COUNTY SUED OVER MARIJUANA PROGRAM

The county's policy of issuing medical marijuana cards only to people who
have prescriptions from Mendocino County physicians has yielded a lawsuit.

The plaintiffs say they're after equal treatment.

County officials say they may get equality, but it could be in the form of
an abolished program.

The lawsuit was filed by Andrea Nagy and Julian Gonzalez, who moved here
last year, and a Berkeley physician, Todd Mikuriya. They claim the county's
policy is unfair both to patients and to doctors' businesses.

"Every qualifying patient should have" a card, Nagy said.

While she and her boyfriend, Gonzalez, are protected by their medical
marijuana prescriptions under Proposition 215, they say they want the added
safety of having a county card, especially when they start growing their own
marijuana.

The card, Nagy noted, often means police will simply check their records
when they get a report of marijuana being grown. That means patients may not
even be contacted, much less harassed, she said.

Nagy, who suffers from migraines, said she and Gonzalez, who's disabled,
don't want to have to switch physicians theirs are in Southern California in
order to get county cards.

"We both have parents down there. We go down there every month or every
other month," she said, explaining why she'd keep her long-distance doctor.

Mikuriya, according to the lawsuit, claims unlawful interference with a
business practice. The county's law effectively prevents him from having
Mendocino County medical marijuana patients, he claims.

County Counsel Frank Zotter said there are a number of problems with the
lawsuit.

For one thing, public entities are not business establishments, he said.

For another, the county is not required to issue medical marijuana cards.
Sheriff Tony Craver and District Attorney Norm Vroman started the program in
order to save police and prosecutors time as well as prevent unnecessary
contact with, and possible harassment of, medical marijuana patients.

They enlisted the help of Public Health Officer Marvin Trotter to protect
physicians from possible harassment or prosecution by the federal
government, which still considers medical marijuana illegal.

Trotter says he participated as a favor to the county and local doctors, and
does not have time to check the credentials or reputations of physicians out
of the county.

"An essential part of the program is one of fraud," he said.

Trotter said he knows of physicians who rent a room at the Ramada Inn in
Santa Rosa, see 50 people at a time and dole out medical marijuana
prescriptions for a fee.

He said he does allow exceptions to the out-of-county rule on rare occasions
for patients who have cancer or AIDS and see specialists in another county.

Trotter said he otherwise only accepts in-county physicians' recommendations
because he knows who they are.

"Because I know the physicians in the community and can have contact with
them over their patients, I feel we have a legitimate program," he said.

At least for the most part.

Trotter said he rejects some local physicians' prescriptions because it
appears they don't have a medical relationship with the proposed card
holders. At least one physician, as a result, sends his requests directly to
Craver, who apparently has approved cards for those patients.

"The large majority of cards issued last year have not been with my
permission," Trotter said.

He plans to be equally firm about not approving prescriptions from doctors
he doesn't know.

"It ain't going to happen," Trotter said.

Craver could not be reached Friday or Saturday regarding his personal
issuance of medical marijuana cards. However, he left a message saying he
was dismayed by the lawsuit.

"It could possibly jeopardize the program that has served some 600 people to
a great deal of satisfaction because two or three people are unhappy with
how the program is run. They apparently want to shut it down for everybody
else," Craver said.

The lawsuit, filed by San Francisco lawyer David Nick, who specializes in
Proposition 215 cases, specifically accuses the county's policy of violating
the California Constitution's equal protection clause; unlawful interference
with a business practice; violation of the Compassionate Use Act; and
violation of the Tom Banes Act.