cannabisnews.com: Law Fickle in Use of Marijuana Law Fickle in Use of Marijuana Posted by FoM on December 31, 2000 at 08:34:04 PT By Leslie Fulbright, Times Staff Writer Source: Contra Costa Times The 100 marijuana plants that once flourished under grow lamps in Mike Lee's Crockett home now sit, boxed and browning, in a police evidence locker. To Lee, a 52-year-old handyman, they are confiscated medicine for chronic gastritis, a condition he claims he has suffered for years, and one that calls for at least five joints a day. Detectives ran across the indoor garden and arrested Lee while investigating a fire in his building. They see the plants as contraband, figuring it is more marijuana than one man needs, regardless of his doctor's note."We look at it on a case-by-case basis. If there are just a couple of plants and they have a doctor's note, the cops allow them to keep it," said Jose Marin, a Contra Costa County deputy district attorney who handles felony drug cases. "But 100 plants is a lot more than we estimate someone would need."Lee's is one of a growing number of medicinal marijuana cases that have local authorities flying solo, without guidance from the state over how much marijuana is too much under Proposition 215. Four years after voters legalized marijuana for personal medical needs, marijuana smokers and the officers who arrest them now face widely different rules, depending on the county."Contra Costa County is not a pot-friendly place," said Lee. "So in the long term I think it may be better to move."He wouldn't have to move far. Twenty miles south, in Oakland, possessing 100 plants is considered reasonable for medical users.In most counties, however, marijuana growers and prosecutors continue to play a guessing game, and few cases make it to trial.Marin and other county prosecutors blame state officials for failing to agree on a standard for how to interpret Prop. 215, or even that a standard is needed. Marin readily admits he is no expert on how much marijuana patients need, and would welcome state guidelines.But, to the frustration of some local officials, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer in September told all the state's district attorneys that he had no intention of offering guidance on Prop. 215."This has always been a health debate and we need valid medical research" on how much different patients need before pursuing any guidelines, Lockyer said in an interview.In the meantime, a handful of counties have set off on their own, issuing identification cards for bonafide patients or setting standards for allowable quantities.In Oakland, a patient with a valid recommendation can have six pounds of marijuana or 144 plants in different stages. The amounts were suggested by a panel of advocates and approved by the City Council in 1998 as a guideline for indoor growers.In Mendocino County, a patient can possess 12 immature plants or six flowering plants, in addition to two pounds of ready-to-smoke cannabis. In Orange County, a person may keep two plants. That standard appears to be based on a bulletin issued in 1997 by former Attorney General Dan Lungren, a Prop. 215 foe who said anything over two plants is more than enough for personal use.It was the closest the state has come to a uniform directive. But Lungren is out of office, and Lockyer has scrapped that standard. The Attorney General's stance has frustrated many prosecutors and law enforcement, who claim the lack of clear direction has given the edge to flagrant violators."People say they are a caregiver for 10 people but they are growing 800 plants," said Contra Costa County sheriff's Detective Gary Gifford, who works in the narcotics unit. "I have seen crops that are worth anywhere from $100,000 to a quarter million," he said. "You serve a warrant and find several hundred plants and then are told they are a grower for medical marijuana patients. It is very frustrating."Prop. 215 legalized the possession and cultivation of marijuana by patients and their primary caregivers when use of the drug has been recommended by a physician. It did not establish what amount of the drug should be considered legal.The initiative also called upon the state and federal government to develop a plan for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all patients in medical need. But federal government challenges to medicinal-use measures in California and other Western states have drained much of the political will to develop uniform standards.The U.S. Supreme Court last month agreed to rule on the rights of medical pot users to violate federal drug laws because of overriding medical necessity. But that decision will do little to help prosecutors or police resolve a growing quandary: How much marijuana is too much?The consensus has been that implementing Prop. 215 is not realistic without state law to add specifics, said Larry Brown, executive director of the California District Attorney Association. "We are dealing with a terribly drafted law that is vague in the extreme. Everyone is working in the dark with a blank canvas," he said. "There are experts opining about how much a person needs. There are migraines versus terminal cancer. It is not an easy task. It is incumbent upon the Legislature to fix the problem."Lockyer agrees the best way to offer guidance is through legislation. Until that happens, he said he respects the communities that craft their own standards.Last year, Lockyer's office gathered a panel of law enforcement, doctors, lawyers and advocates to help fill in the gaps of Prop. 215. The group proposed a statewide registry system and suggested limits for minors and prisoners. It did not set guidelines on amounts of marijuana, suggesting those regulations be issued by medical professionals.A bill based on the panel's proposal, however, failed after Gov. Gray Davis announced he would veto it. Lockyer, who said he has seen ill family members prescribed morphine, but forbidden from using marijuana, said he is hamstrung by