Pubdate: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 Source: Daily News of Los Angeles (CA) Copyright: 2003 Daily News of Los Angeles Contact: http://www.dailynews.com/info/contact/index.asp Website: http://www.DailyNews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/246 Author: Michael Gougis, Staff Writer Cited: Americans for Safe Access ( www.safeaccessnow.org ) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ed+Rosenthal (Rosenthal, Ed) MEDICAL MARIJUANA TUG OF WAR Lenient Sentences Underscore Conflicting State And Federal Pot Laws Operators of a West Hollywood cannabis club, let off recently without jail sentences by a federal judge, say they see the light sentences as bittersweet victories in the fight to safeguard California's legal right to smoke marijuana for medical purposes. Their battle is with the federal government and they have a lot of supporters on their side -- including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer and local law enforcement officials. The problem is that the federal government refuses to recognize the state's 1996 voter-approved law allowing doctor-prescribed marijuana use for patients suffering from cancer, HIV and other chronic diseases. And with no immediate plans by the state to take on the federal government, experts say the issue will remain in a legal limbo -- leaving patients, doctors, prosecutors and law enforcement officers scratching their heads. The clubs, like West Hollywood's Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center, which served 960 patients, are being closed and their clients are turning to the black market to buy marijuana. "It's a sad statement about our times when people whose only goal is to help others are caught up in a political backlash," said Ron Kaye, the attorney who represented LACRC operators Scott Imler, Jeff Yablan and Jeffrey Farrington. Even U.S. District Judge Howard Matz, who sentenced the three men to a year of probation, scolded prosecutors for bringing the case to trial and called their work "admirable." He gave them the most lenient sentence under the law. "Despite the fact that our program is destroyed, we couldn't have asked for a better outcome in court," said Imler, a cancer sufferer who co-authored Proposition 215, the ballot measure legalizing medical marijuana use. "We tried very hard to change the law using the mechanisms we learned in civics class. It was very hard to view ourselves -- and be seen -- as criminals." The case was the latest high-profile showdown between California and the federal government and continues a bizarre legal pattern that has developed since Prop. 215 took effect. Typically, federal prosecutors bring the cases to trial, win a conviction and then federal judges hand down light sentences, infuriating the Justice Department. In July, the Justice Department appealed the sentence of San Francisco activist Ed Rosenthal for growing marijuana for patients in Northern California. Rosenthal was sentenced to just one day in jail. The appeal is still pending. Eight other states have medical marijuana laws similar to California's. The Justice Department says it will continue to raid marijuana centers and farms because the state laws conflict with federal law banning the cultivation, possession and use of marijuana, even for medical purposes. "We don't contest the sincerity and good faith of these defendants," federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald told Matz last week. "But we do have a legal regime in which a law was passed by Congress and I think .. all of us, whether we agree with those rules or not, need to abide by them." Ultimately, medical marijuana advocates say, the states will have to pressure the federal government to change the law. "We have thousands of Americans who need this, and we have judges who are refusing to put people in jail. The last logical step is to change federal policy," said Stef Sherer, executive director and founder of Americans for Safe Access, an advocacy group based in Northern California. Until then, a kind of don't ask, don't tell system -- where doctors recommend the drug but can't prescribe it, where patients are safe from local prosecution but risk federal charges -- is emerging. "The greatest impact is on the patients who had come to rely upon us," Imler said. "They've been driven back into the streets, alleys and parks, and giving their money to people who do not have their best interests in mind." Imler's cannabis resource center was operated with the blessing of the Sheriff's Department and the city of West Hollywood, which helped purchase the building it operated from. The city is in litigation over the building with the federal government, which seized it in 2001 and sold it for $1.2 million. In the short to medium run, legal observers say, clubs can exist as long as they keep a low profile and do not acquire any assets, like property, which can be seized. "Smaller, less-visible ... word-of-mouth places are going to be the ones that stay off the federal radar," said Mitchell Earleywine, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Southern California and an expert on the legal and ethical issues surrounding its use. "As the clubs get bigger, those are the ones the federal government goes crazy over." While Schwarzenegger is a supporter of medical marijuana use and has pledged to support the state law, a spokesman said he doesn't intend to press the issue in Washington anytime soon. So advocates intend to press on with legal challenges and legislative proposals. Two are advancing in Congress, both supported by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Huntington Beach Republican whose mother died of cancer. Also, a new state law that will go into effect Jan. 1 limits caregivers or patients to six mature or a dozen immature plants per patient and creates a state registry that identifies users of medical marijuana. It also creates a 24-hour hotline for law enforcement officials to verify that someone they've detained is a registered user of medicinal marijuana. The law is the result of a task force assembled by state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who has loudly criticized the federal government for raiding medical marijuana clubs in California. Americans for Safe Access has started a telephone campaign to the constituents of four California congressmen who voted against a proposal that would have stopped federal medical marijuana raids. The four, two Democrats and two Republicans, represent districts where the raids occurred. "There's a lot of fear -- justified fear -- among patients. But I think there's a lot of brave, compassionate people who will continue to do what they know is right, and federal policy will just have to catch up," Sherer said. - --The Associated Press contributed to this report. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman