MENDOCINO COUNTY TOPS IN PER-CAPITA MEDICAL POT

Issuance Of Authorization Cards Greater Than Any Other North Coast Registry

UKIAH -- Mendocino County Sheriff Tony Craver has issued 1,340 cards
allowing medical use of marijuana, a per-capita rate more than five times
greater than other North Coast marijuana registries.

Nearly half are patients of a single pediatrician, who has received
Craver's approval on more than 600 applications without authorization of
the county Public Health Department and contrary to the sheriff's own
guidelines.

Mendocino County has granted cards to about 1.5 percent of its population
of 88,000, a rate greater than other counties with similar programs,
including Marin, Humboldt and Del Norte, and greater than San Francisco
which grants cards to users outside the county.

Craver, a vocal supporter of medical marijuana use since he first
campaigned for sheriff in 1998, helped draft the policy that provides for
the cards, which shield medical marijuana users from local prosecution.

In Mendocino County, applicants need a recommendation from their doctor,
approval from the county's public health officer and authorization from the
Sheriff's Office, which issues cards allowing people to have up to two
pounds of marijuana in their possession.

The multiagency process makes Mendocino County unique. In other counties,
public health departments are responsible for reviewing and approving
applications, and issuing cards. Sonoma County doesn't have a card program,
but allows users authorized by a panel of doctors to have up to three
pounds of marijuana.

Craver emphasized that the public health department's involvement in
Mendocino County's program gives it "credibility."

But he said he will continue to issue cards directly to patients of Dr.
Richard White of Mendocino, who sees patients at medical marijuana clinics
in Ukiah and Fort Bragg. White is the only one of about 16 doctors in the
county whose patients receive medical marijuana cards from the Sheriff's
Office without public health authorization.

Dr. Marvin Trotter, the county public health officer, first refused to
consider applications from White when he received about 50 in a two-week
period in the spring of last year. Trotter said he is troubled by the
volume of applications and White's focus on seeing people who want marijuana.

"I made up this program to co-sign these cards so that this wouldn't be a
fraudulent program. It's for doctors and patients who fear prosecution,"
said Trotter. "I wasn't comfortable to give the stamp of legitimacy of
public health to someone who didn't meet the spirit of the policy."

Trotter said he receives about 20 applications a month from patients of
about 15 other county physicians in the card program.

White, a longtime Mendocino coast pediatrician who began seeing patients
requesting marijuana as treatment in 1999, said he believes in the
medicinal value of marijuana for a wide variety of ailments and is
confident in recommending its use.

"It's not like I am pulling people off the street," White said about his
popularity with medical marijuana users. "They must be willing to see me."

Craver views the issue as a medical one. "If he (White) believes that these
people would benefit from the consumption of marijuana, then they have a
legitimate right to have marijuana. I can't challenge that," Craver said.
"As a sheriff, I am not playing doctor or engaging in the medical field."

The cards are a response to voter approval of Proposition 215, the 1996
initiative that legalized marijuana for the sick. The Legislature and the
governor have been unable to agree on statewide regulations to implement
the proposition, leaving individual counties and cities to struggle with
ways to carry out the mandate.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which has helped bring charges
against medical marijuana growers and distributors throughout California,
views the card programs as a legal cover for drug traffickers.

"We are against those registry cards because they give people a false sense
of immunity," DEA spokesman Richard Meyer said. "Some people think because
they have the cards, they are immune from prosecution. That is not the case."

A state Senate bill that passed last week would create a statewide card
program. The bill, by state Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, would
put county health departments in charge of carrying out the voluntary card
program.

Mendocino County is considered a pioneer in implementation of Proposition
215. About two dozen counties and cities have created policies, though they
vary widely and most of them deal only with the amount of marijuana a
person may have and grow.

Pebbles Trippet, an Elk resident and co-founder of the Medical Marijuana
Patients Union, praises the card program. She is a patient of White's and a
cardholder.

"The program is vital to people who otherwise might find police and sheriff
deputies acting as though there was no change in law," said Trippet, who
uses marijuana to prevent migraine headaches. "I think the program is
exemplary."

Mendocino County's program protects people with medical marijuana cards
from arrest as long as they are not caught growing more than 25 plants or
possessing more than two pounds of processed marijuana.

Because the cards are not mandatory, anyone who can show a legitimate
recommendation from a doctor also could avoid arrest, Craver said.

About 1.5 people per hundred are now enrolled in Mendocino County's registry.

Humboldt County, which began its program two years ago, has the state's
second-highest registry rate, with about 0.4 participants per 100
residents. The year-old program in Del Norte County has 0.2 cardholders per
100 residents.

Although the card issuance rate is high in Mendocino County, other
jurisdictions have given out more cards overall.

San Francisco, which also issues cards to residents of Marin, Sonoma, San
Mateo, Solano and Santa Clara counties, has issued more than 7,500 cards
since 1999. The actual number of cardholders is lower because the county
gives a new card with a new ID number for every renewal.

The private Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative has issued nearly 20,000
cards since 1996, but it takes applications from throughout the state.

Because of privacy concerns, information is limited on Mendocino County's
registry, making it difficult to determine why the county's rate is so high.

County health officials said there is no known spike in any illness that
would account for more extensive use of marijuana for medical reasons in
Mendocino County than elsewhere.

Neither the Health Department nor the Sheriff's Office keeps records on
what ailments are being treated.

Officials say the purpose of the program is to protect legitimate users and
doctors from arrest. Keeping detailed records isn't required by law and
would expose the county to subpoena by agencies that don't recognize
marijuana use for medical reasons, they said.

Craver and medical marijuana advocates believe the large number of
applicants is a sign that Mendocino County users and their growers are more
comfortable letting law enforcement agencies know who they are than are
users elsewhere.

Supporters of medical marijuana said the county's tolerant attitude toward
marijuana in general has cultivated the right environment for encouraging
its use as a health remedy.

"Because there is more familiarity with marijuana in Mendocino than
anywhere else, more people are more aware of the medical effects," said
Dale Gieringer, coordinator of the California chapter of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

"I wouldn't be surprised if people are retiring up there because of it,"
Gieringer said.

The range of medical marijuana users has expanded from mostly cancer and
AIDs patients in the mid-1990s to now include people suffering from chronic
pain, said Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland cooperative.

The federal government has waged high-profile court battles against
suppliers in Oakland and elsewhere in the state.

A case aimed at shutting down the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative in
2001 reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled the club couldn't sell or
otherwise distribute marijuana.

In January, Ed Rosenthal, a well-known medical marijuana grower who
supplied pot under authorization from the city of Oakland, was convicted of
cultivation and conspiracy.

A federal judge sentenced Rosenthal last week to one day in prison, a
sentence that medical marijuana advocates hailed as a sign that the
judiciary in California views federal prosecutors as too zealous.