T
The420Guy
Guest
Alan Bock may know more about pot than your average Rastafarian. As
senior editorial writer for The Orange County Register, Bock has spent
much of the past several years following the never-ending battle over
Proposition 215, the medical-marijuana initiative approved by
California voters in November 1996. Bock covered the 1998 trials of
David Lee Herrick and Marvin Chavez, co-founders of the Orange County
Cannabis Co-op; despite the passage of Prop. 215, both were convicted
of selling marijuana and sentenced to several years in prison.
(Herrick's conviction was overturned after he spent two years in jail,
and Chavez was released on bail last year, pending his appeal). Last
month, Bock published Waiting to Inhale: The Politcs of Medical
Marijuana (Seven Locks Press), a book on Prop. 215 and the
medical-marijuana movement. And he recently returned from Washington,
D.C., where he sat in the U.S. Supreme Court as justices heard
arguments in a case involving the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Collective.
Bock says the Supreme Court hearing convinced him that there are still
conflicts between the five-year-old Prop. 215 and federal law, but that
the war is over in California, and medical-marijuana advocates have
won.
OC Weekly: The title of your book is Waiting to Inhale. Is the waiting
over in California?
Alan Bock: In most jurisdictions in California, if you have a valid
doctor's recommendation and a membership card in a cannabis
cooperative, the police are not going to take you to jail. They may
investigate to see whether your card is valid and create a certain
amount of hassle, but they probably aren't going to charge you with
possession. The main roadblock right now for patients is being able to
find doctors who are willing to write prescriptions for medical
marijuana. There are a few doctors in California who have not just been
willing but eager to do this-but most aren't.
Why?
In part because the California Medical Association has been very
conservative in its instructions to doctors on this issue. But the real
reason is that a lot of doctors aren't aware of how well they are
protected under state law. Right after Prop. 215 passed, former U.S.
drug czar Barry McCaffrey threatened to take away licenses from doctors
who wrote prescriptions for medical marijuana. But a group of doctors
in San Francisco won a federal injunction against McCaffrey, so the
federal government is now under a court order not to harass doctors who
recommend cannabis in accordance with California law.
Prop. 215 said cannabis should be made available to terminally ill
patients as well as those suffering from "any other illness for which
marijuana provides relief." Why haven't state officials written up a
set of regulations for doctors that spell out the medical conditions
for which they can prescribe cannabis?
John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) has introduced several bills in
Sacramento that would require the California Department of Health
Services to set up a registry of patients who would be issued a card
from the agency. The medical conditions outlined in those bills were
more strictly defined than what was outlined in Prop. 215. But at every
turn, it was obvious that the governor-first Pete Wilson, then Gray
Davis-was going to veto the bill. So those bills never even left
Sacramento.
Cannabis clubs in San Francisco, Oakland, Humboldt and West Hollywood
that popped up shortly after Prop. 215 passed are still going strong.
Meanwhile, the Orange County Cannabis Co-op is long-gone. Does the
responsibility for this rest with local law enforcement, cannabis
activists, or both?
Probably a little bit of both. A big part of the trouble in Orange
County had to do with DA prosecutor Carl Armbrust, who handled both the
Herrick and Chavez trials. During the Chavez trial, I spoke to Armbrust
in the courtroom hallway for several hours. He was an old drug warrior
on the verge of retirement. His last hurrah was to prove that this
Prop. 215 thing wasn't going to work. So he prosecuted Marvin. On the
other hand, Armbrust did so only after a judge warned Chavez not to
dispense any more marijuana through his co-op, which Chavez ignored. Of
course, it was an undercover officer who got Chavez to do this, by
begging him and pleading with him because "the pain" was so terrible.
So Marvin did what the guy asked him to do; he shouldn't have. It may
be that his only crime was compassion, but under the circumstances, it
was not a wise move.
Armbrust is out of the picture now; so are former OC Sheriff Brad
Gates and District Attorney Mike Capizzi, both of whom campaigned
vigorously against medical marijuana both before and after Prop. 215
became law. Are their replacements any better?
I think it's important to note that there have not been any
medical-marijuana prosecutions in Orange County since the Marvin Chavez
trial. Neither DA Tony Rackauckas nor Sheriff Mike Carona is likely to
make any statements in favor of a government-supervised program to
implement Prop. 215, but they're probably even less eager to prosecute
any more patients. Maybe through their silence on this issue, they are
acceding to the unruly will of the people.
That's a nice thought, but is the battle over medical marijuana really
over?
The battle over medical marijuana has been fought, and for the most
part, it's been won. Now the main focus among the cannabis co-ops is
teaching people how to grow marijuana. I know of a marijuana patch out
in Victorville that serves eight patients. Two guys live there, and the
others show up on the weekend to help grow the plants. That kind of
stuff is going on all over the state right now. There is still a threat
of federal law enforcement going after cannabis co-ops and large-scale
medical-marijuana growers, but studies show that 90 percent of drug
prosecutions are carried out at the state level. And California's law
on this matter is pretty unambiguous: if you have a doctor's
recommendation, you have the right to possess and cultivate cannabis.
If you cultivate it for personal use and aren't transporting it or
distributing it, then you shouldn't have any problems.
Newshawk: Freedomtoexhale.com
Source: Orange County Weekly (CA)
Author: Nick Schou
Published: April 27 - May 3, 2001
Copyright: 2001, Orange County Weekly, Inc.
