STATE'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW IS UNEVENLY APPLIED

LOS ANGELES - Enforcement of California's first-in-the-nation medical
marijuana law is all over the map, literally.

A patient in one place may be arrested next door. In Berkeley, for
instance, a doctor's note lets you carry 21/2 pounds of marijuana.
Drive to neighboring Emeryville, however, and you could be called a
dealer.

Eight years after its passage, the law remains unevenly applied around
the state. Recent changes designed to protect legitimate users from
arrest run up against federal law, which says marijuana is an illegal
drug, not medicine.

Police in Chowchilla will seize any marijuana and have arrested people
carrying more than an officer believes they can personally use.

Although state law was amended this year to specify that police can't
bust a registered user who carries a half-pound of dried cannabis, the
state registration system isn't running yet.

The California Highway Patrol confiscates marijuana even from people
who contend they are complying with state law.

While many coastal communities and the Bay Area allow up to 3 pounds
and hundreds of plants, inland farming and desert communities hold a
harsher line.

Chowchilla, for instance, enforces federal law and distrusts the whole
idea of medical marijuana.

"That is a very bad word around here," said Chowchilla Police Sgt.
Kevin Weaver. "These are guys that just like to smoke dope."

California's bewildering maze of policies was built on the ballot
initiative passed by voters in November 1996 that failed to spell out
how much medical marijuana is legal, who qualifies to use it, and how
they can get a supply.

Most of the 10 other states that have since passed medical marijuana
laws tried to avoid those mistakes.

California's law is "the least restrictive and has created the most
amount of legal confusion," said Allen St. Pierre, executive director
of the pro-marijuana NORML Foundation. "It was done by an amalgam of
maybe 20 or 30 individuals and almost reads as much."

The loose writing has kept courts busy. Medical marijuana users are
involved in court cases involving everything from workers compensation
to child custody, and the U.S. Supreme Court is looking into whether
federal authorities can prosecute their suppliers.

Medical marijuana advocates say it's impossible to count how many
medical marijuana users are being arrested, and authorities don't
track the numbers. However, a recent report by the medical marijuana
group Americans for Safe Access cited a "culture of resistance" within
law enforcement that led to arrests or seizures in at least 36 of
California's 58 counties this year.

One medical marijuana user whose own stash Long Beach police once
confiscated now attends trials to support other users. He has carried
his stash into court more than 30 times and said he regularly cites
state law to court security guards who question him.

"Usually they discover my pipe and ask 'What's this?' I say, 'That's
my medicine and my medical delivery device,'" said Bill Britt, 45, an
epileptic who uses marijuana to relieve pain from his arthritis and
scoliosis. "Every single time, they've given it back."

To give police direction and prevent arrests, a law that went into
force in January sets up a voluntary state-run identification program.
Police are supposed to respect the ID cards as proof of legal
marijuana possession, but California's estimated 75,000 medical
marijuana users won't be able to get the cards until next year.

Under the old system, some counties and marijuana clubs have issued
their own cards, which often are recognized only in the local community.

The legislative attempt to mend the patchwork of enforcement policies
is having limited effect.

Prosecutors say the new law is still befuddling because it lets
counties set higher guidelines than the half-pound lawmakers allowed
for unspecified medical needs.

"It doesn't appear to us that we're getting clarity," said David
LaBahn, executive director of the California District Attorneys
Association. "That's what folks look for from laws: Who is exempted,
how much can they have, and where can they have it."

Richard Meyer, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent in
San Francisco, says local interpretations of the medical marijuana law
sometimes hinder federal investigations of drug dealing.

"Some of our local police departments are not able to help us in
marijuana investigations," he said. "It's a nuisance."

That's not a problem in the far northern city of Eureka, where local
police confiscate any marijuana and will aid in federal probes. This
despite being located in Humboldt County, where patients can -- on
paper -- possess 3 pounds of pot and grow 100 square feet of plants.

"We have an obligation to both federal and state law ... (but) if
federal folks want to take the marijuana, then they trump," Police
Chief David Douglas said. "Always."

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CANNABIS COAST TO COAST

A snapshot of medical marijuana rules in various states:

* Alaska: Patients (or their primary caregivers) may legally possess up
to 1 ounce of usable marijuana and may grow up to six plants. There is
a confidential state-run patient registry.

* Arizona: Doctors are allowed to prescribe marijuana to unspecified
"seriously ill" patients. Medical leaders, however, say physicians
aren't prescribing the drug because, in part, they fear doing it would
put their federal licenses to prescribe drugs at risk. The Arizona
Department of Public Safety contends that federal law trumps state law
and that it remains illegal to grow or distribute marijuana.

* California: People can possess no more than 8 ounces and six mature
or 12 immature marijuana plants. Counties and cities are free to permit
greater quantities and a larger amount if required for the patient's
"medical needs." Two dozen cities and counties have various guidelines,
with the high end permitting 99 marijuana plants and several pounds of
processed marijuana. Patients must have an oral or written
recommendation from a physician, who cannot be punished for having made
such a recommendation, and must have a serious illness such as AIDS,
glaucoma or arthritis. However, unspecified other illnesses are
permitted if marijuana provides relief. The law will set up a voluntary
state-run identification card system for users.

* Colorado: Patients must have written documentation from a doctor that
they suffer from a debilitating condition that marijuana may help. It
lists several of them, including cancer, AIDS and chronic nausea, with
state health officials authorized to approve others. The law
establishes a state-run registry program. The legal limit is 2 ounces
of usable marijuana and six plants.

* Hawaii: Requires signed statement from a physician and specifies the
illnesses covered, including Crohn's disease and epilepsy, with others
subject to state approval. Sets up a mandatory state-run patient ID
program. Possession limits are one ounce of usable marijuana and seven
plants.

* Maine: Patients must have an oral or written "professional opinion"
from their physician that he or she "might benefit from the medical use
of marijuana." Names the illnesses. Legal limit per patient or
caregiver is 21/2 ounces of usable marijuana and six marijuana plants.

* Maryland: Allows patients arrested for marijuana-related crimes to
argue in court that they need it medicinally. If the judge agrees there
is a medical necessity, the maximum penalty allowed by law would be a
$100 fine.

* Nevada: Patients need a written document from a physician. Lists
various permitted illnesses, with others subject to state approval. The
legal limit is one ounce of usable marijuana and seven marijuana
plants. Sets up a state-run ID card program. Patients who do not join
the registry or who possess greater amounts of marijuana than allowed
by law may argue the "affirmative defense of medical necessity," if
they are arrested.

* Oregon: Patients must have a signed physician's recommendation and
the illnesses covered are listed, including Alzheimer's disease, with
other conditions subject to state approval. The limit is three ounces
of usable marijuana and seven plants. If a patient is arrested, he or
she must have been diagnosed by a physician at least 12 months before
the arrest to present a medical defense. Law enforcement agencies that
do seize marijuana plants aren't required to keep them alive.

* Vermont: Limit of two ounces of usable marijuana and three marijuana
plants. Certain illnesses are specified. The law also sets up a
state-run registry.

* Washington: Patients or their primary caregivers can possess or
cultivate no more than a 60-day supply of marijuana. Patients must
possess "valid documentation" from their physician. Lists specific
illnesses, with others to be approved by the state. Physicians cannot
legally prescribe marijuana; they only can advise its use. Marijuana
cannot be legally purchased and there is no identified legal way to
distribute it.

Sources: NORML Foundation, state sources