Pubdate: Wed, 26 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: Ken McLaughlin, Mercury News
Cited: Drug Law Reform Project 
http://www.aclu.org/DrugPolicy/DrugPolicy.cfm?ID=10972&c=19
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

CITY OKS MEDICAL MARIJUANA DEPT.

DISTRIBUTION OFFICE WOULD BE FIRST IN U.S.

In a move that divided the city's famously left-leaning politicians,
the Santa Cruz City Council on Tuesday voted to create a city
department to distribute medicinal marijuana.

If it eventually comes into being -- something that is doubtful at
this point -- the Office of Compassionate Use would become the first
such municipal office in the country.

The vote marks the latest salvo by the council in a long-running
battle over medicinal pot. Three years ago, the council allowed
medicinal marijuana to be given away on the steps of City Hall as
journalists from around the world recorded the moment.

This time, however, council members didn't seem to be thumbing their
noses at U.S. drug laws. The council made clear Tuesday it had no
intention to establish the office unless it wins a legal fight with
federal officials in a court of law.

"I am excited, and I applaud the city council for its creativity and
bold decision to put the issue squarely before the courts in a way
that is not reckless," said Allen Hopper, senior staff attorney with
the Drug Law Reform Project, a national project of the American Civil
Liberties Union based in Santa Cruz.

The council passed the first reading of the ordinance on a 4-2 vote.
Vice Mayor Cynthia Mathews and Councilman Ryan Coonerty dissented.
Councilman Ed Porter was absent.

Mathews said she fully supported the right of allowing sick patients
to smoke medicinal marijuana, but worried that it could end up costing
the cash-strapped city money.

"I'm not comfortable with the expectations it creates," Mathews
said. "I'm not convinced this is something the city can or should
take on."

The city, she said, "is on the ropes" financially, "to put it mildly."

But Mayor Mike Rotkin assured Mathews -- usually a strong ally on the
council -- that he wouldn't have introduced the measure if "I thought
it would cost the city of Santa Cruz money. . . . All of us are quite
aware of the fiscal crisis."

Rotkin, who said the program could be supported by user fees, argued
that medicinal marijuana was an important issue to so many Santa
Cruzans. To some, he said, it's the "most important issue in their
life."

Hopper said the fact that a city would be willing to actually
distribute medicinal marijuana could lead to a legal showdown over the
meaning of the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as it applies
to medicinal pot.

The amendment reads: "The powers not delegated to the United States
by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved
to the States respectively, or to the people."

Earlier this month, a divided Mountain View City Council voted to
study the mechanics and legalities of making the city's drug stores
medicinal marijuana dispensaries.

Along the same lines, Santa Cruz council members indicated Tuesday
they'd like to see drug stores such as Walgreens distribute the
marijuana if the municipal Office of Compassionate Use is eventually
set up.

California voters voted in 1996 to allow the use of medicinal
marijuana. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in June that federal
drug laws continue to trump the efforts of states that permit it.
Lawyers for medicinal marijuana patients, however, remain hopeful
they can still press ahead in the courts because the Supreme Court
specifically chose not to address some constitutional issues in this
year's case.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake