Is Lockyer Turning Into
Lungren-lite?
Tells Mendocino County Its Plant Limit Is "Excessive." DA Defiant.
(Marijuananews note: Although Democrat Attorney
General Lockyer has said that he supports medical marijuana he has not stopped local
police from violating the rights of patients, nor the prosecution of patients like Steve
Kubby.See
The AP Carries
Story Reporting That Lockyer Is Ignoring Libertarian Party Call
To Protect Rights Of Kubby and Other Medical Marijuana Users
He has also failed to establish an effective policy on how many plants a patient may
have. Now his office is telling the very friendly Mendocino county District Attorney that
he has set too high a limit on plants – lower than Oakland’s – even though
Lockyer has not set a limit! This is truly ridiculous!
Is Lockyer turning into Lungren-lite? Perhaps the cannabis community should sue him to
get him to enforce Prop 215.)
See
Peter
McWilliams Sues Lungren For Failing to Enforce Prop 215; Seeks His Impeachment
September 14, 1999
From The Press Democrat
letters@pressdemo.com
http://www.pressdemo.com/
http://www.pressdemo.com/opinion/talk/
By Mike Geniella, Press Democrat Bureau
LOCKYER SAYS MENDOCINO DOSE TOO HIGH
UKIAH -- Attorney General Bill Lockyer is questioning the
"excessive'' use of pot allowed under Mendocino County's new medicinal marijuana
program, an amount equivalent to a dozen or more marijuana cigarettes a day.
See
Oakland
City Council Votes To Allow Patients One And Half Pounds Of Medical Marijuana
As it is, the amount of pot an approved medical patient may possess in Mendocino County
is four times the amount allowed in Arcata, the hip Humboldt County town where a
groundbreaking program to issue photo identification cards to medicinal marijuana users
was pioneered two years ago.
See
Mendocino County
Starts Voluntary Medical Marijuana User ID Program
But Mendocino District Attorney Norman Vroman said Monday
that Lockyer's objections were unjustified and politically motivated, and that he would
not reduce the amount of pot allowed in the county program.
Vroman said many medical patients mix marijuana in their food or inhale pot smoke
through vaporizers. Those methods use up more marijuana than smoking it, he said.
Lockyer's complaints were outlined in a letter sent Aug. 24 to Vroman and
Mendocino County Sheriff Tony Craver. Vroman said Monday the letter was meant to obscure
the fact that Lockyer and state legislative leaders have been unable
to agree how much pot medical patients could possess under a proposed statewide ID card
program modeled after those in Mendocino County and Arcata.
"If the state wants to provide some definitive guidance, we will be happy to
attempt to bring our policy into conformance. Until then, we're going to continue the way
we are,'' Vroman said.
The Legislature, hung up on the issue of how much marijuana medicinal users should be
allowed to possess, adjourned Friday without acting on a Senate bill that would have
created a statewide version of Mendocino County's program. The measure by Sen. John
Vasconellos, D-San Jose, would have required the state Health Department to issue
emergency regulations addressing the amount of marijuana a person could have possessed for
medicinal purposes.
Rand Martin, Vasconellos' chief of staff, said Monday the measure is likely to be taken
up during the next legislative session. Martin said the volume issue, and questions raised
by law enforcement agencies about how to verify the legitimacy of a patient who chooses
not to register under the proposed state program, "surfaced very late in the
session.''
Noting worries Gov. Gray Davis might veto the measure if it was passed with those
issues unresolved, Martin said, "We decided it might be wiser to take some more
time.''
See
Efforts To Amend Prop
215 Dead For This Session of California Legislature
Vroman said he disagrees that the limits set in Mendocino County
are excessive. "From what we learned about how marijuana is used for medicinal
purposes, the amount we set was fair and reasonable,'' he said.
"As far as I'm concerned, it's a non-story,'' he said.
Medical marijuana proponents sided with Vroman, noting federal guidelines related to
testing of the medicinal benefits of pot allow the use of up to 10 marijuana cigarettes a
day. Under those guidelines, a three-month supply for participants in the federal
experiment amounts to l 1/2 pounds.
Ukiah attorney David Nelson, who represents a local medical marijuana club, said Monday
Mendocino County's provisions are "somewhere in the middle'' when compared with other
medicinal marijuana plans adopted or contemplated around the state.
The issue may become moot if legal issues surrounding provisions of Proposition 215 and
the proliferation of local clubs that distribute marijuana to medical patients finally are
resolved.
On Monday, a federal appeals court raised the possibility of reopening six closed
medical marijuana clubs to patients who could show that they need pot to prevent imminent
medical harm. Marijuana clubs in Ukiah and Fairfax have continued to operate pending
federal action.
See
A Major Disaster For
Marijuana Prohibition in Oakland
– Federal Appeals Court Rules For Medical Necessity Defense
Copyright: 1999, The Press Democrat
Supported