POT CLUBS

What Began As Effort to Help Sick People Has Lost Its
Way

In 1996, voters, who believed they would be helping people most in
need, passed Proposition 215.

Under strict guidelines, it was anticipated, a physician would
prescribe medical marijuana to people suffering from cancer, AIDS or
other serious illnesses, and the prescription would be filled at a
designated dispensary.

When the state Legislature failed its responsibility to provide clear
direction for police and planning agencies, all those good intentions
went up in smoke.

These days, people with a variety of ills are able to secure marijuana
using a variety of criteria at a variety of office-front pot clubs
that won't be confused with the Mayo Clinic. It has become a
subculture all its own.

In Santa Rosa, unhappy neighbors in the Luther Burbank Gardens
neighborhood describe happenings that sound more akin to a '60s head
shop - loud music, customers urinating in the bushes, pot being
re-sold on the street, streams of young people coming and going.

In Ukiah, neighbors complain of the smell of ripening marijuana,
leading to a proposed city ordinance that would mandate indoor
growing. Meanwhile, the owner of a pot club was arrested for allegedly
selling marijuana for profit.

A news story about neighbors' complaints in Santa Rosa this week
served as a wake-up call to the City Council, surprised to learn that
a pot club - one of three in the city - is doing business across the
street from City Hall.

On the way to adopting its own ordinance, the council wants a report
in 60 days on what other cities are doing to regulate pot clubs.

What's plain is that California needs Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and
the state Legislature to come forward with a coherent system which
regulates how marijuana is bought and sold, eliminates the current
abuses and guarantees that the truly sick receive the help they need.

The current free-for-all can only mean more neighborhood disasters
until voters decide that Proposition 215 has been hijacked by folks
who care a lot more about legalizing marijuana than about helping the
sick.