ADVOCATES URGE SAN MATEO TO ADOPT POT RESOLUTION

Supporters Want City to Regulate Distribution of Medical Marijuana

SAN MATEO -- Medical marijuana patients and advocates, upset over the
federal raid and shutdown of three medical cannabis dispensaries in
downtown San Mateo last week, turned out en masse for a Tuesday night
San Mateo City Council meeting.

The advocates -- among them the operators and patients of the three
raided dispensaries -- urged city councilmembers to adopt a
resolution that would regulate the distribution of medical marijuana
in the city and another resolution prohibiting local law enforcement
from cooperating with the DEA on actions against medical marijuana.

The raids, conducted with the assistance of the city's police
department and the county's narcotics task force, caused the closure
of the county's three primary medical cannabis dispensaries and a
fourth one to follow suit. The operations were the result of a
nine-month investigation with the Sheriff's Office and federal
agents, authorities said.

Medical marijuana advocates have sharply criticized the participation
of local authorities in the federal investigation.

"We do not want to see our local tax revenues wasted on paying our
local law enforcement to aid in federal raids when there has been no
violation of state law," said Brent Saupe, a San Mateo resident and a
volunteer with Americans for Safe Access, an Oakland-based medical
marijuana advocacy group.

The use of medical marijuana with the recommendation of a doctor is
legal in California under Proposition 215, passed by state voters in
1996. However, federal law does not acknowledge that cannabis can be
used for medical purposes.

The district attorney's office was pursuing legal action against one
of the dispensaries last year, but ultimately made the decision to
bring in federal authorities, officials said. The prospect of a
lengthy and costly court battle influenced the decision to involve
the DEA, Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe acknowledged last week.

While local law enforcement insist that the dispensaries operated
outside of the state's medical marijuana laws, operators from each of
the three raided dispensaries denied on Tuesday they had violated state law.

The district attorney's decision to involve the DEA was unfair, said
Kris Hermes of ASA. That's because the operators -- if prosecuted by
the U.S. Department of Justice -- will not be able to properly defend
themselves in federal court, where the legality of medical marijuana
is not acknowledged, he said.

At Tuesday's meeting, medical marijuana advocates reminded city
officials of the broad support for controlled use of cannabis in the
county, pointing out that 66 percent of county voters helped pass
Proposition 215, the "Compassionate Use Act" that legalized medical
marijuana in the state more than a decade ago.

In all, about a dozen advocates for medical marijuana spoke during
the meeting. When they said their piece, City Manager Arne Croce
reaffirmed what he said last week about the dispensaries -- "that
these businesses were all operating in a way that ... by no stretch
of the imagination were operating within the law."

San Mateo Police Chief Susan Manheimer said outside the meeting that
state law, which allows for medical marijuana patients and providers
to open cooperatives, does not permit "storefront, entrepreneurial,
drug trafficking enterprises."

Both Croce and Manheimer affirmed that the county must develop an
ordinance, which could better regulate medical marijuana. In fact,
Croce said, Supervisor Jerry Hill had met with the district
attorney's office on Tuesday to discuss the prospect of countywide regulation.

However, District Attorney James Fox said Tuesday that local
regulation of medical marijuana dispensaries is not feasible. The
state regulates medical marijuana and any attempts to regulate
cannabis must be made on the state level, he explained.

That opinion was echoed by San Mateo City Attorney Shawn Mason, who
urged the advocates at the meeting that "if (they) feel strongly
about medical marijuana, they need to talk to their state legislators."

However, one needn't change state law necessary to regulate medical
marijuana, said Kris Hermes of ASA.

"You don't need to go to Sacramento," he said. "There are plenty of
examples of cities and counties around the state that have grappled
with this issue and resolved it in a very effective way."

Twenty-six cities and eight counties across the state have adopted
such ordinances, including Oakland, San Francisco and Berkeley,
according to the ASA.

"Medical marijuana dispensaries can be a positive part of our
community," Brent Saupe, of ASA, told city officials. "The Council
ought to be supporting efforts to develop regulations that provide
safe and legal access to medical cannabis so patients aren't forced
to access medicine in illegitimate places -- rather than restricting
it further."