LAWMEN AGAINST POT ID CARDS FOR THE SICK

Eight chiefs and the county sheriff say they wouldn't honor the
cards. The county police chiefs' group also sides with them. Only
Oakland Police Chief Richard Word supports the idea.

Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty asked Miley to poll the
chiefs and sheriff on the issue when it came before the board's
Public Protection Committee in October.

Sheriff Charles Plummer and police chiefs for the East Bay Regional
Park District, UC Berkeley and the cities of Livermore, Pleasanton,
Alameda, Fremont, Newark and Piedmont all have written letters
opposing use of the cards.

"Talking among the chiefs, nobody is against medical marijuana," said
Pleasanton Police Chief Timothy Neal, reached in Bodega Bay on
Wednesday at a county police chiefs' retreat.

OBut he, like the others, said the conflict between the federal law,
which bars possession of marijuana, and state Prop. 209, which allows
medical marijuana use, puts them in a quandary.

And Neal, more than anyone, has been touched by the issue.

He said his mother, who died a week and half ago of pancreatic
cancer, increased her appetite by using Marinol, the prescription
form of marijuana.

"We had nine months to say goodbye," Neal said. "You begin to cherish
every week and month you get to say goodbye."

Neal noted in his letter to Haggerty that the prescription form of
the drug serves the same purpose as ingesting the drug by smoking it.

"I do not believe that a legitimate need exists for the use of
unregulated, unlawfully grown marijuana for medical purposes," he
wrote. "It is tantamount to growing one's own opium to deal with pain
when prescribed equivalents are available for the legitimately ill."

But Joe DeVries, field director for Miley, said Marinol tablets do no
good if the cancer or AIDS patient is too nauseated to hold down any
food.

"If we're going to have police make a determination that a patient
can't use marijuana as medicine, then maybe we should have doctors
make a determination that police can't use bullets because they have
a negative effect on health," DeVries said.

DeVries said he's not surprised by the police chiefs' and sheriff's view.

"It's very hard for them to distinguish that there's a legitimate use
and an illegal use," he said. "That's the point of this system. If we
have cards for people, police can leave those people alone and focus
their attention on the illegal drug trade."

Supervisor Gail Steele, who also sits on the board's Public
Protection Committee, said she doesn't know where she stands on the
issue yet because she wants to do more research, saying, "I think
this is a tough one."

When Miley was a member of the Oakland City Council, he backed
efforts to allow distribution of medical marijuana.

Oakland's police chief, Richard Word, pointed out in his letter that
the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative issues identification cards
that help officers determine a patient's status. He said an
identification card issued by the county would be given similar
consideration.

Contact Donna Horowitz at dhorowitz@angnewspapers.com


Pubdate: Thu, 09 Jan 2003
By Donna Horowitz, STAFF WRITER
Oakland Tribune Jan 9, 2003
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82%257E1865%257E1098328,00.html