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California City OKs Medical Marijuana
California City Approves Public Office to Coordinate Distribution Medical Marijuana
Associated Press | ABC News | 10/26/2005

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. Oct 26, 2005 — The City Council voted to create a department to coordinate the distribution of medical marijuana and vowed to fight federal drug regulators in court to establish it.

Santa Cruz leaders say the office will be formed only with federal approval.

"We've decided we're going to wait for a court resolution before we even begin to plan how we would implement this ordinance," Mayor Mike Rotkin said Wednesday.

A case is under way in San Jose challenging the federal government's right to restrict states from allowing medicinal marijuana use, he said. Santa Cruz hopes to become part of that case.

The City Council voted 4-2 Tuesday to create an Office of Compassionate Use, a five-member advisory board that would coordinate medical marijuana distribution within the city. User fees would fund the office, which likely would contract with pharmacies for distribution, Rotkin said.

California law has allowed medical marijuana use since voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this summer that the federal government can continue to prosecute users.

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