CITY PONDERS NEW MEDICAL MARIJUANA PLAN

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - An elderly woman waits at her local pharmacy
to pick up her arthritis drugs behind a mom fetching her son's ADHD
medication. Imagine a cancer or AIDS patient joining that line to fill
his prescription for medicinal marijuana.

The city of Mountain View is exploring the novel idea of allowing
pharmacists to dispense medicinal marijuana as readily as Viagra or
Vicodin.

Pharmacist Nori Yabumoto, for one, said he thinks that scenario makes
sense.

"All pharmacists are in a field to help people who are sick," said
Yabumoto, who has owned the Economed Pharmacy next to El Camino
Hospital in Mountain View for 27 years. "I wish they would let the
professionals take care of it."

Drug stores in the Netherlands distribute medicinal marijuana, and
Canada plans next year to launch a pilot program with
government-certified pot. But the idea is against federal law in the
United States - even though California voters in 1996 gave certain
patients the right to use medicinal cannabis with a doctor's
prescription through Proposition 215.

Last week, a divided Mountain View City Council voted to study the
mechanics and legalities of making the city's drug stores medicinal
marijuana dispensaries. Some members of the city council worried it
would unleash abuse of the system and create tussles with the federal
government. Mayor Matt Neely and others were moved, however, by the
stories of people such as Jonathan Lustig, a Mountain View resident
who has to travel to Oakland pot clubs to pick up the marijuana he is
prescribed to ease searing migraines and stomach pain because no local
centers exist.

There are no marijuana clubs in Santa Clara or San Mateo counties.
Elaine Costello, Mountain View's planning director, said that in
theory, pharmacies could be a legitimate venue for distributing the
pain-numbing, nausea-relieving drug.

Mountain View zoning officials have said the city may be able to issue
pharmacies "conditional use" zoning permits, which allow businesses to
open under special conditions.

Regulating such dispensaries has emerged as legally precarious turf,
especially in California, which, with more than 160 marijuana centers
statewide, is the epicenter of pot clubs. State law authorizes
patients to use medicinal marijuana if they have certain diseases,
including cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, arthritis or migraines. But a U.S.
Supreme Court ruling in June said that state laws did not protect
medicinal marijuana users from federal prosecution.

"It's plain and simple: federal law prohibits it," said Luke Macaulay,
a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in San Francisco.

And that has big chain drug stores expressing reservations.

"Generally our policy is that we will carry or make available any
medication that is approved by the federal Food and Drug
Administration," said Michael Polzin, spokesman for Walgreens in
Deerfield, Ill. "I don't know how this would fit into that."

Like most pharmacies, Economed already dispenses controlled substances
such as methadone, percocet and oxycodone, which is similar to
morphine. Yabumoto sees the legal pitfalls of legitimizing the
practice of dispensing medicinal marijuana and isn't interested in
challenging federal law. But if the California Board of Pharmacy and
federal government cleared the way, Yabumoto said he believes plenty
of pharmacists would be interested in dispensing cannabis.

Dispensing the prescribed substance in a licensed pharmacy is smarter
than letting people sell it in private centers that could be magnets
for drug dealers and other crime, he said.

"Pharmacies are ideal places," said Yabumoto in his store, where the
shelves are lined with pain relievers and cold remedies. "We are
trained to identify people who are abusing the system more than people
who are out there in clubs."

For now, Mountain View city officials are studying the idea and will
report back in about two months.

Hilary McQuie, spokeswoman for the Oakland-based Americans for Safe
Access, said hundreds of ill people from Santa Clara and San Mateo
counties must travel to pot clubs in San Francisco, Oakland, Hayward
and Santa Cruz to get their medications.

While she applauds Mountain View for studying the pharmacy approach,
she said there may be better options.

"I would be surprised if they don't find that to be in conflict
legally," she said, however. "A church might be a better sanctuary."