
out of date.

"Use of marijuana by school kids has declined since medical marijuana
has passed, and that's been under-publicized," said Dale Gieringer of
Cal NORML.

He added there's anecdotal evidence from medical professionals of
marijuana being helpful in treating medical conditions in teens.

The upheaval in medical marijuana - seen in everything from ordinance
discussions in Yuba County to federal enforcement of drug laws
statewide - is because of the conflict between state and federal law
on marijuana, Gieringer said.

Those problems could be solved if the federal government had less
resistance to legalizing the drug, or at least researching its
effects on the body.

But Vasquez said it's an issue where a lack of oversight elsewhere
cries out for a local response.

"I think we have a right as a county to set up laws to protect
citizens if the state won't," he said.