Lit_Match

California Law: Medical Marijuana
11-03-06|cbs2.com

The assertion that all medical marijuana is headed for seriously ill patients is misleading. Statistics from the California Branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) shows that a survey of Californians reports the top three reported uses of medicinal marijuana:


40% Chronic Pain

22% AIDS-Related

15% Mood Disorders

(23% All other categories)

In California there is no state regulation or standard of the cultivation and/or distribution medical marijuana. California leaves the establishment of any guidelines to local jurisdictions, which can widely vary. For example, Marin County allows up to six mature plants, and/or a half-pound dried marijuana. It's neighbor, Sonoma County permits possession of three pounds of marijuana, and allows cultivation up to 99 plants, and physicians may recommend more for "exceptional patients."

Local and state law enforcement counterparts cannot distinguish between illegal marijuana grows and grows that qualify as medical exemptions. Many self-designated medical marijuana growers are, in fact, growing marijuana for illegal, "recreational" use.

Elected law enforcement officials, i.e. Sheriffs and District Attorneys in California have been targeted by the "marijuana lobby." Political action by groups such as NORML have endorsed and supported candidates favorable to medical marijuana. NORML tracks local elections and takes credit for the defeats of anti-marijuana candidates. Last year the DEA arrested a major marijuana trafficker in Humboldt County who was an undeclared candidate for sheriff.
The DEA and its local and state counterparts routinely report that large-scale drug traffickers hide behind and invoke Proposition 215, even when there is no evidence of any medical claim. In fact, many large-scale marijuana cultivators and traffickers escape state prosecution because of bogus medical marijuana claims. Prosecutors are reluctant to charge these individuals because of the state of confusion that exists in California. Therefore, high-level traffickers posing as "care givers" are able to sell illegal drugs with impunity.

The California NORML website lists federal defendants for the largest indoor marijuana cultivation operation in the U.S., which occurred in Northern California, as "green prisoners." While unscrupulously claiming to be "medical marijuana" defendants, in fact these two individuals were dangerous, armed fugitives believed to be responsible for drug-related murders and other violence.

DEA's San Francisco Field Division coordinates the statewide Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program (DCE/SP). The number of plants eradicated and assets seized represent the largest totals in California history.