cannabisnews.com: County Officials Re-evaluate Marijuana Policies 










  County Officials Re-evaluate Marijuana Policies 

Posted by CN Staff on October 15, 2003 at 20:41:09 PT
By Maline Hazle, Record Searchlight 
Source: Record Searchlight  

An attempt to clarify California's Compassionate Use Act will change protocols adopted by Shasta County law enforcement three years ago as police and prosecutors grappled with enforcement of Proposition 215. The new rules are included in S.B. 420, which was signed into law Sunday by Gov. Gray Davis and takes effect Jan. 1.The law will require Shasta and other counties to allow a minimum amount of processed marijuana and plants that a medicinal user can possess and also creates a voluntary state identification card program for medical marijuana users.
Shasta County guidelines now allow patients to possess 11/3 pounds of processed marijuana or two outdoor plants or six indoor plants, three of them mature and three immature.The state law will change that to eight ounces of dried pot and six mature or 12 immature plants per patient and allows counties to raise those limits based on patient need. It also specifies that counties and cities may retain or enact guidelines exceeding the state limits.Though the amount of dried marijuana is smaller under the state guidelines, the new law allows patients to possess plants and processed pot at the same time.But neither law sits well with the authors of Proposition 215."We hate this bill, everything about it," Proposition 215 author Dennis Peron wrote on a Web site before S.B. 420 was adopted. Peron sent a letter to Davis urging him to "stop this bill before it reaches your desk."Peron predicted that the "medical marijuana registry bureaucracy" included in the bill will be used against patients, with DEA agents seizing state files to go after marijuana and patients under federal law.Conversely, the Marijuana Policy Project, a lobbying group, hailed the new law as "a major milestone for marijuana policy reform in California," praising the protection the optional identification card system offers to patients and their caregivers.Local authorities said they will wait to see how the law trickles down."Obviously, any help from the Legislature to clarify guidelines is welcome," said District Attorney Jerry Benito. But he said he'll need to watch and see whether the law really changes anything.Undersheriff Larry Schaller acknowledged that the identification cards could be controversial and that the new guidelines allow a patient to possess more pot than rules adopted by county law enforcement."This particular law isn't going to satisfy everyone, but at least from law enforcement standpoint it gives us some guidelines," he said.Redding Police Chief Leonard Moty said he'll look to the state attorney general's office for guidance on how to enforce the new law, then meet with Benito."If he indicates he's not going to prosecute anymore, there's no sense in arresting them," he said.Moty said he is worried that condoning medical marijuana sends a mixed message about drug use to kids."I don't think the law is necessarily a good thing," he said, adding, "Our role is to enforce, not to make laws, but the waters are getting pretty murky with different signals."Depending on the demand for identification cards, it could be county health department chief Marta McKenzie whose department is most affected by the new law.Her department or another health agency designated by the Board of Supervisors will be charged with processing applications, checking them for accuracy and issuing cards that are good for a year.McKenzie said she's reluctant to have her department involved with medical marijuana regulation."It's certainly not a preventative health issue," she said. "But if the board wants us to do it, we will."Source: Redding Record Searchlight (CA)Author: Maline Hazle, Record SearchlightPublished: Wednesday, October 15, 2003Copyright: 2003 Redding Record Searchlight - E.W. Scripps Contact: letters redding.com Website: http://www.redding.com/ Related Articles & Web Site:Marijuana.orghttp://www.marijuana.org/State Sets Marijuana Standardshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17583.shtmlDavis Signs Anti Prop 215 Medical Marijuana Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17569.shtmlFoes Protest Limits on Medical Pothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17561.shtml

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