CA: Abusers of Medical Marijuana Law Targeted

By Laura Clark, The Daily Journal
Source: Ukiah Daily Journal

Cannabis caregivers and medical marijuana users who cannot produce paperwork showing they are legitimate best beware: the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office is cracking down. "Both (Sheriff) Tony (Craver) and I pledge that legitimate medical marijuana users and caregivers will never be prosecuted in the county, at least not as long as I am district attorney," DA Norm Vroman said.

"With that in mind, we started looking around. ... We have had people coming from out of the county and out of the state and walking into these places with no paperwork, buying whatever they want, and that is not the way the law reads. What this does is jeopardize the legitimate caregivers and medical marijuana users.

"As time and staffing and finances permit, we are taking a look at these people, and if they are not within the law we are going to prosecute," Vroman said. Proposition 215, legalizing the medical use of marijuana in California, was approved by voters in 1996.

"When it's obvious there is something wrong, like when a woman has four or five people in her care and she has 180 plants, I am hard pressed to see how four, five, six or 10 people would need 180 plants. When we find that (scenario) we can file on them, and we have started doing that," the district attorney said.

Vroman said the DA's Office has taken a harder look at caregivers in the last 90 days, following several recent incidents, including one where two people from out-of-state with no paperwork were allegedly buying from a local cannabis club that is reportedly only supplying to people who have designated it as a caregiver.

(Vroman said he didn't want to specify who he was referring to, because the case is under investigation.)

Due to a change in state law, law enforcement will do even more investigations surrounding medical marijuana.

The state is in the process of establishing a statewide medical marijuana card program, but it's not ready quite yet, Undersheriff Gary Hudson said Friday.

Once in place, it won't prohibit counties or cities from continuing their own medical marijuana card program, but it will create a standard card that will be recognized statewide, Hudson said.

One of the weaknesses of the local cards is that they are unique to the area where they are issued, so a Mendocino County card, for instance, might not be recognized by law enforcement in another county, he said.

"Under the new statewide card program, the law is very specific. If an individual presents a valid statewide card and they're within the possession limits set by the law, then they cannot be arrested and they cannot be prosecuted, and that applies statewide," Hudson said.

One of the benefits of the local program -- which won't be the case with the state program -- is that law enforcement can search a database to verify whether or not someone's card is valid. The database identifies the grower and the location where he or she is growing the marijuana.

In other words, if law enforcement contacts someone in possession of marijuana and that person presents a card, it's easy to check the authenticity of the card, Hudson said.

"In that respect, it's not much different than what the state card program provides. ... Here's what is different. The state card program doesn't tell you anything about where this person is growing. Now most people growing will probably see that as a benefit; it protects their property, and that information isn't going to be available to law enforcement," he said.

The card itself will only have a photograph and an identification number on it. It will not have the person's name, address, physical description or any other identifying information, Hudson said.

"But if your next door neighbor calls the police to report you are growing marijuana we will have no way to check the statewide card registry to see if there is someone at your address who has a medical marijuana card," he said, noting in this regard the state program is a step back.

"Under our local program, we can put an address into the database and see if there is a cardholder at that address," he said.

So, under the new program if someone calls up to report marijuana at a location, law enforcement will have to handle it like any other call for service and conduct an investigation, Hudson said, noting law enforcement is going to have to work a lot harder to get the same information available now under the local program.

"I can see this as tying up officers' time, much more than the system we have now does. It's really pretty simple. Let's say you are outside one day at your house, you smell something, peek over the fence, say Oh my God, there's marijuana next door,' so you call us up, we go into the database, type in an address, and say, Well there is a medical marijuana cardholder next door' ... We are not going to be able to do that with the state card program," Hudson said.

Law enforcement will continue to honor the cards issued in Mendocino County until they expire. After that, if people want to obtain a medical marijuana card they will be directed to the state card program, Hudson said.

Mendocino County will be one of the pilot counties for the new state card, Hudson said. "They have actually looked to us because of our experience with the medical marijuana program. We had this program; they recognized it seems to be working," Hudson said.

Source: Ukiah Daily Journal (CA)
Author: Laura Clark, The Daily Journal
Published: Saturday, February 19, 2005
Copyright: 2005 Ukiah Daily Journal
Contact: udj@pacific.net
Website: http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/
Link to article: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread20264.shtml