MBC CANNABIS GUIDELINES ROUTED TO LIMBO

Contains Bureaucratic Language.

Linda Lucks was appointed in 2001 by Gray Davis to one of the
member-of-the-public seats on the Medical Board of California. A year ago
Lucks agreed to serve on an MBC task force that, with input from
representatives of the California Medical Association, would draft
"practice guidelines" for doctors who approve cannabis use by their patients.

In mid-January of this year Lucks was asked by a reporter about the status
of the guidelines. She replied that a draft had just been agreed upon and
would be presented to the Board's Division of Medical Quality at its
January 30 meeting. In a terse, businesslike way, without revealing any
specifics, Lucks said that a lot of thought and discussion had gone into
the wording, that the task force had achieved a consensus, that she,
personally, considered the proposed guidelines "quite fair," and that she
thought both the MD members of the Board and the pro-cannabis doctors would
accept them without major changes.

So imagine Linda Lucks's surprise when the Jan. 30 DMQ meeting began with
Enforcement Chief Joan Jerzak asserting that the task force's "dialog has
raised several issues that need to be resolved before we can finalize the
final draft. We are also aware that a medical marijuana task force is in
place in another section of the Attorney General's office. We believe it is
critical that any draft that we develop at MBC be shared with the AG's
office, and we want to be able to have a monitoring of that other task force."

At the next Board meeting, Jerzak said, she hoped "to be able to provide
some kind of a final product for us to present to the committee as a draft
format."

Lucks said, "I'm very disappointed that we don't have that document today
for this committee to review. I wasn't really aware that it was going to
be circulated to the AG's office. I really was expecting to have it on the
agenda today, so I apologize to Board members and to the public who were
expecting to have something to look at... We've been working on this, and
working on this, and we came up with a draft document that I think is fair
to all the parties... It's just disappointing that we can't at least look
at it before it goes to the AG's office."

Jerzak then said, "We are monitoring what is happening in the other AG
section. But our own HQE deputy was not involved with some of the early
discussions -and we wanted to be able to include a representative from
Health Quality Enforcement." In other words, the task force needs input
from not one but two other sources.

Lucks: "Nobody told me, and I was on the task force. That's what I'm upset
about... In good faith, it was supposed to be on the agenda. And it's not.
And there are people here from the public who are prepared to discuss it
and I was prepared to proudly present a document for review and comments
and suggestions and criticism... Sandra Bresler and Alice Mead [CMA
representatives] and Ana Facio and Mary Agnes Matyszewski [Deputy AGs] all
agreed on a document, and I was very proud of it...."

"I'm sure that we can get a document circulated before the May meeting,"
said Jerzak. "It's not ready at this point."

Lucks, apparently not realizing that Jerzak had raised a second hurdle,
said, "Well, our document is ready -the document that Alice Mead worked on
is ready. It just hasn't been vetted, I guess, by the AG's office -or the
task force from the AG's office -isn't that what you're saying?"

Jerzak said no, she was "not sure it's in a final stage," citing "some
concerns that were raised" about the absence of input from the Health
Quality Enforcement unit

Lucks said, "No one's gotten back to me with any concerns that were raised.
I thought it was a done deal."

At this point committee chairman Ron Wender, MD, cut off the discussion.

Although Board Member Lucks sat on a dais looking down at staffer Jerzak,
the real power relationship is just the opposite. Lucks's appointment ends
after the Spring meeting, while Jerzak will continue to oversee the Board's
investigation of physicians, making the key day-in, day-out decisions. If
Arnold Schwarzenegger meant it when he said he was "for" medical marijuana,
he can prove it by reappointing Linda Lucks to the Medical Board.

