Pubdate: Wed, 19 Oct 2005
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2005 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.mercurynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author: Jessica Portner
Cited: Americans for Safe Access ( www.safeaccessnow.org )
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

DISPENSING POT

An elderly woman waits at her local pharmacy to pick up her arthritis drugs 
behind a mom fetching her son's ADHD medication. Imagine a cancer or AIDS 
patient joining that line to fill his prescription for medicinal marijuana.

The city of Mountain View is exploring the novel idea of allowing 
pharmacists to dispense medicinal marijuana as readily as Viagra or Vicodin.

Pharmacist Nori Yabumoto, for one, said he thinks that scenario makes sense.

"All pharmacists are in a field to help people who are sick,'' said 
Yabumoto, who has owned the Economed Pharmacy next to El Camino Hospital in 
Mountain View for 27 years. "I wish they would let the professionals take 
care of it.''

Drug stores in the Netherlands distribute medicinal marijuana, and Canada 
plans next year to launch a pilot program with government- certified pot. 
But the idea is against federal law in the United States -- even though 
California voters in 1996 gave certain patients the right to use medicinal 
cannabis with a doctor's prescription through Proposition 215.

Last week, a divided Mountain View City Council voted to study the 
mechanics and legalities of making the city's drug stores medicinal 
marijuana dispensaries. Some members of the city council worried it would 
unleash abuse of the system and create tussles with the federal government. 
Mayor Matt Neely and others were moved, however, by the stories of people 
such as Jonathan Lustig, a Mountain View resident who has to travel to 
Oakland pot clubs to pick up the marijuana he is prescribed to ease searing 
migraines and stomach pain because no local centers exist.

There are no marijuana clubs in Santa Clara or San Mateo counties. Elaine 
Costello, Mountain View's planning director, said that in theory, 
pharmacies could be a legitimate venue for distributing the pain-numbing, 
nausea-relieving drug.

Mountain View zoning officials have said the city may be able to issue 
pharmacies "conditional use'' zoning permits, which allow businesses to 
open under special conditions.

Regulating such dispensaries has emerged as legally precarious turf, 
especially in California, which, with more than 160 marijuana centers 
statewide, is the epicenter of pot clubs. State law authorizes patients to 
use medicinal marijuana if they have certain diseases, including cancer, 
AIDS, glaucoma, arthritis or migraines. But a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 
June said that state laws did not protect medicinal marijuana users from 
federal prosecution.

"It's plain and simple: federal law prohibits it,'' said Luke Macaulay, a 
spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco.

And that has big chain drug stores expressing reservations.

"Generally our policy is that we will carry or make available any 
medication that is approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration,'' 
said Michael Polzin, spokesman for Walgreens in Deerfield, Ill. "I don't 
know how this would fit into that.''

Like most pharmacies, Economed already dispenses controlled substances such 
as methadone, percocet and oxycodone, which is similar to morphine. 
Yabumoto sees the legal pitfalls of legitimizing the practice of dispensing 
medicinal marijuana and isn't interested in challenging federal law. But if 
the California Board of Pharmacy and federal government cleared the way, 
Yabumoto said, he believes plenty of pharmacists would be interested in 
dispensing cannabis.

Dispensing the prescribed substance in a licensed pharmacy is smarter than 
letting people sell it in private centers that could be magnets for drug 
dealers and other crime, he said.

"Pharmacies are ideal places,'' said Yabumoto in his store, where the 
shelves are lined with pain relievers and cold remedies. "We are trained to 
identify people who are abusing the system more than people who are out 
there in clubs.''

For now, Mountain View city officials are studying the idea and will report 
back in about two months.

Hilary McQuie, spokeswoman for the Oakland-based Americans for Safe Access, 
said hundreds of ill people from Santa Clara and San Mateo counties must 
travel to pot clubs in San Francisco, Oakland, Hayward and Santa Cruz to 
get their medications.

While she applauds Mountain View for studying the pharmacy approach, she 
said there may be better options.

"I would be surprised if they don't find that to be in conflict legally,'' 
she said, however. "A church might be a better sanctuary.''
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