GROUP WANTS STATE TO HELP DISTRIBUTE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Federal Law Complicates Issue

Tired of the haze of legal issues surrounding the distribution of medical
marijuana, a medical rights advocacy group wants states to be directly
involved in the distribution of medical marijuana.

Americans for Medical Rights, the organization that sponsored Proposition
215--the medical marijuana initiative--is proposing a ballot measure to set
up a state-controlled network of medical marijuana distributors.

The proposal has drawn wide support from Berkeley marijuana users who are
likewise frustrated by legal complications resulting from the federal law
that bans the drug.

Although eight states have legalized medical marijuana, the cultivation,
sale and use of the drug remains illegal under federal law.

"We don't have a choice," said Gina Palencar, head of the initiative drive.
"Medical marijuana patients are not going to stop using marijuana for
medical purposes just because the federal government is trying to
criminalize them."

Widespread support is growing in Berkeley and on the UC Berkeley campus for
the initiative, which will likely be placed on the 2002 ballots in Oregon
and Washington, two states that allow marijuana use for medical reasons.

The group's ultimate goal is to put the initiative before California
voters, but it is using the other states as testing grounds.

The Berkeley City Council last spring completed the arduous task of
devising an ordinance for the use of medical marijuana to comply with
Proposition 215.

The ordinance, deemed too conservative by medical marijuana proponents in
the amount of marijuana patients can possess, is generous compared to
ordinances adopted by other California cities.

"Medical marijuana and legal access to medical marijuana is one of the most
agreed upon of sensible drug policies--it's a common ground," said Scarlett
Swerdlow of Students for Sensible Drug Policy at UC Berkeley.

Swerdlow added that it would only be a first step in a more open discussion
on drug policy.

"Ultimately, the federal government needs to change its policy," she said.
"It doesn't make sense to send anyone, sick or healthy, to jail for using
marijuana."

By having cannabis distribution facilities that are operated and run by the
state, a showdown between the states and the federal government is almost
certain.

The Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Cooperative, a large marijuana distribution
group popular with some Berkeley residents, went head-to-head with the
Supreme Court earlier this year and lost. The club stopped distributing
marijuana in May, after a two-year court battle.

Americans for Medical Rights, a Santa Monica-based group, is not pushing
the ballot measure in California because it would be too expensive to
conduct a campaign here, Palencar said.

As proposed, the measure would allow the state to distribute marijuana in
one of two ways. One proposal calls for the state to cultivate cannabis on
private farms. That cannabis would then be distributed by state-operated
distribution facilities.

The other proposal would have the state acquire the cannabis from
Mississippi, where the federal government grows it for research purposes.

There has been a long and involved effort on the part of the California
legislature to finalize a legitimate system of distribution.

State lawmakers recently passed a bill that would have recognized the
distribution centers under California law and established an oversight
framework. But Gov. Davis did not sign the bill into law, Palencar said.