LEGAL PLACE TO BUY POT?

City Officials, Advocates Debate Medical Marijuana Dispensary

SIMI VALLEY -- R. Dean Jones wonders why he must leave Ventura County to
find a cannabis club where he can legally purchase marijuana to ease the
pain of his diabetes.

"This county should have a facility where medical marijuana patients can
purchase their medicine," said the 70-year-old Simi Valley man who drives
to clinics in West Hollywood and Santa Barbara. "It's my God-given right to
deal with this my way."

Jones said he wants to learn more about a proposal by Michael Simpson, 45,
to open a medical marijuana dispensary -- a business that sells the drug to
qualified people for medical purposes -- at an undetermined location in
Simi Valley.

Simpson's recent proposal has city officials and police debating the issue,
which has raised questions at the federal and state levels.

"We don't have rules or regulations to guide us, don't have zoning rules
that would govern this facility," said City Councilman Glen Becerra. "We
need to have a clarification of the rules.

"Personally, I don't think it's a good fit for Simi Valley."

The Simi Valley Police Department is studying the issue and expects to
release a report in 10 months. The council has adopted a moratorium
prohibiting the opening of any cannabis club until the study is complete.

Under the state's Proposition 215, a person is allowed to legally smoke,
cultivate or obtain the drug for medical purposes with a doctor's approval.

California law, however, conflicts with federal law, which says the drug is
illegal, and federal agents have shut down some medical marijuana clinics
in other locations.

But Simpson said there is a clear need for a clinic in Simi Valley.

"The only other way for them to get the medicine they need is to get into
the black market. They expose themselves to other crimes by growing it
themselves," he said.

Other communities have already grappled with the controversial issue.

The Rainbow Country Ventura County Medical Cannabis Center in Thousand Oaks
dispensed the drug to about 60 patrons for a couple of months in 1999
before Deputy District Attorney Mitchell Disney won an injunction shutting
it down.

"The real concern was the new law only allowed people to possess and
cultivate for their own use," Disney said.

He said operators of the Thousand Oaks center were trying to go a step
further from what the public approved in the initiative by selling marijuana.

"The sale of marijuana is not covered by Prop. 215," Disney said.

Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the nonprofit Marijuana Policy Project, said
cannabis clubs are relatively common, but vary from locality to locality.

"There are dozens around the state," he said. "They tend to be concentrated
in places like the Bay Area where they are more sympathetic to medical
marijuana, and West Hollywood."

Recently, the city of West Hollywood adopted an ordinance temporarily
banning the opening of new cannabis clubs.

The moratorium, which does not affect existing dispensaries, gives city
officials time to review concerns associated with unregulated dispensaries
and evaluate regulations.

"Well-run dispensaries can be a tremendous service to patients because it
saves them from getting the marijuana on the street," Mirken said. "In an
ideal world, your doctor would give you a prescription and a patient could
get it at the pharmacy."

Doctors, by law, can recommend the drug, but cannot prescribe it.

Retired nurse Lisa Schwarz is the executive director and a founding member
of the Ventura County Alliance for Medical Marijuana Patients.

The organization teaches patients how to grow marijuana, sponsors support
groups and distributes identification cards, which make it easier for
patients to get marijuana. The group does not sell the drug.

The identification cards, along with a letter from a physician, are
required at most cannabis clubs.

"I'm all for the dispensary," she said, adding that she has been in contact
with Simi Valley officials.

Simpson said he will wait to see whether the council backs his proposal.

"It is not going to happen overnight," said Mayor Pro Tem Barbra
Williamson. "There has to be caution when you are looking at something like
this.

"If there is a need for medical marijuana and it relieves suffering and
pain, I am absolutely in support of it. I would not want my loved ones to
be in that state of anguish and medical hurt."

Mayor Paul Miller, former chief of police, said cities with operating
marijuana clinics have reported adverse effects.

"It's an attractive target for people to burglarize or attempt to rob those
persons who have gone to obtain the substance," he said.

Other cities that allowed such facilities cited increases in illegal drug
activity, loitering around dispensaries, falsely obtained identification
cards, and other street crime, according to a report compiled by Simi police.

"There's an old saying that if it's predictable, it's preventable," said
police Capt. Tony Harper. "You don't want to bring something into your
community if you know that with it comes an increase in crime without
putting mechanisms in place to preclude that from happening."

Two California cities, Rocklin and San Rafael, have banned medical
marijuana dispensaries by ordinance. Several others have adopted
moratoriums and are currently studying the issue.

"It should be administered from doctor to pharmacy to patient," Becerra
said. "A legitimate use should come from a legitimate source."