Medical marijuana proponents object to stricter guidelines

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Sonoma West - Times & News

Medical marijuana proponents object to stricter guidelines

County's new standards cut from 99 to 25 the number of plants a
patient can legally possess

by Dawn Pillsbury - Sonoma West Staff Writer

SEBASTOPOL - Medical marijuana advocates are objecting to the
county's new medical marijuana guidelines.

The Sonoma County Law Enforcement Chief's Association adopted new
guidelines effective July 1 that reduce the number of plants a
patient or caregiver can possess from 99 to 25.

"We reached the decision to have guidelines that are more consistent
with the state guidelines, taking into consideration the patient's
needs and increased public safety concerns," said Sheriff Bill
Cogbill, president of the association.

The new state guidelines, Senate Bill 420 sponsored by Senator John
Vasconcellos, which passed last year, dictates limits for medical
marijuana possession: eight ounces of dried marijuana, six mature or
12 immature plants.

"Those are minimums - counties can allow more," said Doc Knapp,
Sonoma Alliance for Medical Marijuana spokesman.

Knapp said while the new county guidelines keep what was important in
the original guidelines adopted on May, 2001 - 100 square feet of
plant canopy and three pounds of marijuana - the plant numbers are
confusing and unnecessary.

Knapp said that he understands county law enforcement's desire to
have county guidelines mirror state law, but it doesn't make medical
or gardening sense.

He said calculating plant allowances by canopy square footage, as the
federal Drug Enforcement Agency does, makes sense.

"We continue to advocate for dropping plant numbers, as have
Humboldt, Santa Cruz and Mendocino counties," said Knapp, who
estimates that several thousand Sonoma County residents use marijuana
medicinally to treat ailments from AIDS to glaucoma. "Plant numbers
are silly. They predict nothing and control nothing. You could have
25 one-pound plants."

He said that marijuana gardeners, especially new patients who need
medicine quickly, can get a quicker yield by growing a large number
of plants to get their physician-recommended dosage.

"Patients are freaking," Knapp said. "Twenty-five plants or fewer is
plenty in some situations, depending on the gardening style. You can
have one plant that fills 100 square feet if you have a long growing
season. But if you're a new patient and need medicine as soon as
possible, you can't afford a long growing season."

And, like all gardeners, marijuana growers might have a crop failure, he said.

"I talked to one co-op gardener who probably would be able to make 25
plants work but his last crop failed," he said. "To provide for his
patients he had to grow a lot of plants and flower them in a hurry."
A practice that will be illegal starting July 1.

Cogbill said the new guidelines allow a patient to have more than the
25 plants, 100 square feet and three pounds if their doctor says they
need it.

"If the doctor says they need four pounds or 50 plants, the doctor
would have to write that on the recommendation or the patient would
have to give us the doctor's name so we can verify it," he said. But
if the recommendation is good, the patient can keep their medicine,
he said.

Knapp said that despite some arrests of patients who had let their
recommendations lapse - all of whom had their charges dropped - the
guidelines are working.

Cogbill said the Sheriff's Department has problems enforcing the guidelines.

"I've always thought 99 plants was excessive for the amount of
marijuana an individual needs," Cogbill said. "If you're getting
eight ounces to a pound per plant and you're only allowed to have
three pounds, what do you do with the excess? There's a temptation to
sell or give it away."

He also said that marijuana users are bending the rules by getting
recommendations after getting arrested.

"They're in technical violation of the law because they didn't have
the recommendation at the time of enforcement," he said. "But the
burden of proof for arrest and the burden of proof in court are two
different things. The district attorney thinks it's a waste of time
to prosecute them."

Sonoma County District Attorney Stephen Passalacqua said he judges
each case on its own merits.

"That doesn't mean if an individual is growing or distributing
marijuana as part of a criminal enterprise that they won't be
prosecuted," he said. "But we have no plans to prosecute those with
legitimate needs."

Passalacqua said he advocated dropping plant numbers.

Knapp said SAMM will continue to lobby the association to drop
numbers, but that when it comes before a judge, common sense will
prevail.

"We've told them the first time a medical marijuana case goes to
court where everything is in compliance except there's too many
plants, we'll be in court advocating for (the patient) and the jury
will overturn the plant number thing," he said.

Knapp said the Narcotics Task Force dropped pro-rated seizures, which
he appreciates.

"They used to pro-rate the amount seized based on the renewal date of
approval," he explained. Patients could have their marijuana seized
according to when their physician recommendation was due for renewal.
For example, he said, a patient who harvested three pounds, his
recommended annual amount, in November, might still have two pounds
left in May if he was not having a bad time with his illness. He
could then face having a half-pound seized if his renewal was due in
November.

"And his next cycle might be horrible so he'd end up taking more and
it would even out," he said. "But the amount seized is irreplaceable
until the next harvest."

For more information, call SAMM, 522-0292.