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GUIDELINES ADOPTED FOR MEDICINAL MARIJUANA
By DOUG MATTSON, Sierra Sun News Service
If you have two pounds of processed marijuana and a legitimate prescription,
smoke in peace.
Four hazy years after California voters passed the Compassionate Use Act,
Nevada County has added some clarity by adopting a set of guidelines on how
much pot a patient can own and what constitutes a legitimate medical A
patient is permitted up to two pounds of processed marijuana and to
cultivate up to 10 plants at any given time - so long as the plants yield no
more than two pounds of processed marijuana.
"It's enough to stay stoned most of the time for a year," District Attorney
Mike Ferguson said Thursday.
Ferguson reached the guidelines with input from Sheriff's Department
narcotics agents and local users and physicians. Ferguson, Sheriff Keith
Royal, Grass Valley Police Chief John Foster and Nevada City Police Chief
Lou Trovato signed the guidelines Wednesday, June 14.
George Shouldice, a San Juan Ridge marijuana user, said the standards
suffice.
"I'd like to see a little bit more on the amount of plants and marijuana,"
he said. "Three pounds and 15 plants - that's what I was arguing for. Some
people were arguing for a lot less. Actually, we all should be happy."
Shouldice, 56, said he's growing 10 plants and ingests marijuana to ease
chronic lower-back spasms he has had since the mid-1980s.
"It helps, but it's not a panacea and it doesn't do it all by itself,"
Shouldice said. "I can function a lot better on the marijuana than I can on
morphine-type derivative drugs."
The county allows more marijuana than some counties that bothered to
establish guidelines.
"I think they're some of the best in the state," Shouldice said. "Less than
half of the counties in the state even have guidelines."
Ferguson said, "When you look at some of the other laws, I think we're being
pretty liberal in what we're allowing people to have."
Looking elsewhere, Ferguson said he found that Shasta County allows patients
1.33 pounds of marijuana and two outdoor plants or six indoor plants. Tehama
County allows three pounds of marijuana, up to 18 seedlings but no more than
three mature plants.
State laws vary, too.
Alaska allows one ounce of usable marijuana and six plants but only up to
three mature plants. Colorado allows up to two ounces and three mature
plants.
There's debate over how much a plant can produce.
"We hear about these guerrilla growers who can grow one-and-a-half- and
two-pound plants. I can't do it. Maybe if I had more time at it," Shouldice
said.
Ferguson had hoped to form a medical review committee to look over medical
recommendations - much like Sonoma County has - but it "wasn't workable," he
said. In Mendocino County, marijuana prescription recommendations from
doctors must be approved by the county health department.
Nevada County's guidelines were established partly to keep
recommendation-holders from growing limitless crops, partly to give law
enforcement some parameters.
The document's expressed purpose was to establish a "criteria for
verification of medicinal marijuana cases and thereby not infringe on
legitimate possession of marijuana for medicinal purposes ..."
Law enforcement will continue to check the validity of medical
recommendations, both to see whether the patient has more marijuana than was
recommended, or if the doctor's recommendation itself was valid.
"A doctor shouldn't be used to facilitate recreational use," Ferguson said.
The guidelines may be tweaked as time goes on, he said, "But it's a start."
By DOUG MATTSON, Sierra Sun News Service
If you have two pounds of processed marijuana and a legitimate prescription,
smoke in peace.
Four hazy years after California voters passed the Compassionate Use Act,
Nevada County has added some clarity by adopting a set of guidelines on how
much pot a patient can own and what constitutes a legitimate medical A
patient is permitted up to two pounds of processed marijuana and to
cultivate up to 10 plants at any given time - so long as the plants yield no
more than two pounds of processed marijuana.
"It's enough to stay stoned most of the time for a year," District Attorney
Mike Ferguson said Thursday.
Ferguson reached the guidelines with input from Sheriff's Department
narcotics agents and local users and physicians. Ferguson, Sheriff Keith
Royal, Grass Valley Police Chief John Foster and Nevada City Police Chief
Lou Trovato signed the guidelines Wednesday, June 14.
George Shouldice, a San Juan Ridge marijuana user, said the standards
suffice.
"I'd like to see a little bit more on the amount of plants and marijuana,"
he said. "Three pounds and 15 plants - that's what I was arguing for. Some
people were arguing for a lot less. Actually, we all should be happy."
Shouldice, 56, said he's growing 10 plants and ingests marijuana to ease
chronic lower-back spasms he has had since the mid-1980s.
"It helps, but it's not a panacea and it doesn't do it all by itself,"
Shouldice said. "I can function a lot better on the marijuana than I can on
morphine-type derivative drugs."
The county allows more marijuana than some counties that bothered to
establish guidelines.
"I think they're some of the best in the state," Shouldice said. "Less than
half of the counties in the state even have guidelines."
Ferguson said, "When you look at some of the other laws, I think we're being
pretty liberal in what we're allowing people to have."
Looking elsewhere, Ferguson said he found that Shasta County allows patients
1.33 pounds of marijuana and two outdoor plants or six indoor plants. Tehama
County allows three pounds of marijuana, up to 18 seedlings but no more than
three mature plants.
State laws vary, too.
Alaska allows one ounce of usable marijuana and six plants but only up to
three mature plants. Colorado allows up to two ounces and three mature
plants.
There's debate over how much a plant can produce.
"We hear about these guerrilla growers who can grow one-and-a-half- and
two-pound plants. I can't do it. Maybe if I had more time at it," Shouldice
said.
Ferguson had hoped to form a medical review committee to look over medical
recommendations - much like Sonoma County has - but it "wasn't workable," he
said. In Mendocino County, marijuana prescription recommendations from
doctors must be approved by the county health department.
Nevada County's guidelines were established partly to keep
recommendation-holders from growing limitless crops, partly to give law
enforcement some parameters.
The document's expressed purpose was to establish a "criteria for
verification of medicinal marijuana cases and thereby not infringe on
legitimate possession of marijuana for medicinal purposes ..."
Law enforcement will continue to check the validity of medical
recommendations, both to see whether the patient has more marijuana than was
recommended, or if the doctor's recommendation itself was valid.
"A doctor shouldn't be used to facilitate recreational use," Ferguson said.
The guidelines may be tweaked as time goes on, he said, "But it's a start."
