cannabisnews.com: DA Unveils Expansive Medical Pot Policy DA Unveils Expansive Medical Pot Policy Posted by CN Staff on January 29, 2003 at 07:44:38 PT By James Tressler, The Times-Standard Source: Times-Standard Eureka -- Humboldt County medical marijuana patients would be allowed to grow substantially more pot under District Attorney Paul Gallegos' new proposed marijuana prosecution guidelines.Under the proposal, patients would be able to have 99 plants, or a maximum of a 100-square-foot growing area, indoors or outdoors. These limits would allow patients to have a supply of up to 3 pounds of dried marijuana buds per year, Gallegos said Tuesday. The new guidelines, currently being reviewed in draft form by area law enforcement agencies, are far more liberal than was allowed by Gallegos' predecessor, Terry Farmer, who allowed medical marijuana patients to have 10 plants.The policy would also seem to send a message to local law enforcement officials, some of whom have remained skeptical of the medical benefits of using marijuana and have arrested medical marijuana patients.In a telephone interview from Oxnard on Tuesday, Gallegos said his hope is that the policy provides practical, consistent guidelines for both law enforcement and medical marijuana patients."We need an easy criteria to deal with so we're not second-guessing ourselves," Gallegos said. "Something that provides predictability for growers, as much as we could, on what they're allowed to do and what law enforcement can do -- minimize the gray area."We're interested in not inhibiting people from growing," Gallegos continued, referring to the limits. "What we want to do is have some way of capping off yield because at some point yield will exceed consumption, which means they'll either have to destroy the excess or it will end up in the market, which is illegal."The biggest hurdle the policy must clear in the next few weeks is the rest of the law enforcement community, which over the years has remained sharply divided over the issue of medical marijuana.At times, medical marijuana patients have been unfairly arrested and their plants seized by police, some have charged. On the other hand, police have maintained that some medical marijuana users abuse their privileges and engage in illegal activities.Lt. Randy Mendosa, soon-to-be interim chief of the Arcata Police Department, said he simply hopes to have a clear policy, especially on murky issues such as transportation of marijuana and whether patient caregivers can possess the drug."We've gotten fairly comfortable the past few years in doing this, trying to maneuver the law and make it work," Mendosa said. "But we rely heavily on the DA to guide us through less clear parts of the law."There are people who are familiar with the law; people who think they're familiar but aren't; people familiar yet who try to put different spins on it to make it work for their own interests."I'm not going to make any judgments on what's radical or not," Mendosa said. "We need to follow his lead because he's the chief law enforcement officer of the county."Fortuna Police Chief Kent Bradshaw said he hasn't looked at Gallegos' proposal in detail, but when told Gallegos planned to allow up to 99 plants, said that a lot more discussion will be needed over the next few weeks.Meanwhile, his officers will continue to investigate and arrest suspected illegal marijuana users and growers as they always have, the chief said."I'm not going at odds yet with the DA, and hope I won't have to," Bradshaw said. "We need to really work together on this, we need to do the science -- what's needed, how much is an acceptable amount -- and come to some mutual understanding."The proposed policy would also bring Humboldt County's guidelines closer to Del Norte and Sonoma, which also allow up to 99 plants.Gallegos, who said he favors legalizing marijuana, also aims to relax prosecution standards in cases involving small amounts of non-prescribed, illicit marijuana use. The new district attorney said he wants instead to use more of the county's court time on methamphetamine cases.Despite apparent disagreement from some agencies, Gallegos said he's confident a consensus can be reached."I think we can," he said. "Everyone wants to do what's right. We're just juggling how to do that. People don't want to seem like they're condoning unlawful activity, being soft on crime."Some have the idea that it's a gateway drug. I don't share that opinion."Our war (on drugs) is causing the erosion of 4th Amendment rights. ... Marijuana doesn't have the social impact that even alcohol does. It probably would be better legalized and regulated like alcohol. But it's also important to keep it away from kids and to punish irresponsible conduct."It's important we distinguish between illegal and legal marijuana possession."The policy is likely weeks away from being finished, with Gallegos and other law enforcement officials both saying that they'll continue to work together on the final product.Source: Times-Standard (CA)Author: James Tressler, The Times-StandardPublished: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 Copyright: 2003 MediaNews Group, Inc.Contact: editor times-standard.comWebsite: http://www.times-standard.