Three Years After Prop 215 Passed, Orange County Law Enforcement Is Finally Accepting It.
How Time Flies When You Are Not In Pain!
Steve Kubby At Work.

(Marijuananews note: Law enforcement in Orange County has been more resistant to implementing Prop 215 than that of any other major metropolitan area in California, so this is a major accomplishment. The statewide organized law enforcement opposition to Prop 215 was led by then Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates. Fortunately, he did not run for re-election.
See
"Orange County is willing to use incarceration as a means to prevent Marvin from educating
people about medical marijuana." -- Orange County Weekly Quoting Chavez’s Attorney
However, the Orange County Register, the area’s leading paper, has consistently supported it with great editorials.
See
Orange County Register Says The Federal Court
"has effectively invited California officials to craft guidelines
for the use of medical marijuana that will keep the federal government off their backs.
They should accept the invitation immediately."
When Steve Kubby moved to Orange County he took his crusade with him.)
See
Kubby Letter Gets Prize From Orange County Register
and
Kubbys Seek Asylum In Orange County
November 17, 1999
From the Orange County Register
Opinion page
http://www.ocregister.com/
letters@link.freedom.com
A STEP FORWARD ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

At long last we might be on the verge of concrete progress in implementing Proposition 215 (or Section 11362.5 of the the California Health and Safety Code), which allows patients with a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana as medicine, in Orange County. A recent appearance by patients and advocates at a Board of Supervisors meeting seems to have persuaded some officials that positive action at the county level is both appropriate and necessary.

Sheriff Mike Carona has scheduled a meeting with Anna Boyce, the Mission Viejo registered nurse who was a proponent of Prop. 215, and former gubernatorial candidate and cancer patient Steve Kubby. "We're ready to listen and see what it will to take to address their concerns," Sheriff Carona told us this week.

Meantime, Board of Supervisors chairman Chuck Smith told us he has asked county staff to begin research on if and how Section 11362.5 could be implemented.

Section 11362.5 creates an exception to the laws against cultivating, possessing and using marijuana for patients with a recommendation from a licensed physician. It doesn't mention sales, transportation or distribution, but appeals courts have suggested the authorities work out ways to relax these laws without endangering the laws against recreational use.

The problem, as a group of patients led by Ms. Boyce and Mr. Kubby explained to the supervisors November 9, is that some patients are not in a position to grow their own marijuana, whether because of their physical condition or because of where they live. And without local protocols or guidelines as to how many plants can be grown or how much can be possessed before police decide to make an arrest and let the courts sort matters out, many patients still live in constant fear, three years after California voters created a legal right to marijuana for medical purposes.

Short of having pharmacies stock marijuana, there must be a way to create a small "white market" for patients or a regulated dispensary where they can get access to medicine. The state Legislature, in the face of a threatened veto from Gov. Davis, decided not to act on a bill written by a task force convened by Attorney General Bill Lockyer. So it is up to local government, which might well be the most appropriate approach, considering the vast
variety of localities in California.

Some have contended that California localities are powerless to implement Section 11362.5 because federal law prohibits any use of marijuana. But the California Constitution requires agencies to implement California law even in the face of a claim that it conflicts with federal law, unless and until an appeals court has determined that federal law supersedes it. No court case has been filed against Prop. 215 on the grounds of conflict with
federal law.

Two cities, Arcata in Northern California and Oakland in the Bay area, have developed and passed local ordinances to regulate the distribution of medical marijuana. San Jose and San Francisco have taken important steps toward implementing the medical marijuana law. A medical marijuana distribution center is operating in West Hollywood with no interference from the federal government.
See
Was The Decision To Prosecute B. E. Smith Made At The White House?
The Key Question About The Selective Prosecution Of Medical Marijuana Activists.
Analysis -- By Richard Cowan

All of these efforts offer lessons that can be useful to the supervisors in crafting a set of guidelines appropriate to Orange County.

Sheriff Carona's meeting with Anna Boyce, Steve Kubby and others later this month will be helpful. While the Sheriff's Department has some flexibility, however, it is supposed to enforce the law, not make it. The sheriff's job would be easier if the supervisors developed and passed specific guidelines for medical marijuana in Orange County. That would help both patients and law enforcement officers understand in advance what kinds of marijuana use are medically legitimate and what is still outlawed.

That's where the staff research requested by Supervisor Smith comes in. The staff should make it a high priority and bring implementation of Section 11362.5 to the supervisors' agenda as soon as possible.

Orange County might not be the first place one would expect to find a working medical marijuana law, but it is exactly the kind of place that would find a way to help patients who say they need it.