From the
Oakland Tribune
triblet@angnewspapers.com
July 9, 1998
By Kathleen Kirkwood, Staff WriterSee
Oakland City
Council Votes To Allow Patients One And Half Pounds Of Medical Marijuana
and links
FEDS SEEK TO CLOSE 3 POT CLUBS
Oakland adopts lenient marijuana policy
OAKLAND—The same day local officials approved the
state’s most lenient policy on medical marijuana, the Clinton administration stepped
up efforts to close the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative and two other clubs.
Federal officials filed a motion Tuesday with U.S. District Court Judge Charles
Breyer asking that the U.S. marshal be authorized to immediately
shut down medicinal cannabis clubs in Oakland and in Marin and Mendocino counties.
Operators of the Oakland club, which has 1,750 members,
said Wednesday they will continue to operate until forced to close.
The government also filed motions ordering the clubs to show cause why they
should not be held in contempt of a preliminary injunction ordering them to cease
operations. Hearings on the contempt motions will be held Aug. 14, said attorney Robert
Raich, representing the Oakland club.
"This Is being driven by a bunch of bureaucrats in
Washington," Raich said.
"They don’t have to deal with the fallout of their actions. These are
seriously ill people we’re talking about . .. not hippies who want to get
stoned."
Late Tuesday, the Oakland City Council quietly endorsed a policy, included
among a batch of committee reports, allowing medical marijuana users to have 1½ pounds of
cannabis, described as a three-month supply.
That breaks down to about a half-pound per month, or 10 marijuana cigarettes
per day, for patients who use cannabis as a way to combat nausea from such illnesses as
AIDS and cancer.
Developed by a committee of police, city legal staff, physicians, patients and
Oakland cannabis club representatives, the policy directs officers not to confiscate
marijuana, or arrest a user, if it meets the criteria.
Oakland patients who present the proper documentation will be able to possess
30 outdoor flowering (or harvestable) plants, 48 indoor plants or 1 ½ pounds of processed
marijuana.
"This takes cooperation between Oakland patients and enforcement to a new
level," said Jeff Jones, the Oakland club’s executive director. "I hope
this kind of partnership will eventually be mirrored across California and country."
The policy is the most permissive in the state since Prop. 215, the medical
marijuana initiative approved by voters in 1996, was implemented.
By contrast, Attorney General Dan Lungren’s office has issue guidelines
that allow only ounce, characterized as a 30-day supply.
The attorney general has criticized the Oakland policy. but a spokesman said
Wednesday no action has been planned.
The attorney general will wait until Oakland actually carry out its policy,
said Matt Ross, a Lungreri spokesman.
Although cannabis club supporters say the quantities outlined in the policy are
based on ongoing U.S. Food and Drug Administration tests of medical marijuana, FDA
officials say they know of no such tests.
(Ed. note: The paper has its facts wrong. These are not FDA tests.
It is appalling, but hardly surprising, that the FDA is unfamiliar with the
"tests." They have ignored the possible data from a decades old
"Investigative New Drug" program under which the
government is supplying eight people with medical marijuana. If the FDA would look, it
would learn things that the government doesn’t want to know, that it keeps some
people from going blind, others from suffering, and they have no apparent side effects.)
Supported