New Pot Law Brings Turmoil and Concerns

Fresh from a stinging defeat at the polls, state and federal law enforcement officials Wednesday were left puzzling over how to deal with California’s new medical marijuana law.

Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren ordered a meeting of California’s police chiefs, sheriffs and county prosecutors on Proposition 215, which voters approved Tuesday 56% to 44%.

“We have legal anarchy,” said Steve Telliano, Lungren’s spokesman. “No one knows what this means.”

The proposition, which allows physicians to recommend marijuana to treat a variety of illnesses, also presents some unprecedented problems for doctors in the state. Officials at the California Medical Assn. voiced deep concern that federal drug officials might crack down on physicians who recommend pot to patients.

But the medical group also expressed hope that the California vote would convince federal authorities to go forward with the sort of broad clinical research needed to prove or disprove pot’s therapeutic potential.

Meanwhile, the initiative’s backers announced plans to go nationwide to push ballot measures in other states in 1998 and next year in Congress. Californians for Medical Rights, which pushed Proposition 215, will change its name to Americans for Medical Rights.

Bill Zimmerman, the group’s campaign manager, said the national effort will be funded largely by interested philanthropists, much as it was in California. Most of the $2 million to qualify the measure on the ballot and campaign came from half a dozen wealthy out-of-state donors.

Pot backers also talked of trying to craft legislation in Sacramento next year that would clarify Proposition 215, which opponents argued was riddled with loopholes, and expand the initiative’s scope by allowing distribution of marijuana at centralized “buyers clubs” for medical patients.

That would almost certainly be opposed by law enforcement officials such as Lungren, who authorized the high-profile bust of a pot emporium in San Francisco and another in West Hollywood during the campaign.

Meanwhile, those opposed to the measure were looking at the possibility of a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality. “We believe there’s a lot of legal flaws,” said Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates, who led the campaign against Proposition 215.

The California initiative and an even broader marijuana measure approved in Arizona mark the first time voters in any state approved the use of pot as medicine. With no blueprint to build from, both backers and foes of medical marijuana predicted that it could take months before the thorny legal and law enforcement issues are resolved.

“There are huge gray areas,” said Lester Grinspoon, a Harvard University associate professor of psychiatry and a medical marijuana proponent. “The sooner the federal government gets to work on these issues the better.”

Federal officials at the Drug Enforcement Administration, Justice Department, Food and Drug Administration and other agencies were huddling in meetings Wednesday to discuss strategy.

As written, the California measure is pretty basic. A patient or designated caregiver can grow or possess pot if recommended by a physician for the treatment of an illness. Although the patients could still be arrested, the law gives them a legal defense in court.

There are no expressed limits on how much can be grown or consumed.

There also is no limit on what maladies qualify for treatment with marijuana. Marijuana proponents say there is evidence that it helps ease suffering from dozens of illnesses, including AIDS wasting, glaucoma and the nausea that follows cancer chemotherapy.

Law enforcement officials were suggesting that the new rules in California could prove sticky to operate under.

“We’re not really sure what we can and can’t do now,” said Tom Gorman, a California Narcotics Officers Assn. spokesman. “What constitutes an acceptable amount? Who qualifies as a caregiver? It’s going to be a big mess.”

To help clarify matters, Lungren issued interim guidelines to state narcotics agents underlining what to do before making an arrest. He said officers can detain and question suspects as long as reasonably necessary to determine if a medical marijuana defense applies, note the quantity and packaging of the cannabis, and keep an eye out for sales to others.

Federal officials said they would continue to enforce the law. Possession or cultivation of marijuana is still a felony under federal statutes, although as a practical matter the DEA goes after only the biggest drug sales rings, leaving small-time users for local authorities.

“The passage of these propositions in California and Arizona in no way alters the Drug Enforcement Administration’s fundamental mission,” said Barry McCaffrey, the president’s drug czar.

He said the measure sends a “terrible message” to children about drug use and predicted that most reputable physicians would not come close to recommending marijuana because more effective drugs are available.

McCaffrey declined to go further to address the worries of California medical officials that the DEA, which controls drug licensing for physicians, might seek to pull permits or prosecute doctors. Officials at the DEA also did not respond to those queries.

Jack E. McClary, CMA president, said his group is very concerned about this. “Since a single physician could issue recommendations for a number of patients, physicians might be a more likely target for federal prosecution than [patients],” McClary said.

But Allen Hopper, a San Francisco attorney who recently researched the legal issues of medical marijuana, argues that attempts by federal authorities to pull a doctor’s drug license or prosecute could almost certainly be defeated in court.