MEDICAL POT USERS PLEAD FOR HELP

June 16, 1999
From The Press Democrat
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http://www.pressdemo.com/
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By Chris Smith

Supervisors face Prop. 215 dilemma Jun. 16, 1999

The agony of California’s battle over marijuana as medicine spilled into the Sonoma County supervisors’ chambers Tuesday as several users, including some terribly ill people from San Francisco, begged the board to stop the raids on medicinal pot gardens.

AIDS patient Wayne Phillips seemed barely able to stand as he addressed supervisors, saying that a police raid at a large growing operation in southern Sonoma County last month has caused a critical scarcity of marijuana for patients in San Francisco.

"My first defense against the pain is cannabis," Phillips said weakly as he implored supervisors to stop funding raids like the one that occurred in May at the home of Kenneth Hayes near Petaluma.

Hayes, the director of a medicinal cannabis club in San Francisco, faces charges of commercial cultivation of 800 marijuana plants.

"When you persecute someone like Ken Hayes, you persecute me," Phillips said.

(Marijuananews note: I met Ken Hayes today and will be reporting more on his case next week.)

Supervisor Tim Smith responded that he’s sensitive to people who use marijuana as medicine, a practice legalized by voter-approved Proposition 215 in 1996.

But, Smith said, the county is in a dilemma because the vaguely worded law does not say how the pot is to be grown and distributed, and the state has yet to come up with practical guidelines. Currently under Proposition 215, seriously ill patients with doctor approval may legally use marijuana—still a federally outlawed drug—but they cannot lawfully buy it or grow it for distribution to others.

In Sonoma County, District Attorney Mike Mullins says patients whose doctors approve marijuana may legally grow pot plants for their own use but may not grow it for sale or distribution. Under a protocol that Mullins helped develop, patients desiring to grow and use marijuana may ask for the stamp of approval from a panel of local physicians.

Deciding how to regulate marijuana in the Proposition 215 era and to keep it away from people with no bonafide medical need has become a quandary for authorities throughout the state.

"I’m proud to say I supported it," Smith told the crowd at Tuesday’s board meeting, "though implementing it has been difficult.

"We share the same frustration as you," he said.

Some speakers Tuesday complained that police and sheriff’s deputies in Sonoma County still are confiscating marijuana from small, private gardens grown by people who use pot with their doctors’ permission.

Supervisor Mike Reilly urged them to contact him or Sheriff Jim Piccinini with names, dates, locations and other specific details of raids of home gardens grown by patients.

"That’s the only way we can follow up on what you’re telling us," Reilly said.

Most of the speakers Tuesday decried the county drug task force’s May 14 raid, during which about 800 marijuana plants, 10 pounds of processed marijuana and about a pound of hashish were seized from a house on rural King Road, near Petaluma.

The officers who confiscated the drugs also arrested the 32-year-old Hayes, executive director of a San Francisco medical marijuana club called Cannabis Helping Alleviate Medicinal Problems, or CHAMP.

Hayes, who is free on bail, told supervisors the money the county spends on pot raids would be better spent on drug treatment and education. He said outside the board room he began growing marijuana in Sonoma County about a year ago because for many AIDS patients and other ill people it’s essential medicine.

"There’s a need, a collective need," Hayes said.

His girlfriend, Cheryl Hoya Sequeira, and friend and roommate Michael Scott Foley also face charges of cultivating and possessing marijuana for sale. Foley said Tuesday the marijuana was given to patients in exchange for donations.

Though patients and advocates implored supervisors that it is only humane to allow the cultivation of marijuana for distribution at cannabis clubs, Mullins said Proposition 215 does not permit such clubs. Nor, said Mullins, does it legalize the growing of large crops of marijuana to supply the clubs.

When San Francisco resident Larry Edmond addressed the supervisors, he said the pot he received from Hayes’ garden gave him back his life as he struggles with symptoms of HIV disease and post-traumatic stress. Edmond urged the board to let Sonoma County grow marijuana for people everywhere who need it for pain, appetite loss, nausea and other symptoms.

"This is a lovely place," Edmonds said. "You can supply people around the world with marijuana."

Mullins, who did not attend Tuesday’s board meeting, said, "To put it bluntly, I don’t want Sonoma County to become the marijuana garden for San Francisco, or anywhere else."
(Marijuananews note: Sonoma County is one of the leading drug producing areas in DEAland. The drug is alcohol, sold in the form of some of the best wines in the world. I had some with dinner Wednesday night that was outstanding.

Alcohol is a very dangerous drug, but the wines of Sonoma are wonderful products. Marijuana is far less dangerous than alcohol, and it should also be grown in Sonoma County.)