cannabisnews.com: Stockton Man Wants Medical-Marijuana Site Stockton Man Wants Medical-Marijuana Site Posted by FoM on July 23, 2000 at 11:26:50 PT By Dogen Hannah, Record Staff Writer Source: Stockton Record Most mornings Michael Lang rolls out of bed, pours himself a cup of coffee, sits on his couch and lights a joint. The 41-year-old Stockton resident broke his neck nearly a decade ago, and still suffers daily aches and numbness from bone spurs, bad discs in his back and arthritis. Smoking marijuana, he said, relieves pain and enables him to forgo nearly a dozen prescription medications with unwanted side effects. But Lang doesn't have any legal local source for the drug. So he last week told county supervisors that he wants to open a store-front marijuana dispensary in Stockton, possibly by September. Lang is working with the San Joaquin Medical-Marijuana Association, a branch of a nationwide organization. He also has invited the county to establish a task force that would establish ways for law-enforcement officials to determine if someone is lawfully possessing, selling or growing marijuana. "Man, I'm tired of having to drive to either the Bay Area to get my medicine or ... to Sonora Street and get it on the black market," Lang said. "It's the state law here. It has been for four years. Everybody's dragging their feet." California's Compassionate Use Initiative, enacted in 1996, enables physicians to recommend -- but not prescribe -- that their patients use marijuana to treat chronic pain, cancer, anorexia, AIDS, glaucoma, arthritis and more. The law allows people with such a recommendation to have and grow marijuana. Law enforcement agencies in the state generally have followed the law's letter and spirit, despite the federal government's ongoing legal challenges. Medical-marijuana advocates in some cities even have established marijuana dispensaries, in some cases with the cooperation of public officials. Now, advocates are pushing to make marijuana legally, readily and safely available in San Joaquin County for the first time. Officials with the District Attorney's Office and Stockton police said they largely haven't had to consider such questions. People caught with the drug rarely have claimed it was for medical use, and nearly all of those claims never were proved true, they said. Seizure Medication: That's not exactly the case, however, with Stockton resident Michael Gotschall. The 36-year-old Stockton resident pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges of selling marijuana and now is serving a 240-day jail sentence. But Gotschall also had a doctor's authorization to use marijuana -- a fact that Deputy District Attorney Todd Turner said investigators verified. In court and in an interview with The Record this week, Gotschall said a doctor recommended that he smoke marijuana to control seizures resulting from a head injury he received in a severe beating years ago. Marijuana is more effective and has fewer side effects, Gotschall said, than prescription medications he has taken. Gotschall said he initially used only marijuana. Disabled by the seizures, Gotschall said he began selling the drug to earn money to buy marijuana here and from an Oakland dispensary. Some people he sold marijuana to used it for medical reasons, though none had a doctor's authorization, he said. Turner discounted the claim that the marijuana was only for Gotschall's use, noting that investigators found scales and other drug-selling paraphernalia in his apartment. Still, Superior Court Judge Richard Guiliani has allowed Gotschall to have up to an ounce of marijuana at a time, provided he has a doctor's recommendation, as a condition of his five-year probation. "I was grateful," Gotschall said of the judge's decision. He wondered whether other judges and law enforcement officials are as open to the use of medical marijuana. The proposal to establish a marijuana dispensary in Stockton may move that question to the foreground. Law-enforcement officials said they generally won't arrest someone who can prove they have a doctor's permission to have marijuana. "The way we would look at these issues is, first and foremost we don't want to be overly officious," Sheriff's Office spokesman Steve Van Meter said. "At the same time, we don't want to make a sham of existing laws (against the use, growing and sale of marijuana)." Sheriff's officials have decided to write guidelines to be used in evaluating such cases, Van Meter said. The guidelines could cover things such as how much marijuana a person could use or have at one time and how to establish whether a person using or possessing marijuana is doing so legally. Lang said medical-marijuana advocates here plan to issue identification cards to people who have a doctor's recommendation. Law-enforcement officials said they generally consider such cards, used by marijuana dispensaries in other counties and cities, as proof that a person is authorized to use marijuana. Legal Smoke and Caregivers: But it's less clear if an organization may legally sell marijuana to patients, law-enforcement officials said. The 1996 initiative allows patients or their "primary caregivers" to have and grow marijuana. It's unclear whether patients could designate an organization, such as those running marijuana dispensaries, as their primary caregiver, Assistant District Attorney Jim Willett said. "We believe in the compassionate use of marijuana," Willett said. "But there's an issue of whether pot clubs qualify as primary caregivers." Federal prosecutors have vigorously challenged marijuana clubs. This week, however, medical-marijuana advocates won a victory when a federal judge cleared the way for an Oakland club to distribute marijuana for medicinal purposes, saying the government hasn't proved why seriously ill patients should be denied the drug. Legal challenges are likely to continue, however. For Lang and other advocates the most difficult task may be persuading area public officials and residents of the need for a marijuana dispensary and that it would be a bona fide operation. No one knows how many area residents would use a dispensary, Lang said, but those that would currently have no option but to buy it legally in the Bay Area or illegally here. And few people have the knowledge or wherewithal to grow their own marijuana, he added. "People think you throw some seeds in the ground and six months later you've got some marijuana," Lang said. "I'm not able to go out here and make aspirin. I don't have the knowledge or the laboratory." Plans to open a dispensary here have piqued the interest of Rose Sanchez. The 52-year-old Stockton resident said she has been disabled since 1983 with a variety of back problems and is leery of continuing to take prescription painkillers and muscle relaxants three times daily. Those drugs make her nauseous and groggy, she said, and she fears long-term use could cause liver damage. Sanchez said she's heard that marijuana may ease her pain and plans to talk to her doctor about getting a recommendation to use it. But she said she doesn't know how she could legally get and use marijuana, even with a doctor's permission. "Now, I'm kind of afraid to try it because I don't want to get caught under the influence," Sanchez said. "It scares me." Changing public perceptions is critical to opening and successfully running a marijuana dispensary, Lang said. Plans call for it to be a tightly controlled environment with security guards and locked doors. Patients would not be allowed to use marijuana on the premises. "Everybody remembers the '60s and the Haight-Ashbury and peace, love, flowers, baby," Lang said. "We're not creating a party place. ... (The dispensary) is not a bar. It's just like going to a pharmacy. You don't sit at the pharmacy and eat up your pills." * To reach reporter Dogen Hannah, phone 546-8273 or e-mail: dhannah recordnet.com Published: Sunday, July 23, 2000 Copyright © 2000 The RecordRelated Articles & Web Site:Compassionate Use Act of 1996 - Chronologyhttp://www.drugsense.org/CCUA/chrono.htmlS.J. Pot Laws Ignore Ailing, Advocate Says http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6215.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: