A fun time to be in California! -- Final End

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Date Posted: 21:48:12 01/31/03 Fri
Author: Drummond
Subject: A fun time to be in California!

While the rest of the country is moving to the right, my home county is becoming ever more progressive as the demographics change. The hippies planted seeds several decades ago that are now starting to bear fun fruit. In the most recent elections, we ousted an old District Attorney who had held the office since 1970 or something like that. Because of the federal block grant funding incentives, he refused to acknowledge our medical marijuana law (Prop 215) at first, then later set a limit of 10 plants (prop 215 states no limits and the state won't take any leadership on the implementation of the law because of the unresolved question of federal jurisdiction, so every county in California has its own policy) and required any physician to actually show up in court to authenticate the certification of medical necessity, even though California's law does not require necessity.
Enter a good friend of mine, Paul Gallegos, a criminal defense attorney who's barely 40 years old. He decided to run against the incumbent last year. Because there are no block grants for prosecution of violent crimes, it's been easier to settle out cases of serious violence than marijuana cases, and the latter tended to get more jail time (ridiculously more time in federal court because of the mandatory minimums, but that's another story). The local sheriff is slow to respond to domestic violence cases, but is right out there when there is a report of hoochie plants. Federal funding is based on tonnage, so they aren't all that disappointed if they actually catch the perp. They just need the plants. However, if they actually do catch the perp, they need the conviction for the plants to count. Don't ask me why the rules work the way they do. Even meth cases weren't being prosecuted with as much vigor. No federal funds for meth, an epidemic level problem in our area and much more destructive than marijuana. Marijuana is more than a drug to the authorities. It's a symbol of the counter-culture they despise.
Apparently, the obsession with marijuana has left some murder cases unsolved years later. And they got so desperate for convictions in one high profile obstruction of justice case (where the perps moved a dead body and dumped it into a ravine - even though they weren't the murderers, they were afraid they would get busted for meth production), they let the most culpable go in a deal to nail the convictions of some small fries. Gallegos thus managed to get support beyond the usual suspects of hippies, and that made the difference.

So Gallegos has revised the guidelines for medical marijuana, and informed the US Attorney in writing that he intends to regard Prop 215 and not the federal laws as the mandate he must follow. You can have up to 99 plants! You can have up to 3 pounds of dried buds at any one time (what about the shake?), so that the patients have a supply of medicine in between harvests. 3 pounds might not seem like much, but that's a lot of hoochie! Gallegos says he is going to prioritize meth over grass. He's not going to try to circumvent proposition 36 (passed overwhelmingly by California voters mandating treatment for the first misdemeanor bust of drugs in lieu of prison, and the automatic expungement of the conviction upon compliance) by pushing felonies instead of misdemeanors.

So the rule is 99 plants or whatever can fit in a 100 square foot area based upon canopy measurement, whichever is more (which would mean more than 99 plants in the early stages of growth, but not as many at harvest time). Male or non-sexed plants will not be counted. For indoor grows, the cap is 1500 watts. The documentation from physicians will prevent charges, arrest, and seizure of the medicine. The sheriff will not second guess the physicians in determining whether the treatment is reasonable for conditions like premenstrual syndrome, alcoholism, and depression. Gallegos said, "police shouldn't ask what prescriptions are for or question their legitimacy."

If police seize plants without checking as to whether they are being grown as medicine, there will be no prosecution.

And he's even considering protocols that would eliminate prosecution for possession of smaller amounts not designated medicine. Given the meth problem, and the number of heroin deaths (our county doesn't even have a methodone clinic - which Gallegos is going to push for). He's effectively making it an allocation of resources issue.

He did have some words for the "corporate" hoochie farmers: "The large-scale, industrial production of marijuana in the county is offensive to me. This is not a wealthy community - we have budget problems and we are experiencing shortfalls in juvenile and mental health services. We're losing money across the board, and if growers are turning huge profits tax-free, that hurts the community."

A good argument for legalization, but if he wants to help the tax base he should make it easier to launder the money! He then argued for legalization, saying that it's easier for kids to get marijuana than alcohol as things are.

So basically, the Mom and Pop marijuana operations get a free ride. Very democratic of him. But even for the big guys, he wants alternatives to prison. "I prefer forfeiture to make them disgorge their profits."

The new policies will be placed on laminated cards to be distributed to both patients and police. I also think they should be sold as novelties to tourists!

Now, we haven't gone as far as Mendocino County or San Francisco, where the county is planning to grow and distribute it's own medicine!

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