cannabisnews.com: State Sets Marijuana Standards





State Sets Marijuana Standards
Posted by CN Staff on October 15, 2003 at 16:24:18 PT
By Amy Lindblom and Mike Morris
Source: Union Democrat
Beginning Jan. 1, both Calaveras and Tuolumne county will use the same guidelines to enforce medicinal marijuana laws. On Sunday, out-going Gov. Gray Davis signed Senate Bill 420, which sets a statewide standard for the minimum number of pot plants a chronically ill person can maintain for personal use. As of next year, the statewide standard will allow patients six mature, 12 immature marijuana plants at any given time, and up to a half pound of processed marijuana.
Sick people have been allowed to use marijuana with a doctor's recommendation since the 1996 passage of the Compassionate Use Act. The law however, never set guidelines on the appropriate number of plants a person can have. So the allowed limit set by law enforcement and judicial officials in each of California's 58 counties varied. For example, Del Norte, Sonoma and Humboldt counties allow 99 plants per person, and Marin has no limit. Calaveras County supervisors adopted a six-plant, 2-pound limit in 2000. But Tuolumne County law enforcement and the District Attorney's office set a three-plant, half-pound limit. Stanislaus, Alameda, Fresno, Mariposa, Merced and Madera among others, set no guidelines. That left law enforcement officials in those counties on their own to decide whether to arrest someone claiming the marijuana they were growing was for medicinal reasons. SB 420 does not stop counties from setting higher limits. "These guidelines are intended to be the threshold, and not a ceiling," said Sen. John Vasconcellos, who co-authored SB 420. Reaction to the new guidelines is mixed in the two foothill counties. Vallecito resident Bill Harrison, 53, said he uses marijuana to combat the effects of serious vertigo, chronic rib pain and nausea brought on by more than 20 years of hard physical labor as a landscape contractor. He said he is permanently disabled and can only control his pain by smoking and ingesting marijuana. "When you're in bed, sick and throwing up, thank God there's marijuana," Harrison said. Harrison said his San Andreas doctor told him he could grow as much marijuana as he needed. Source: Union Democrat, The (CA)Author: Amy Lindblom and Mike MorrisPublished: October 15, 2003Copyright: 2003 Western Communications, Inc.Website: http://uniondemocrat.com/Contact: letters uniondemocrat.comRelated Articles & Web Site:Americans For Safe Access http://www.safeaccessnow.org/Medical Marijuana IDs Go Statewidehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17563.shtmlDavis Signs Adjunct To Medical Pot Lawhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17562.shtmlFoes Protest Limits on Medical Pothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17561.shtmlDavis Signs Medical Marijuana Billhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17554.shtml 
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