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmDA's 215 Policy 'a Work in Progress' http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15297.shtmlPot in Humboldt County: Climate Attracts Growershttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14518.shtmlPot in Humboldt County: Both Sides of The Story http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14509.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #15 posted by freddybigbee on January 30, 2003 at 12:22:18 PT: Medical MJ Does it strike anyone else as obscene that you have to be sick to use medical cannabis? What about prevention? If cannabis keeps a person healthy by breaking the cycle of chronic muscle tension (or mental tension for that matter) it is valuable medicine. To say that you have to wait until you are ill before using what could have prevented the illness is madness.But then the prohibition itself is madness. Healthy lifestyle and preventive medicine are the answers to the out-of-control medical monster. Eat well, exercise, act deliberately, and use herbs to stay healthy. *$&#^ the medical establishment. They're great with injuries, but useless on prevention. [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by FoM on January 29, 2003 at 16:50:27 PT JustGetnBy & The C-I-R-C-L-E This whole topic is interesting. So if a person could grow 25 foot tall plants and stay within a designated area and number of plants that should be fine. I know 25 foot plants is far fetched but the point I want to make is people, besides the benefits of medicinal cannabis, becoming a good gardener and making it a hobby could be a good and healthy experience. Sounds like a win win situation to me. [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by The C-I-R-C-L-E on January 29, 2003 at 14:58:05 PT Multiple patient gardens in 3/99/100 limits... Each county has adopted different standards.Sonoma does recognize 99 & 100 per patient in a garden, so 10 patients could grow 990 plants in 1000 sq ft, with each patient having no more than 100 sq ft and 99 plants to themselves. Other counties restrict the numbers on multipatient gardens out of fear of allowing massive farms with 100 patients and acres of cannabis. (OOOooo...how scary!)Of course, the twist is that once you grow a whole mess of plants, then the feds take notice and they don't care how many doctor's notes you wave in front of them - it's all conspiracy to grow more than 100 or 1,000 plants and everyone goes down together. Not my idea of helping people.In discussions with Chris Conrad, I knew the locals in my neck of the woods would freak out when I showed them SAN's request of no limit on multi-patient gardens as long as they all stick to the 3/99/100 rule. So I asked for NO garden over 99 plants no matter how many patients, but each patient still gets 100 sq ft. That way, if you're a good grower for yourself or as a "caregiver" and can help take care of 20 people with 99 plants then you have talent and deserve to help more people and have them depend on you for quality growing advice and meds. If on the other hand, your garden's 99 plants can only take care of 2 or 3 patients then your skills need improvement and you shouldn't have a lot of people dependent on the patch. Simple: never more than 99 plants no matter how many people. Everyone stays under the fed prison minimums and gardens stay small, encouraging growing talent which translates to healthier bud.What wasn't mentioned in the article is the Caregiver's Contract put out by SAN that assigns one person to grow for someone for a year if they can't do it themselves. [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by JustGetnBy on January 29, 2003 at 14:51:17 PT: FOM -- Double Space Yes! The guidelines set out by each Ca.county apply to each individual patient. It's really bizarre, the county I live in allows Two (2) outdoor plants, or Six (6) indoor plants,three in bloom and three in vegetative state. If I lived in either of two adjacent counties the amount would go up to 24 plants in one, and 99 plants in the other. They had a case recently on the big island in hawaii where three patients shared a house. The police raided them and took all plants over the amount allowed one patient. The police said that the plants were not labeled as to who owned them, therefore they were illegal. The patients started legal action against