Frank Lucido, MD, used the public comment session to refute the
interpretation of the Conant v. McCaffrey ruling that had been provided to
the Board by Deputy AG Matyszewski at the previous meeting (see C-Notes
11/12/03). In case you've just joined us, in 1997 federal judge Fern Smith
issued a temporary injunction on Dr. Conant's behalf to prevent federal
officials from threatening or punishing California doctors who discuss
marijuana as a treatment option with their patients. In 2000 federal judge
William Alsup made the injunction permanent. The Bush Administration
challenged the injunction. The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld
it. In October '03 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the 9th
Circuit decision -a highly significant step that made headlines. At the
Nov. 7 Medical Board meeting, Matyszewski advised Board members that,
despite any headlines they may have seen, the Conant ruling was
insignificant because California doctors would still be aiding and abetting
in the commission of a federal crime if they issued recommendations for
cannabis.

Lucido distributed to the Board an information packet including a letter
from Ann Brick, an ACLU attorney involved in the Conant case, confirming
that the 9th Circuit "specifically held that [s] doctor's anticipation of
patient conduct, however, does not translate into aiding and abetting, or
conspiracy."

As Lucido was addressing the Board, three lawyers seated behind him -Deputy
AG Beth Faber Jacobs, Med Board Counsel Nancy Vedera, and Enforcement
Monitor Julie D'Angelo Fellmeth-shook their heads and smiled
condescendingly. Board member Steve Alexander (who, like Lucks, is a non-MD
Gray Davis appointee) took notice and advised the staffers not to "smirk"
when members of the public were testifying. His term is about to run out, too.

Alexander said that although he was "a product of the '60s," he had never
smoked marijuana. He became aware of its medical properties when his father
was dying of cancer.

Alexander protested the mysterious disappearance of cannabis from the
agenda, which brought Ron Joseph, the Board's Executive Director, scurrying
up to the microphone to earnestly "accept responsibility." Which made me
wonder if Ron had been part of the est cult back in the '70s... It was one
of Werner Erhard's brilliant insights that "taking personal responsibility"
could negate the original screw-up while scoring you points for honesty.
Nowadays it's just part of the culture.

The Sanest Ad

The Drug Czar's anti-marijuana ad was arguably the sanest ad aired during
the superbowl. If a 13-year old is smoking marijuana unbeknownst to her
parents, of course they should talk.

Almost all the other ads were delusional and/or cruel, aimed at a
population that has been dumbed down to the level of five-or six-year olds.
A dog responds to the command "Bud Lite" and bites the crotch of a man
who's holding one, A man has a chimp on his back because he doesn't drive
the right car. A lizard-like alien recommends Fed Ex. A bear dresses up
like a man in order to buy Pepsi. "Evil" monsters grow sharp blades out of
their limbs. Cedric the Entertainer is subjected to bikini wax treatment.
Armies mass and charge at each other in a movie called "Troy." Tall
hoopsters enter a Chevy and turn into midgets. A ref gets yelled at by his
freaked-out wife. A bagpiper stands over a grate blowing steam up his kilt.
Mike Ditka plugs Levitra by throwing a symbolic football through a tire
hanging from a tree. (Will sales peter out when Mike has his next heart
attack?) Indescribable Gothic weirdness to plug a CBS show called Crime
Scene Investigation. (There must have been a dozen CBS house ads,
indicating that their sales fell short; yet they wouldn't show a MoveOn ad
decrying the federal budget deficit). Soldiers mass and charge in a movie
called "The Alamo." Furniture gets thrown from the back of a truck into
the path of an approaching car. A woman is taken out for a romantic
candlelight sleigh ride and the horse farts, blowing flame into her face,
searing her hair. A quarterback sensuously strokes the toilet paper draped
over the butt of the center crouched in front of him. Girls in bathing
suits play volleyball in the Arctic ice. A writer is haunted by
supernatural forces (upcoming movie). Kids say "Holy sh-" when they see the
new Chevy. An old man trips an old woman to get Lay's potato chips... And
it's not even halftime yet!

Our hopes were raised by an H&R Block ad featuring a "Willie Nelson Advice
Doll." But it didn't make much sense-the doll advises ol' Don Zimmer to get
into another brawl.... NORML has produced a public-service radio spot in
which, after a few bars of "On the Road Again," Willie advises the
government to stop arresting responsible marijuana smokers. Maybe next year
the Drug Czar could hire the Willie Nelson Advice Doll to talk to the
teenage girl.