cannabisnews.com: Medical-Pot Advocates Say Lockyer Has Failed





Medical-Pot Advocates Say Lockyer Has Failed
Posted by FoM on April 23, 2000 at 05:56:16 PT
By Teri Sforza, The Orange County Register 
Source: Orange County Register
Before being sworn in as California's top cop, Bill Lockyer made fun of what he saw as his predecessor's stodginess. "I joke that there are days when I thought Dan (Lungren) had a copy of (the anti-marijuana movie) 'Reefer Madness' at home," Lockyer said.
Lockyer, a Democrat, promised to be a breath of fresh air in law enforcement, and to do something Republican Lungren refused to do: find a way to make Proposition 215, California's problematic medical-marijuana law, work.He formed a task force. It made recommendations. The recommendations became a bill in the Legislature. Hopes were high that there soon would be a fair and evenhanded way to apply Prop. 215 statewide, wiping out the uneven application that lets places such as Santa Cruz open medicinal-marijuana bed-and-breakfasts, while places such as Orange County sentence medicinal-marijuana activists to six years in prison.But today — more than a year after Lockyer took office, and more than three years after Prop. 215 passed — the Lockyer-inspired bill languishes in the Legislature, and little has changed. California is still a patchwork quilt when it comes to Prop. 215, and there's no equal protection under the law. Frustrated and impatient, some of Lockyer's supporters accuse him of reneging on a promise."He said he would enforce Prop. 215, and he hasn't," said Anna Boyce, a retired registered nurse from Mission Viejo who helped write the proposition."That's his duty," she said. "He is obligated. The law says that if you are a patient and you have a doctor's recommendation to use medical marijuana, you will be protected. He needs to tell all of law enforcement that this is the law, and not let each county and city do things differently."Boyce and many others want Lockyer to issue guidelines telling police and district attorneys exactly how to implement Prop. 215. Lockyer intends to do no such thing.Lockyer "was elected attorney general, not dictator," said spokesman Nathan Barankin.Lockyer voted for Prop. 215. He remembers the suffering of his mother, who died of leukemia at 50, and of his sister, who died from the same disease. "It didn't make sense to me that they could have morphine but they couldn't have marijuana," Lockyer said during a recent visit to Orange County.But Prop. 215 — while well-intentioned — was badly drafted, he said. "There clearly is a need for crisp state regulations and guidelines that will assist local agencies," he said last year.His strategy for achieving those crisp regulations: collaboration.From the beginning, Lockyer vowed to work with police, medical-marijuana advocates and the Legislature to clarify Prop. 215's ambiguities. He always intended to make the changes through the Legislature, said Barankin — and that's exactly what he's doing."Enforcing Proposition 215 requires a lot of cooperation between medical experts, law enforcement and government," Barankin said."What Bill Lockyer did, even before he was sworn in, was form a task force to think hard about what we could do to responsibly implement Proposition 215. The product of that process was legislation that is still being actively considered. ... It's our hope that the Legislature will smile upon that piece of legislation and pass it by Aug. 31, when the Legislature shuts down."But that legislation didn't pass last year. If it fails again this year, "We will have to regroup and determine what the next steps are," Barankin said.In the meantime, it's do-your-own-thing. Arcata and Oakland have passed laws allowing the distribution of medical marijuana. San Jose and San Francisco have taken big steps in that direction. A medical-marijuana distribution center is operating in West Hollywood. And Santa Cruz passed a law saying that anyone being treated for an illness "for which marijuana provides relief" can use marijuana without a doctor's recommendation.Orange County, however, has mounted stings against medical-marijuana activists, prosecuted them for selling the drug and sent them to jail.The Orange County District Attorney's Office said the cannibis club was a sophisticated cover for dealing marijuana.That just isn't fair, critics say."Lockyer continues to allow police in every city to make up their own rules," said J. David Nick, the San Francisco attorney who represented Santa Ana medical-marijuana activist Marvin Chavez, who was sentenced to six years in prison in 1999 and released April 14 on bail pending appeal."He could, and should, issue guidelines on how Prop. 215 is to be interpreted and enforced. He is the chief law enforcement officer. All sheriffs, district attorneys and police chiefs report to him. He has the authority to say, 'This is what you're going to do with Proposition 215 cases' — he does not need legislative approval to do that."Please send comments to: ocregister link.freedom.com Published: April 23, 2000Copyright 1999 The Orange County RegisterRelated Articles & Web Sites:Arcata Journalhttp://www.arcata.org/WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/The Compassion Flower Innhttp://compassionflowerinn.com/Oakland Cannabis Buyers Clubhttp://www.rxcbc.org/index.htmlI'll Have The Bellhop Carry Up Your Bags of Marijuana http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5484.shtmlSanta Cruz Council OKs Cultivation Of Marijuanahttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5476.shtmlActivist Freed in Medical Pot Case http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5403.shtmlChavez To Make Bid for Freedom http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5393.shtmlMed. Marijuana Crime in O.C. but not in Santa Cruz http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5392.shtml Pictures from The Compassion Flower Inn in Santa Cruzhttp://homepages.go.com/~marthag1/cfinn.htm CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtmlCannabisNews Articles On Attorney General Bill Lockyer & Prop 215:http://google.com/search?lc=&num=10&q=cannabisnews+lockyer+site:cannabisnews.comhttp://google.com/search?lc=&num=10&q=cannabisnews+prop+215+site:cannabisnews.com
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Comment #1 posted by Mark Tide on April 23, 2000 at 19:18:03 PT:
Good Heat On Mr. Bill
The Orange Co. Register (OCR) feels so strange. It's the proud, leading major daily paper (3rd largest circulation in Ca.), for supporting P215 and its implementation. Yet, the community (government, generally) which it serves is one the --worst-- on this matter. It's good to see the OCR living up to its well - deserved reputation as a voice of common sense and compassion, and its continued editorial pressure on AG Bill Lockyer.We have a good, relevant interview (from last Sept. - nothing's changed) with Nathan Barankin, posted up at Arcata Journal. We get him to wriggle very uncomfortably in his position as official apologist for Mr. Bill. It's worth a read for those interested.The real problem though, is that local political intransigence is very stubborn and powerful. And this reform truly needs to find an authentic home in each locality. The best path to follow is strategic and tenacious advocacy supporting prospects of limited instances of local government implementation programs, such as in Arcata, Oakland, Santa Cruz, etc. If only a few cities in Orange Co. were to step up to the task, the so called --orange curtain-- would lift on the matter. But courageous, compassionate city councilmembers can be extremely hard to find. I know that persons have given it some thought (me included).The hard fact is that plain old -- cultural familiarity -- with cannabis is more pervasive in Northern California. Southern Cal. culture is . . . different, and less competent to move this reform. Political balances there are shallower in the herb - honesty department.If anyone reading this in OC wants advocacy help on this subject, please send us email at link provided. We have been in close contact for many years with Editorial Board at OC Register, and have worked with Alan Bock (OCR's mighty spearchucker there) to help find answers. Perhaps something will break open. All we need is one courageous community to begin this process, a majority of councilmembers in just one city [ which one could it be ???] to take a stand for implementation.And FoM, Many Thanks for link within your text as well. Happy Earth Day, Passover, Easter, . . . and May Day soon coming up (pagan and workers holiday).
Arcata Journal
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