COUNCIL SUPPORTS CLEAR MEDICAL MARIJUANA USE RULES

In response to pleas from users and patient advocates, the Long Beach
Police Department will review and likely revise its zero tolerance policy
regarding the use of medical marijuana.

Currently, officers treat potential medical marijuana cases the same as any
other narcotics case: seize the drugs and arrest or cite the suspected
offender.

Acting on complaints from medical users that this policy conflicts with
state law, Councilmen Dan Baker (Second) and Val Lerch (Ninth) brought the
issue to the council Tuesday.

"My concern is that we have had a state law on the books for eight years
and it is my strong belief that we have not been following that law," Baker
said.

California voters legalized medical marijuana in 1996 when they passed
Proposition 215, also known as the "Compassionate Use Act of 1996."
However, the initiative provided little in the way of rules for enforcement.

This year a new bill, SB 420, took effect, establishing guidelines for
Prop. 215. But patient advocates and law enforcement officials, often at
odds over the medical marijuana issue, agree that guidelines remain murky
for both sides.

Ultimately, the council asked the police department to return by Sept. 14
with a revised policy ready for implementation, but not before Baker and
Deputy Chief Robert Luna clashed over the timetable, with Baker wanting
more immediate action and Luna stressing the complexity of the issue.

"The Long Beach Police Department does not have an issue with anyone who
needs to use medical marijuana," Luna said. "But I could fill this room 10
times with victims of homicides and shootings because of narcotics,
including marijuana. It's a very serious issue."

Luna and others also noted that, like patients, police officers would
benefit from a clarified policy.

During about an hour of discussion, several members of the public made
heartfelt pleas for the use of medical marijuana.

"I become very angry when innocent victims afflicted with a dreadful
disease are denied anything that could ease their pain and suffering," said
Diana Lejins, whose mother died after battling liver cancer. "To
incarcerate these patients is a cruel travesty of justice."

Perhaps one of the most impassioned pleas came from Lerch, who recused
himself from voting on the issue because his wife suffers from multiple
sclerosis.

"Night after night I sit in my living room and watch my wife with extreme
muscle spasms and nothing relieves those muscle spasms," he said. "My wife
will probably not use medical marijuana but, damn it, she should have the
right to."

The SB 420 bill includes guidelines regarding how much marijuana patients
may grow and possess without being subject to drug arrests. The law allows
for six mature plants or 12 immature plants and up to one-half pound of
processed, dried marijuana.

Using these guidelines as minimums, counties and cities are allowed to set
their own policies. Los Angeles County lacks guidelines altogether.

A frequent source of conflict between medical marijuana users and law
enforcement is valid identification. Currently, the sole documentation for
medical marijuana usage is a doctor's note, which can only be used as a
defense in court, not at the point of arrest.

"Medical marijuana patients are out there in a position where they can be
arrested, taken out of their homes or the hospital and have to face court
proceedings to show they are legitimate users," said Bruce Margolin, a
defense attorney and director of the Los Angeles chapter of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

Luna argued that officers are often confronted with suspects who use
deception to avoid arrest. Without a better medical marijuana
identification system, those officers are hard-pressed to accept only a
doctor's note as legitimate proof of medical use.

"We have police officers making medical decisions," said medical marijuana
advocate Michael Barbee of San Diego. "In no other area do we ever ask
police to make those kinds of medical decisions."

Fourth District Councilman Dennis Carroll, a judge in LA, asked that in its
revised policy, the department recommend a better identification system.

One possible solution to the problem contained in SB 420 and mentioned by
some speakers at the council meeting is a state-coordinated medical
marijuana identification card system. Medical users would pay a
registration fee and voluntarily sign up for an identification number and
card from the county health department. However, some patient advocates
have questioned whether users will want to register because of privacy
concerns.

William Britt, who said he suffers from post-polio syndrome and other
ailments, stood at the podium with the help of crutches and applauded the
drug for easing his pain and allowing him to live a fuller life.

"I equate cannabis to these crutches," he said. "I can throw them away and
live without them, but I would live with a lot more pain. Cannabis allows
me to go out and do things."