TIME TO AMEND PROP. 215

Local communities throughout California are waiting for a ruling from
the California Supreme Court on whether we can tax and regulate the
ever-growing marijuana industry in our midst.

The people of the state who thought they were voting to allow the
seriously sick and terminally ill people among us to use and grow
marijuana legally have seen Prop. 215 twisted into a
quasi-legalization of recreational pot use and over-the-counter sales
at "medical" marijuana dispensaries.

After years of trying unsuccessfully to limit the reach of Prop. 215
to actual medical use, local communities began to regulate and charge
fees for the burgeoning cooperatives and dispensaries which grow and
sell marijuana for recreational use under the guise of medical use.

But now one California court says we can't do that because marijuana
is still illegal at the federal level. And federal authorities are
warning local communities that they may not set up permit schemes for
marijuana cultivation and sales because it's still illegal under
federal law. In other words, if the county gives someone a "permit"
to form a cultivation collective or open a dispensary it is implying
the activity is legal, and under federal law it is not. So now we
have a situation where the marijuana growing will continue unabated
but local governments may no longer be able to collect the fraction
of the costs of the pot industry they've been able to recoup.

Under the latest ruling we could still enact regulations that
prohibit dispensaries, or that limit their locations and activities,
as long as we do not provide them with any sort of permit or collect
fees from them. Dispensaries are not protected by Prop. 215. The
county ought to enact a dispensary ordinance immediately.

As for collectives and cooperatives which have come to be recognized
under Prop. 215, even if we don't provide permits, the federal
government would be fine with our limiting their activities, but then
the state courts could overturn those limitations as conflicting with
Prop. 215. Remember Measure B limiting pot growing to six plants and
passed enthusiastically in this county? Or the state law with
similar, reasonable limitations enacted after three years of
hearings? Both struck down after growers sued citing Prop. 215.

No matter what the court decides in the current debate, clearly
California's real problem remains Prop. 215, the poorly worded
constitutional amendment that is at the root of all this. We think
it's time to put a constitutional amendment on the state ballot to
clarify Prop. 215 and give it some specifics.

Among the changes we'd like to see: Amend Prop. 215 to require a
doctor's recommendation for specific serious and terminal diseases -
not headaches or stress, but things like glaucoma, cancer and AIDS.
Prohibit "doctor shops" whose purpose is to charge a fee for a
"recommendation." Allow local governments to regulate where and how
any cultivation can take place. Prohibit transportation of medpot
across county lines. Allow local government to ban or limit
dispensaries and require the state to set the price of medical
marijuana to patients and ban all sales of medical marijuana otherwise.

With some logical and reasonable changes like these, the 2,613 people
who got medical marijuana cards in this county since 2004 (just 78
new ones issued this fiscal year thus far) ought to still have a
plentiful supply of medicine.

The quasi-legal marijuana world we now live in has only confused the
citizens, local governments, law enforcement and the courts. It's
time to make the rules crystal clear.