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US CA: Fresno County Pushed To Consider Medical Marijuana
ccguide Thursday 02 Mar 2000 Pubdate: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA) Copyright: 2000 The Fresno Bee Contact: Feedback: http://www.fresnobee.com/man/opinion/letters.html Website: http://www.fresnobee.com/ Forum: http://www.fresnobee.com/man/projects/webforums/opinion.html Author: Donald E. Coleman, The Fresno Bee FRESNO COUNTY PUSHED TO CONSIDER MEDICAL MARIJUANA CRITERIA Jonathan Richter wants Fresno County to become the third government body in the state to develop guidelines for cultivating and possessing marijuana for medical purposes. "Since Proposition 215 passed, people are being victimized by the government," said Richter, director of the Fresno County Chapter of the American Medical Marijuana Association, who will make his pitch to the Board of Supervisors today. In November 1996, state voters approved Prop. 215, which allows the use of marijuana for medical purposes. However, specific criteria for implementation of the ballot measure haven't been established in jurisdictions across the state, and several legal challenges have been mounted. "Since the state, more than three years later, has failed to set up a patient health system and say how much you can grow or have, there are dozens of people who have had their lives turned upside down when they thought they would be protected," said Richter, a Libertarian who said he became involved in the issue because of the plight of people who have been prosecuted since the law's passage. The road to marijuana guidelines in Fresno County may be a lot more rocky than in the cities of Arcata in Mendocino County or Oakland in Alameda County. Each has passed a local ordinance regulating use of marijuana for medical purposes. "Proposition 215 implies certain things, but it doesn't cover certain things," said Gary M. Carozza, director of the Fresno County Department of Community Health. This is the county's first request for such guidelines as far as he knows. Carozza said the proposition, also called the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, was meant to ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana for the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief. In his report to the board, Carozza said another purpose of Prop. 215 is to ensure that patients and their primary caregivers cannot be criminally prosecuted or sanctioned. The proposition also asks federal and state governments to implement a plan to provide for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to patients in medical need. Although Prop. 215 allows for the cultivation and possession of marijuana for patients with a doctor's recommendation, it fails to provide specific language regarding the amount of marijuana that can be cultivated or possessed and transported by the patient or the patient's primary caregiver without violating state laws. "It sounds like a very confusing problem," Carozza said. "Law enforcement is in a real quandary because the city may or may not agree." Carozza said the proposition appears to conflict with federal law that prohibits the manufacture, distribution or possession of marijuana. It also doesn't address the sale, transportation or distribution of marijuana as prohibited by state law. District Attorney Ed Hunt says he isn't confused: "There's no way I'm going to support a standard which somebody deems acceptable, a blanket policy. If there is a doctor who will testify under oath that he prescribes it, we will dismiss. That person then has met the requirements of Proposition 215." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea
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