Davis' resistance."All I am asking him to do is fix this mess," Lockyer said. He plans to reconvene the panel and revive the bill in the new year.Robert Salazar, a spokesman for Davis, said the governor is opposed to medical marijuana and has no plans to endorse Prop. 215."There is a conflict between state law and federal law and the governor stands by the federal law," said Salazar. "Marijuana remains an illegal substance with or without Proposition 215." Some prosecutors said Lockyer is passing the buck, and could ease the confusion with simple statewide guidelines, regardless of legislation. Lockyer maintains it is neither legally necessary nor appropriate for him to set standards."It will just not be enforceable," he said.Brown, of the district attorneys association, said a number of jurisdictions "have bravely gone forward" to create a threshold of what is permissible. A few, like Santa Clara County, have issued zoning restrictions on marijuana distribution clubs. Prop. 215 is silent on whether marijuana clubs are permissible, and federal officials have taken a hard-line stance against the dispensaries, shutting them down in some cases.Santa Clara supervisors passed an ordinance restricting medical marijuana clubs to commercial industrial zones and set up an approval process that requires the county Public Health Department to verify every doctor's note approving the use."It is so onerous," said Assistant District Attorney Karyn Sinunu.If the police pick up someone with a pound of marijuana, prosecutors call the doctor to find out if they really prescribed the marijuana, Sinunu said. The county has had two cases where police returned marijuana to patients. It has never had a case go to trial."We would love to have guidance, equal protection and a uniform process," said Sinunu. "Until then, we have encouraged our cops to make the determination using their own judgment."Lockyer is right and we are right. If we had guidelines, at least individuals would be treated the same way. But it would not be binding. We need legislation," said Sinunu. "The big disparity comes in dosage. How much do they need?"In Mendocino County, part of Northern California's marijuana-growing heartland, District Attorney Norm Vroman said his office conducted vast studies on growing specifications and came up with an "educated guess."Vroman said the county has registered about 300 legitimate users, calling doctors to verify prescriptions. Patients receive identification cards from the sheriff's department.Along with setting a maximum quantity of marijuana, "having issued cards and guidelines for police greatly smoothed out our operation," said Vroman.San Francisco is another county that has approved medical marijuana patient cards. But others, like Contra Costa, refuse to go that route."That would be something the individual cities would have to do," said Marin.Marin said he handled about a dozen marijuana cultivation cases in 2000. In about half the cases, the suspects said they were growing for medical reasons. None has gone to trial."Most of them have pleaded guilty because they claimed to have a problem but didn't have any documentation," said Marin. "That leads me to believe they were not being truthful."Like Contra Costa, Alameda County has never seen a medical marijuana case go to trial since Prop. 215. And many counties that have taken such cases to trial have been disappointed by juries who side with the smoker."The idea was to keep the law as open as possible," said Marsha Rosenbaum, director of the Lindesmith Center, the drug policy reform organization that helped fund the Prop. 215 campaign. "It was written so it would be hard to get convicted. We would like law enforcement to just get off it and allow people to use it if they need it."In a closely watched case that ended this month in largely conservative Placer County, a jury deadlocked on marijuana possession charges against Steve Kubby, an activist who has been involved in the medical marijuana movement since the 1990s. He was arrested in January 1999 after authorities found 265 marijuana plants in his home.Some observers believe the case could set a standard for how many plants law enforcement will let a patient grow. Without legislation, only trial decisions can help govern what police and prosecutors do with medicinal marijuana cases, said Brown. If jurors can't convict, it sends messages not to prosecute, he said. Lockyer said one jury's opinion can't replace sound legislation."The Kubbys claim they need hundreds (of plants) and get off, but a district attorney in another county can still prosecute someone with 10 plants," Lockyer said. "That is not a good way to impose rules."Lockyer and others have called upon federal officials to change marijuana's classification under federal drug laws to permit a prescription under medical supervision. Such a change would remove the clash between federal law and Prop. 215.The U.S. Supreme Court is also expected to have an upcoming decision on the right to distribute marijuana based on medical necessity. "It's the 'I stole a boat, but it was to save a drowning man' defense," said Ellen Komp, an attorney at Lindesmith."They are breaking the law but they can do it to save someone else."Even if the court backs the argument, medicinal marijuana users would have to meet a much higher obstacle than the vague prescriptions of Prop. 215. It may not help people like Mike Lee, who awaits word on whether Contra Costa prosecutors will file charges against him."If I get my plants back, they will probably be dead," said Lee, "and if I were an AIDS patient, I would be dead, too, before this is resolved."Note: Growers, smokers and officers face different rules in different jurisdictions. Source: Contra Costa Times (CA)Author: Leslie Fulbright, Times Staff WriterPublished: Sunday, December 31, 2000Copyright: 2000 Contra Costa Newspapers Inc.Address: 2640 Shadelands Drive, Walnut Creek, CA 94598Website: http://www.contracostatimes.com/Feedback: http://www.contracostatimes.com/contact_us/letters.htmRelated Articles & Web Sites:TLC - DPFhttp://www.lindesmith.org/The Kubby Fileshttp://www.kubby.org/American Medical Marijuana Associationhttp://www.drugsense.org/amma/Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Cooperativehttp://www.rxcbc.org/Kubby Challenges D.A. on Pot Guidelines http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8160.shtmlU.S. Justices To Weigh Medical Marijuana Laws http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7865.