the county govt.and the board of supervisors intervened and had the police return the plants. I think if I lived with another legal medical grower I would label each plant with the mmj holders name, and a copy of the mmj Drs rec. Kind of simpilistic I know, but we are dealing with a simpilistic adversary. ...mean people should be court mandated to smoke a doobie.. [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by FoM on January 29, 2003 at 13:45:37 PT What about more then 1 patient in a home? Does the space and amount double if there are two medical marijuana patients in one home? [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by greek_philosophizer on January 29, 2003 at 13:38:51 PT: Thank you for the answers Thank you for the answers to my question.It sounds like I need a room with 100 square feet and ceilings 100 feet above the floor!!!( emoticon of amusement ) [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by JustGetnBy on January 29, 2003 at 13:00:49 PT: How Much? I believe it's up to 99 plants, in an area of 100 square feet maximum, whether grown indoors or out. This allows the grower to use many little plants ( Sea of Green) or a few large plants. Many indoor grown plants produce maximum yield in the sea of green method, however Federal sentencing laws are based on number of plants. Soooo... Sea of green could put you away for twenty years, and a few large plants a much lessor penalty, even though both methods would produce pretty much the same amount of finished product. ...mean people should be court ordered to smoke a doobie.... [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by The C-I-R-C-L-E on January 29, 2003 at 12:53:16 PT Allow me to elaborate... This policy is the result of a group called Safe Acces Now, or SAN, spearheaded by activist, author and cannabis court expert Chris Conrad. There are point people in each county (I am the one for mine) who are trying to get all of the CA counties, one-by-one, to adopt a consistent set of guidelines.As it stands now, once you drive accross CA, you traverse several different sets of guidelines. (I even have a copy of the city of Willows' police dept statement, saying they won't recognize ANY MMJ law!) The idea is to base the numbers on federal studies so they can't be disputed, and to allow for a quick easy field-encounter with law enforcement: count the plants and measure the canopy.The DEA did studies 10 years ago that showed a canopy of 100 sq. feet will always produce around 3 lbs of dried bud. The 99 plants limit is to avoid triggering federal mandatory minimums, and because before Bush the feds used to not touch gardens under 100 plants. (Times have changed. In one county, the feds busted a personal medical garden of 6 plants - against the wishes of the local District Attorney who had ordered his local officers to initially arrest any DEA agents that took the plants. He backed down.)The answer to "greek"'s post below is: you can grow no more than 99 plants for yourself AND the measured sum of the canopy of the plants cannot exceed 100 sq. feet. (SAN even provided easy charts to give police in order to have a quick estimate.)They're not picturing arresting a person with a 50 x 50 foot garden space who has one plant in one corner, one in another corner and a third plant way over there. It's the canopy of each plant that's measured. If you're growing a plant that has a canopy of 5x5 for 25 sq ft, then you'd better only have four plants growing. But if you break either of the parameters (99 plants or 100 sq ft) you better have some splaining to do.Again the guidelines are not laws, if someone has a proven medical need for more and a doctor backs up the usage claims, then they are legal.PS My county rejected the 3 lbs/99 plants/100sq ft idea in my meeting with the DA and cops last year. We have a 10 plant/2 lbs "guideline". Hope to see more adoptions of the 3/99/100 limits... [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Dark Star on January 29, 2003 at 08:03:25 PT Following the Law "The biggest hurdle the policy must clear in the next few weeks is the rest of the law enforcement community,"This can easily be taken care of by jailing LEO's that break the law, including DEA, if need be. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by greek_philosophizer on January 29, 2003 at 08:03:04 PT: 99 plants or 100 square feet? Is the limit a maximum of 99 plants AND 100 square feetor is it99 plants OR 100 square feet.In the second case I could have 99 plants on 1000 square feet, or 1000 plants in 99 square feet. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on January 29, 2003 at 07:49:52 PT Dried Marijuana Buds I think this is the first time I have seen the words dried marijuana buds used. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment