Pompo

Effort to clarify medical pot laws
Sheriffs, advocates agree new state rules will help
8/31/08|The Press Democrat| by Glenda Anderson - The Press Democrat



Medical marijuana guidelines issued by state Attorney General Jerry Brown last week don't break new ground, but medical marijuana advocates and law enforcement officials agree they will help everyone figure out what's legal and what's not.

"One of our biggest complaints was (marijuana regulations) were confusing," said Sonoma County Sheriff Bill Cogbill.

Local law enforcement officers had been asking the state to issue standardized guidelines since California voters in 1996 passed Proposition 215, which legalized marijuana for medical use.

Without state guidelines, local governments and law enforcement scrambled to cope with the new law, spawning a dizzying array of fragmented regulations and unequal enforcement.

The new state guidelines are a compilation of existing state regulations and case law into a single "one-stop shopping" document, said Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman.

"There's really nothing new in it," said Attorney General spokeswoman Christine Gasparac.

For example, it sets a possession limit of six mature plants and 8 ounces of dried marijuana but continues to allow cities and counties to create their own limits.

"For the most part, they're consistent with what our attorneys have been advising clients," said Dale Gieringer, coordinator for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

But it will make it easier for law enforcement officers from different agencies to review and enforce the laws and for patients to know their limits, Gasparac said.

One of the more confusing areas of medical marijuana law is the regulation of medical marijuana cooperatives and dispensaries, law enforcement officers and marijuana advocates said.

The new guidelines define how they should be run and make it clear that they should be nonprofit organizations and that they should pay sales and income taxes.

"We're happy with it," said Berta Bollinger, co-president of the Caregiver Compassion Group in Santa Rosa. "I appreciate the attorney general wants to get rid of the people who are making a lot of money."

She said her organization is in compliance with the law and won't need to change as a result of the guidelines.

"We're good to go," Bollinger said.

Cogbill said the guidelines support what he believed was the law.

But "now that I have the attorney general's opinion on it, we're going to be looking more closely at the dispensaries here in Sonoma County to see if they're in compliance with the law," he said.