PROPOSED MEDICAL POT GUIDELINES FAIR, MERCIFUL

Proposition 215 was passed by a majority of California voters in 1996,
exempting patients with a doctor's recommendation from state laws against
the possession and cultivation of marijuana. The law places no limits on
the amount of marijuana a patient may possess or cultivate, but countless
cases have wound their way through California courts since the law's
passage, establishing amounts a jury will accept as reasonable for medical use.

When District Attorney Paul Gallegos took office, he reviewed those cases
and established reasonable, scientifically derived prosecutorial guidelines
in keeping with the surrounding counties of Sonoma, Mendocino and Del
Norte. On Jan. 1, California law SB 420 took effect, establishing more
restrictive state baseline amounts with the proviso that cities and
counties can enact overriding ordinances.

Humboldt County supervisors will vote today on an ordinance to do just
that. It has guidelines similar to Gallegos' and to the ordinance
introduced by Supervisor Rodoni late last year. At that time, the
supervisors appointed a task force to study the issue and make
recommendations to the board.

After hearing from law enforcement, the schools, probation, labor, hospice,
patients and caregivers, the task force compromised on a yearly guideline
of 3 pounds of dried marijuana per patient. Patients had asked for 6 pounds
(based on the amount the federal government supplies to patients in a
research program); caregivers asked for 4.5 pounds and were willing to
compromise as low as 2 pounds; and law enforcement and the schools never
budged from the SB 420 minimum guideline of 8 ounces.

Rather than setting a guideline for the number of marijuana plants that can
be grown, the task force recommended a maximum 100-square-foot plant canopy
for cultivation. This figure is based on DEA studies that have determined
it is growing area, not plant numbers, that best determine yield.

Four out of five amendments recommended by the schools were adopted by the
task force and appear in the proposed ordinance. These reaffirm protections
in SB 420 against marijuana use within 1,000 feet of schools, and allow
schools and colleges to set policies of their own. The ordinance states it
does not require places of employment to accommodate medical marijuana use,
and it does not authorize a patient to use medical marijuana while in a
motor vehicle that is being operated, or in any place where smoking is
prohibited by law.

Sheriff Philp has said that his deputies are continuing to enforce the
district attorney's original guidelines, which match the pending
ordinance's, until such time as the board takes action on the matter.
Apparently, allowing patients these amounts has not adversely impacted
public safety. In fact, it might improve it, by allowing law enforcement to
focus on violent crimes instead.

On July 1, a jury in Eureka acquitted a local man on sales charges and
failed to convict him on possession charges after he grew 108 plants for
medical use. Since police seized the man's plants, he potentially has
grounds for a lawsuit against the county for the cost of his lost property
and court costs.

In a situation where the county is facing an $8.4 million budget shortfall,
and we are forced to cut home health care for the elderly, mental health
services for children, drug and alcohol treatment programs, and library
hours, it makes sense to conserve our resources by leaving small-time
medical marijuana growers alone. The best way to do that is to enact this
ordinance. If the board does not act, we will be stuck with SB 420's
arbitrary plant numbers of 6 mature or 12 immature plants, leaving
legitimate patients subject to harassment and the county wide open to
litigation.

The American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Bar Association,
the American Nurses Association, and the American Public Health Association
all support medical marijuana, as do the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical
Lutheran Church, the National Council of Churches, the National Progressive
Baptist Convention, the Presbyterian Church, the Union for Reform Judaism,
the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and
the United Methodist Church.

SB 1494, a bill awaiting signature by Gov. Schwarzenegger, makes clear that
no governmental body has the constitutional authority to limit the amount
of marijuana a patient may possess or grow for medical use. The issue is
not how much patients can have. The issue how much they can have without
having to come to court to justify it. The ordinance before the board is a
practical and merciful one, and it should be adopted for the good of all in
the county.