By Ellen Komp, CLMP

Times-Standard
7/13/2004

Proposition 215 was passed by a majority of California voters in 1996, exempting patients with a doctor's recommendation from state laws against the possession and cultivation of marijuana. The law places no limits on the amount of marijuana a patient may possess or cultivate, but countless cases have wound their way through California courts since the law's passage, establishing amounts a jury will accept as reasonable for medical use.

When District Attorney Paul Gallegos took office, he reviewed those cases and established reasonable, scientifically derived prosecutorial guidelines in keeping with surrounding counties of Sonoma, Mendocino and Del Norte. On January 1, California law SB420 took effect, establishing more restrictive state baseline amounts with the proviso that cities and counties can enact overriding ordinances.

Humboldt county supervisors will vote today on an ordinance to do just that. It has guidelines similar to Gallegos's and to the ordinance introduced by Supervisor Rodoni late last year. At that time, the supervisors appointed a task force to study the issue and make recommendations to the board.

After hearing from law enforcement, the schools, probation, labor, hospice, patients and caregivers, the task force compromised on a yearly guideline of 3 lbs. of dried marijuana per patient. Patients had asked for 6 lbs. (based on the amount the federal government supplies to patients in a research program); caregivers asked for 4.5 lbs. and were willing to compromise as low as 2 lbs.; and law enforcement and the schools never budged from the SB420 minimum guideline of eight ounces.

Rather than setting a guideline for the number of marijuana plants that can be grown, the task force recommended a maximum 100-square-foot plant canopy for cultivation. This figure is based on DEA studies that have determined it is growing area, not plant numbers, that best determine yield.

Four out of five amendments recommended by the schools were adopted by the task force and appear in the proposed ordinance. These reaffirm protections in SB420 against marijuana use within 1000 feet of schools, and allow schools and colleges to set policies of their own. The ordinance states it does not require places of employment to accommodate medical marijuana use, and it does not authorize a patient to use medical marijuana while in a motor vehicle that is being operated, or in any place where smoking is prohibited by law.

Sheriff Philp has said that his deputies are continuing to enforce the District Attorney's original guidelines, which match the pending ordinance's, until such time as the board takes action on the matter. Apparently, allowing patients these amounts has not adversely impacted public safety. In fact, it might improve it, by allowing law enforcement to focus on violent crimes instead.

On July 1, a jury in Eureka acquitted a local man on sales charges and failed to convict him on possession charges after he grew 108 plants for medical use. Since police seized the man's plants, he potentially has grounds for a lawsuit against the county for the cost of his lost property and court costs.

In a situation where the county is facing an $8.4 million budget shortfall, and we are forced to cut home health care for the elderly, mental health services for children, drug and alcohol treatment programs, and library hours, it makes sense to conserve our resources by leaving small-time medical marijuana growers alone. The best way to do that is to enact this ordinance. If the board does not act, we will be stuck with SB420's arbitrary plant numbers of 6 mature or 12 immature plants, leaving legitimate patients subject to harassment and the county wide open to litigation.

The American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Bar Association, the American Nurses Association, and the American Public Health Association all support medical marijuana, as do the Episcopal Church, the National Progressive Baptist Convention, the Presbyterian Church, the Union for Reform Judaism, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and the United Methodist Church. The Evangelical Lutheran Church, and the National Council of Churches have a position opposing federal interference in states that have legal medical marijuana. [THIS PARAGRAPH CONTAINS A CORRECTION MADE 7/16/07. Also see Blessing for Mercy's Sake.)

SB1494, a bill awaiting signature by Gov. Schwarzenegger, makes clear that no governmental body has the constitutional authority to limit the amount of marijuana a patient may possess or grow for medical use. The issue is not how much patients can have. The issue how much they can have without having to come to court to justify it. The ordinance before the board is a practical and merciful one, and it should be adopted for the good of all in the county.