Frye Wants Medical Pot Task Force Back

[Ganjarden]

Pot collectives keep opening across San Diego, and Councilwoman Donna Frye keeps getting asked how constituents can acquire medical marijuana without being arrested.

So Frye thinks there's no better time to re-establish the city's medical marijuana task force, a long-dormant committee that earlier this decade developed guidelines to help patients follow state medical pot laws.

“People have a right to be provided with the information that will allow them to comply with the law that voters approved,” Frye said. “It may be a matter of common sense, but it's also an issue of compassion for people who are legitimate patients who should not have to live under a cloud of fear.”

On May 11, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a lawsuit San Diego County filed against California. The suit contended that the state cannot require counties to issue IDs to medical marijuana patients because the drug remains illegal under federal law.

Frye said the high court's inaction gives the city an opportunity to clarify local policies toward medical marijuana.

Two medical pot collectives opened in San Diego this month, raising to at least 20 the number of listings on Web sites alerting patients to sources of the drug.

The proliferation of storefront dispensaries comes as local law enforcement officials say there's no allowance in state laws for over-the-counter pot sales.

In 2006, federal drug agents joined San Diego-area police and deputies in raiding more than a dozen dispensaries. They confiscated marijuana, patient records and cash, and they threatened the operators of other storefronts with similar raids if they didn't close.

Since then, patients have struggled to find safe and reliable sources of marijuana, which can be legally cultivated for medicinal use but is often difficult to grow effectively.

Other communities across California have adopted specific rules governing collectives beyond guidelines from the state Attorney General's Office.

Seven years ago, the San Diego Medical Marijuana Task Force developed a standard that qualified patients could adhere to for growing and smoking marijuana, which has been shown to relieve pain and stimulate the appetite for cancer and other patients.

The San Diego guidelines called for city-issued identification, but the effort was stalled when the state required counties to issue IDs to medical pot patients. San Diego County refused and tried to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Juliana Humphrey, a San Diego defense lawyer who chaired the defunct task force, said that lawsuit's rejection provides an opportunity for local officials to clarify how they now plan to enforce state medical pot laws.

“The last piece of the puzzle is to set out what are our community guidelines,” Humphrey said. “The people of San Diego deserve to know what's legal and what's not legal.”

Mayor Jerry Sanders didn't return calls seeking comment on the growing number of dispensaries or Frye's idea to reconstitute the task force. Frye said she plans to bring the issue to the City Council as soon as next month.


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Source: SignOnSanDiego.com
Author: Jeff McDonald
Contact: SignOnSanDiego.com
Copyright: 2009 The San Diego Union-Tribune, LLC
Website: Frye Wants Medical Pot Task Force Back