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #7 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on January 01, 2001 at 07:57:01 PT: Migraine is a real disease "There are migraines versus terminal cancer." Does this mean that one does not suffer with a headache? That would be false. Chronic migraineurs see themselves as sicker than people with arthritis, hypertension, depression, and even diabetes! It is a serious illness deserving of clinical cannabis. Please see:Formatted Pain article, 1998 (need Adobe Acrobat Reader):http://www.druglibrary.org/crl/pain/Russo%2098%20Migraine_%20Pain.pdfUnformatted Article:http://www.teleport.com/~omr/omr_russo.htmlMAPS Site:http://maps.org/mmj/mjrusso.htmlUSAToday.com article:http://www.usatoday.com/life/health/doctor/lhdoc227.htmMedical Cannabis Quarterly (Australia) article:http://members.nbci.com/jackalmedia/mcq/mcq.htmlChronicle Article:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/5/thread5889.shtmlWashington Times letter:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/5/thread5197.shtmlReuters Health:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/5/thread5889.shtml [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by FoM on December 31, 2000 at 13:40:29 PT One More Important Detail One More Thank You!I also want to say that do to the kindness and good will of Ron Bennett and MapInc. I have never had to pay for anything at all for Cannabis News. I am so appreciate and I wanted to share that with all of you.Peace, FoM! [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by FoM on December 31, 2000 at 13:15:23 PT Thank You Ras James Thank You Ras James,The news is slow and it gives me time to reflect. Cannabis News is just this month 2 years old. It started out with no direction at all and now it appears to have found it's place. I have been asked in the past about what is C New's purpose and until recently I wasn't really sure. This past year C News has developed into a nice interactive exchange on views of the most current news that affects us I think. If I start thanking I know I'll miss someone but I do want to thank Ron Bennett for all he has done and creating the original program. I also must thank Matt Elrod for all the fancy new thinks he's made for us so we now have a search and view new comments. We started out with 10 articles on the front page and I believe 10 on the view older news. We now have 30 articles on the front page and 60 in the view older news! That's just great and I appreciate it.Richard Lake has always been there to answer a question or help me solve a problem and I am very thankful.But most of all I thank all of you who read and comment here at C News. Without you it wouldn't be what it is and I thank you very much.Happy New Year, FoM! [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by RAS JAMES RSIFWH on December 31, 2000 at 12:34:17 PT HAPPY NEW YEAR CANNABIS NEWS THE PEOPLE WHO PUT THE "CANNABIS NEWS" FORMAT TOGETHER HAVE DESIGNED THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPON YET FOR "FREEING THE WEED". YES! THE ATOMIC BONG THAT ENDS THE WAR.I-TERNAL REDEMPTION TO THE ALL IN 2001...GIVE ALL PRAISE AND THANKS TO JAH RASTAFARI FOR CANNABIS SATIVA, THE MANIFESTING "TREE OF LIFE". [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on December 31, 2000 at 11:25:35 PT Go Gary! Thanks for fighting the good fight. Glad you won! Hope that means an end to your harassment, and a good precedent for others. I also like the fact that this article mentions the Oakland guidelines. I would like to see the Oakland guidelines included in California state law, so it can be part of the California blueprint that other states can follow. Spread the word! [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Gary Barrett on December 31, 2000 at 10:15:04 PT: 34 adult outdoor flowering plants/any # indoor In a plea arrangement I have with San Bernardino County Superior Court... both my wife and self are allowed 7.1 lbs. annually in the cupboard and on the vine so to speak.Judge Ashworth and DA Goss both signed that 3 x the number of flowering plants that we were originally charged with possessing, was in fact a reasonable amount for medical need. We went so far as to insert binding words; shall not be precluded from ...They are unfortunately going slowly through it case by case. I am compelled to tell you that you can dispute the claims they make against you, and come out with a slightly comprimised win. What you don't want: Them to simply drop the charges. This gives them freedom to raid you again, even as a recognized patient. It needs to be set in stone, and the cops will listen. You will still be eligible on the 'too much for personal use' idea...Sheriff deputies have been by 3 times training rookie officers to what marijuana plants look like since our arrangement was finalized in Oct.Feel free to find out more by checking our site or emailing us directly. Trichome Nation® [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by jacksplace58 on December 31, 2000 at 08:56:40 PT the governor doesn't endorse? And here I thought the governor of the state was the highest state official elected to do the will of the people?.Is it not his job to enact and support the laws passed by the people in his state and defend them against any high handed attack from a hostile federal system engrossed in keeping up the status quo?..Sounds like a good enough reason for a recall vote to me,. 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