Source: Ukiah Daily Journal Author: Glenda Anderson, The Ukiah Daily Journal Contact: P.O. Box 749, Ukiah, CA 95482 Fax: (707) 4685780 Pubdate: December 18, 1997 COUNTY TO CONSIDER CANNABIS RESOLUTION Spurred by a recent San Francisco court ruling, 5th District Supervisor Charles Peterson this week submitted a draft resolution to the clerk of the board to try to protect people and clubs who provide marijuana for medical use. "I'm afraid it will spur (state Attorney General) Dan Lungren to bust everybody," he said this morning, referring to the recent. court decision. His proposed resolution, scheduled to be discussed at the board's Jan. 13 meeting, asks the District Attorney and Sheriff's Office to make prosecution of people who grow or provide marijuana for medical use a low priority While it has no legal standing, Peterson said it's at least something. "Until the state Legislature and the governor get off their youknowwhats and respond to Proposition 215, we have to do something," he said. Proposition 215 legalized marijuana used by seriously ill people whose doctors recommend the drug, or possession by a "primary caregiver" but doesn't adequately spell out the means by which people can grow and provide the drug. At issue in last week's Court of Appeals case was whether cannabis buyers clubs, where people can go to buy and use marijuana, can be caregivers. The court said the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club was not a primary caregiver, under the definition of Proposition 215. The case is being appealed. The state Attorney General's Office has long stated cannabis clubs are not primary caregivers. and thus are illegal. The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office also believes the Ukiah Cannabis Buyers Club and similar clubs throughout the state are illegal, but has held off shutting down the local club until the law is clarified, according to Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Kevin Broin. Last week's ruling, though on appeal, has strengthened the Attorney General's and Sheriff's Office's stand, Broin said. He said he expects the club eventually will be closed. Peterson said he's not sure of the exact wording in his draft resolution because he wrote it months ago but he doesn't believe it attempts to define who primary caregivers. are. He said he hadn't submitted the resolution earlier because he suspected there would be a more critical time to deal with the issue, like now.