HED: A MANDATE FOR MISGUIDED POLICE ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Long Beach police don't get it. They just don't get it. Despite
otherwise outstanding service to the good people of Long Beach, the
Police Department continues its intolerance toward the sick and dying
in our community. Current LBPD policy requires that patients who use
medical cannabis be cited or arrested.

It's not the average rank-and-file officers, many of whom voted for
Proposition 215 (The Compassionate Use Act), that are the problem. The
command staff stands contrary to a change of paradigm involving
medicinal marijuana. Their rigid, uncompromising attitude blocks the
way. Plain and simple, they don't want to get it.

The June 15 council meeting was a prime example of their hard-hearted
indifference. Standing in for a conspicuously absent Chief Anthony
"the buck stops here' Batts, Deputy Chief Luna disregarded a plethora
of compelling testimony that swayed a compassionate city council. He
stubbornly refused to allow lawful patients any relief from the terror
inflicted upon them by a sadly out-dated zero-tolerance police policy.

He offered excuse after lame excuse in resistance to various inquiries
regarding existing policy and the possibility of change. His shameful
attempts to demonize cannabis and portray law-abiding disabled seniors
as hardened criminals in order to justify the department's stance
bordered on the ridiculous. Blaming a physician-recommended medicine
for the many crimes in this city is tantamount to saying that cars are
responsible for all traffic deaths and no one should be allowed to
drive them.

This flawed reasoning undermines any sense of validity. Moreover, it
makes the whole department appear insensitive, punitive and dogmatic.

In response, the venerable council wisely voted to enjoin these
guardians of public safety to create a policy within 91 days that
complies with California law. Considering it has been eight years
since the passage of Proposition 215, the time limit was more than
adequate.

Understandably, patients harbor a marked distrust for Long Beach
police. This has been fostered by the cavalier attitudes of upper
echelon about this issue. Since the passage of SB 420 last year,
spelling out clear guidelines, the Police Department has ignored the
impassioned pleas of individuals and various organizations.

While numerous cities and counties throughout the state have
implemented workable programs for legitimate patients, our police
administrators have been utterly derelict in their duty to provide
reasonable guidelines so that licit patients can remain law- abiding
citizens. Sadly, their delay has developed into a cruel travesty of
justice inflicted upon the ill and disabled.

Judging from past performance (or lack thereof), the main concern of
patients is that the authorities will attempt solely to patronize the
council. The administration may try to develop a minimalist policy
that may seem to follow the letter of the law but eludes the spirit of
the law. They might engage in a myriad of delay tactics and discourage
participation by the public or patient advocate organizations. They
may create guidelines that are totally reliant on a
governmentally-issued ID program that they know is currently
non-existent and may not be implemented in the near future. Or, they
could continue their course of strategic willful ignorance.

Another pertinent factor in this equation is the huge monetary deficit
that Long Beach faces. Arresting patients is not only costly for the
patients, but depletes city and county coffers as well. Furthermore,
this blatant violation of public civil rights and other laws that
protect the disabled has pushed the city onto a path toward litigious
jeopardy. Additionally, officers have been forced into a position of
personal liability. When law enforcement administrators are crying the
blues about budgetary restraints, they should be especially diligent
in spending scarce taxpayers dollars.

Hopefully, the Long Beach City Council will maintain due diligence and
do whatever is necessary to enforce their directive come Sept. 14. In
the meantime, how many more must die in senseless agony or suffer
needlessly, forgoing their right to choose a medicine that could ease
their suffering? How many will further deteriorate because they are in
fear of arrest and persecution from those who are supposed to uphold
the law and protect them?

Just as police expect citizens to obey all laws, so do citizens expect
the police to uphold all of them. It has been said that kindness and
compassion for the more vulnerable members of our society cannot be
mandated, but in the case of our misguided local law enforcement it
may be the only way. Then maybe they finally will get it!

Jun. 17:

- - Medical marijuana: moving forward Medical marijuana: moving
forward

L.B. aggressively tackles guidelines for medical marijuana.

We commend the Long Beach City Council's push toward a prompt change
in the police department's policy on medical marijuana. A change is
long overdue.

In an editorial Tuesday we encouraged the council to form a task force
that could study the issue and recommend guidelines for patients who
legally use marijuana as medicine, as San Diego has done. But if the
council can adopt a sound policy change more quickly without a task
force, that's even better.

Long Beach will find that San Diego has already done much work in this
area. The city's task force met for nearly two years on the medical
marijuana issue, conferring with patients, public policy experts,
district attorneys, law enforcement officials, and many others. The
task force also conducted a survey of doctors on possible approaches
to regulating medical marijuana in accordance with the voter-approved
state law, Proposition 215.

The policy ultimately adopted by the San Diego City Council was
immensely sensible.

The cornerstone of the plan is an ID card for patients, to be issued
by the city upon confirmed proof that the patient has been authorized
by a doctor to use marijuana for medical purposes. Patients' names and
addresses would be placed into a registry so officers could
immediately verify a patient's claim at any hour. Patients would be
required to renew the cards every two years.

San Diego's adopted guidelines allow patients to possess up to an
ounce of marijuana for medical use, and caregivers (which are also
narrowly and carefully defined and regulated) can possess up to two
ounces. Patients are allowed to grow up to 24 plants indoors, but
cannot grow them outdoors.

As Long Beach Deputy Police Chief Robert Luna said at Tuesday's
council meeting, police officers on the street have a hard time
differentiating between patients who have the right to use marijuana
legally and those possessing it illegally. That's exactly why an ID
card is needed. Officers in the field shouldn't have to assess the
validity of a doctor's note or try to subjectively decide whether or
not someone is sick.

A carefully regulated identification card would solve that problem,
and parameters on possession and cultivation would let patients know
exactly how much they can grow and store in their homes.

The current police policy, which calls for officers to arrest anyone
caught with pot and let the courts sort it out, is unacceptable.
Because of it, sick and elderly patients legally using marijuana under
state law have been subjected to humiliating, stressful and costly
arrests and trials. The policy also places an unnecessary burden on
the police and judicial systems.

Council members Dan Baker and Val Lerch deserve credit for bringing
this important issue from a citizens' advisory group to the council,
and helping to move it forward in a timely manner. Baker's request,
which was met with unanimous council approval Tuesday, ordered the
police department and city officials to return in September with a
policy change that upholds state law.

In September, the council must ensure that Long Beach's medical
marijuana patients no longer have to live in fear of arrest and
prosecution. There is no humane or remotely logical reason for this
unfortunate situation to continue.