Contact: letters@ocweekly.com
Website: OC Weekly – OC Weekly | Orange County’s leading source of news, culture and entertainment
senior editorial writer for The Orange County Register, Bock has spent
much of the past several years following the never-ending battle over
Proposition 215, the medical-marijuana initiative approved by
California voters in November 1996. Bock covered the 1998 trials of
David Lee Herrick and Marvin Chavez, co-founders of the Orange County
Cannabis Co-op; despite the passage of Prop. 215, both were convicted
of selling marijuana and sentenced to several years in prison.
(Herrick's conviction was overturned after he spent two years in jail,
and Chavez was released on bail last year, pending his appeal). Last
month, Bock published Waiting to Inhale: The Politcs of Medical
Marijuana (Seven Locks Press), a book on Prop. 215 and the
medical-marijuana movement. And he recently returned from Washington,
D.C., where he sat in the U.S. Supreme Court as justices heard
arguments in a case involving the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Collective.
Bock says the Supreme Court hearing convinced him that there are still
conflicts between the five-year-old Prop. 215 and federal law, but that
the war is over in California, and medical-marijuana advocates have
won.
OC Weekly: The title of your book is Waiting to Inhale. Is the waiting
over in California?
Alan Bock: In most jurisdictions in California, if you have a valid
doctor's recommendation and a membership card in a cannabis
cooperative, the police are not going to take you to jail. They may
investigate to see whether your card is valid and create a certain
amount of hassle, but they probably aren't going to charge you with
possession. The main roadblock right now for patients is being able to
find doctors who are willing to write prescriptions for medical
marijuana. There are a few doctors in California who have not just been
willing but eager to do this-but most aren't.
Why?
In part because the California Medical Association has been very
conservative in its instructions to doctors on this issue. But the real
reason is that a lot of doctors aren't aware of how well they are
protected under state law. Right after Prop. 215 passed, former U.S.
drug czar Barry McCaffrey threatened to take away licenses from doctors
who wrote prescriptions for medical marijuana. But a group of doctors
in San Francisco won a federal injunction against McCaffrey, so the
federal government is now under a court order not to harass doctors who
recommend cannabis in accordance with California law.
Prop. 215 said cannabis should be made available to terminally ill
patients as well as those suffering from "any other illness for which
marijuana provides relief." Why haven't state officials written up a
set of regulations for doctors that spell out the medical conditions
for which they can prescribe cannabis?
John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) has introduced several bills in
Sacramento that would require the California Department of Health
Services to set up a registry of patients who would be issued a card
from the agency. The medical conditions outlined in those bills were
more strictly defined than what was outlined in Prop. 215. But at every
turn, it was obvious that the governor-first Pete Wilson, then Gray
Davis-was going to veto the bill. So those bills never even left
Sacramento.
Cannabis clubs in San Francisco, Oakland, Humboldt and West Hollywood
that popped up shortly after Prop. 215 passed are still going strong.
Meanwhile, the Orange County Cannabis Co-op is long-gone. Does the
responsibility for this rest with local law enforcement, cannabis
activists, or both?
Probably a little bit of both. A big part of the trouble in Orange
County had to do with DA prosecutor Carl Armbrust, who handled both the
Herrick and Chavez trials. During the Chavez trial, I spoke to Armbrust
in the courtroom hallway for several hours. He was an old drug warrior
on the verge of retirement. His last hurrah was to prove that this
Prop. 215 thing wasn't going to work. So he prosecuted Marvin. On the
other hand, Armbrust did so only after a judge warned Chavez not to
dispense any more marijuana through his co-op, which Chavez ignored. Of
course, it was an undercover officer who got Chavez to do this, by
begging him and pleading with him because "the pain" was so terrible.
So Marvin did what the guy asked him to do; he shouldn't have. It may
be that his only crime was compassion, but under the circumstances, it
was not a wise move.
Armbrust is out of the picture now; so are former OC Sheriff Brad
Gates and District Attorney Mike Capizzi, both of whom campaigned
vigorously against medical marijuana both before and after Prop. 215
became law. Are their replacements any better?
I think it's important to note that there have not been any
medical-marijuana prosecutions in Orange County since the Marvin Chavez
trial. Neither DA Tony Rackauckas nor Sheriff Mike Carona is likely to
make any statements in favor of a government-supervised program to
implement Prop. 215, but they're probably even less eager to prosecute
any more patients. Maybe through their silence on this issue, they are
acceding to the unruly will of the people.
That's a nice thought, but is the battle over medical marijuana really
over?
The battle over medical marijuana has been fought, and for the most
part, it's been won. Now the main focus among the cannabis co-ops is
teaching people how to grow marijuana. I know of a marijuana patch out
in Victorville that serves eight patients. Two guys live there, and the
others show up on the weekend to help grow the plants. That kind of
stuff is going on all over the state right now. There is still a threat
of federal law enforcement going after cannabis co-ops and large-scale
medical-marijuana growers, but studies show that 90 percent of drug
prosecutions are carried out at the state level. And California's law
on this matter is pretty unambiguous: if you have a doctor's
recommendation, you have the right to possess and cultivate cannabis.
If you cultivate it for personal use and aren't transporting it or
distributing it, then you shouldn't have any problems.
Newshawk: Freedomtoexhale.com
Source: Orange County Weekly (CA)
Author: Nick Schou
Published: April 27 - May 3, 2001
Copyright: 2001, Orange County Weekly, Inc.
Contact: letters@ocweekly.com
Website: OC Weekly – OC Weekly | Orange County’s leading source of news, culture and entertainment