Mendo MMJ board holds first meeting

http://www.mendocinobeacon.com/local/ci_4130735

Mendocino (CA) Beacon
Article Last Updated: 08/03/2006 08:00:37 AM PDT

Medical marijuana board holds first meeting

By FRANK HARTZELL Of The Beacon --

A defendant was perched next to the district attorney at a
not-very-relaxing first meeting of the Mendocino Medical Marijuana
Advisory Board Friday in Fort Bragg.

In a greater irony, Mendocino County District Attorney Norm Vroman was
invited as special guest to be praised for not prosecuting people for
medical marijuana-related offenses.

And, advisory board member David Moore, who faces criminal charges
along with five other members of his Mendocino Healing growing and
distribution operation in Fort Bragg, has been a supporter of Vroman
and the card program he helped create with former Sheriff Tony Craver.

Craver, the new board's honorary chairman, was also present.

The tension between Moore and Vroman wasn't the only visible conflict
Friday over the herb famous for its calming powers.

There was politicking, accusations and much confusion as the new board
steered the audience through the maze of marijuana legislation,
litigation and law enforcement.

Mendocino County's admittedly relaxed pot policies become a problem
when the medicine is exported from the county.

Mendocino Healing supplied a large percentage of the San Francisco
medical marijuana market, upsetting neighbors and prompting federal
interest, culminating in a raid on Mitchell Creek Road last November
that netted 1,500 plants.

While most of the crowd supported the need for growing operations like
Mendocino Healing, some worried about crime and kids getting easier
access to marijuana.

Many patients in the crowd came from the Bay Area and said they
weren't able to grow their own supply. They said San Francisco doesn't
have available and clean soils like Mendocino County, comparing
marijuana to clean, organic apples and grapes grown locally.

"It takes a healthy person to produce medical marijuana for a
patient," said activist Ukiah Sativa Morrison, a member of the board.

Percy Coleman was one of about a dozen people who came up from San
Francisco to offer support to Mendocino Healing.

Coleman, a soft-spoken 56-year-old cancer patient, is on a fixed
income and cannot afford the $50 to $70 per 1/8th ounce that other
city clubs charge. The same amount costs $20 to $25 from Mendocino
Healing, he said in an interview.

Coleman said Mendocino Healing got into trouble by giving the doses
away to those with cards, attracting long lines. Coleman admitted he
smoked pot recreationally before being diagnosed with cancer and high
blood pressure, and said prices have actually skyrocketed for pot
since the medical marijuana laws were passed.

"Most of the clubs in San Francisco are really just in the
marijuana-selling business, but Mendocino Healing is the only one that
really wants to help people on fixed incomes," Coleman said, adding
that the marijuana grown in Mendocino County is cleaner and more
effective than the mixed bag that other clubs provide.

While about half the 75-plus people in Town Hall gave candidate Vroman
two rousing standing ovations, others sat with arms crossed during the
clapping.

True to Mendocino County tradition, nobody, save the politicians, gave
their names when speaking, including board members.

One man pointed his finger at Vroman and called the county's top
lawman a "liar" for saying marijuana charges don't now result in state
prison, saying his own caregiver faces prison time.

"Was that a question?" Vroman asked as the man left the microphone.

"It was both a question and a statement," the man retorted.

Vroman described how each of California's 58 counties has a different
interpretation of laws regarding transportation and possession of
marijuana. He pledged to protect patients, but only within "his
county."

"We have a terrible problem with people coming up the 101 corridor and
buying marijuana, be it medical or otherwise. I am not interested in
[protecting] people from any other county. They can take care of
themselves," he said.

Vroman said he could not comment on the Mendocino Healing case because
charges are pending.

"We are prosecuting some cases that don't look like medical marijuana.
We are making them go through the hoops, going to a court and proving
to a judge this is indeed medical marijuana. It is still illegal to
possess marijuana unless it falls under Proposition 215 rules," Vroman
said.

He said the confusing statutes don't clarify how much marijuana is too
much, among other things.

"If they meet minimum guidelines, we don't look at the case," Vroman said.

If a caregiver falls outside the guidelines, prosecutors investigate.

"We see if somebody is trying to flimflam us S We are trying to
protect the legitimate marijuana user and the legitimate marijuana
caregiver," Vroman said.

Moore claims his Mendocino Healing operation always had more patients
than he could provide for, buying from other
medical marijuana providers. He says his Mitchell Creek Road growing
operation was never a secret, with city and county permits being filed
and law officers being invited to the site. He claims the raid was an
ambush that happened while former Sheriff Tony Craver was unavailable.

Neighbors of the Mitchell Creek Road operation expressed worries about
its scale and safety, saying it attracted thieves. None would speak on
the record.

San Francisco neighbors got the Mendocino Healing distribution
operation on Lafayette Street shut down, Moore said, although it's now
re-opened with no walk-ins allowed. He admitted there were give-aways
and said the long lines surprised him.

Moore blamed NIMBYism (not in my backyard) and the fact that Vroman's
stance on medical marijuana rules stops at the county line for
stopping effective use of medical marijuana.

Moore said Vroman would set medical marijuana back 10 years if he
sticks to a practice of severely limiting the number of patients a
local care provider can have outside of the area.

He said the district attorney's office's claim that the operation is
fronting for non-medical activities is false.

"We are being accused of making a lot of money, and that just ain't
so, and we can prove it," Moore said at the meeting.

Craver said had he "been in the information loop" the raid on
Mendocino Healing probably would not have happened."

He also said Moore was "legitimately trying to help people ... That's
why he had my support for seven years," the former sheriff said.

Craver pleaded with the crowd to lobby Sacramento for sensible
statewide standards.

Both Craver and Vroman said they don't smoke marijuana but support the
right of patients who do.

Vroman said that, speaking as a citizen, not as DA, he hoped the next
new law would be to legalize marijuana, although as DA he is obligated
to uphold the current law, which makes all non-medical marijuana
illegal.

In addition to providing the crowd with a full history of Mendocino
County's medical marijuana card program, Craver made a strong
political pitch for Tom Allman over Kevin Broin in the November
sheriff's race.

After kidding Allman about being a "former narc," Craver said, "Go
with [Allman] and you won't be sorry. Kevin Broin isn't the guy for
the job S You can thank Kevin for the fact that you have to go to
court to get your [marijuana] back, which we didn't have the right to
take in the first place. Tom Allman won't do that.

Broin attended the last meeting of the group but wasn't present
Friday. The MMMAB board does not endorse candidates.

Vroman didn't campaign or mention his foe in the November election,
Meredith Lintott. He was introduced "not as a candidate for district
attorney but as a friend of the medical marijuana movement since
1999," by moderator Pebbles Trippet.

Allman took the podium to promise not to "fix what isn't broken" and
to praise the program of Craver and Vroman. He encouraged everyone to
watch a slideshow by county health officer Marvin Trotter, M.D., about
the medical benefits of marijuana, which he said had given him pause
and made him re-think pre-conceived notions about the herb.

The MMMAB is also sponsoring a separate DA medical marijuana policy
debate between Vroman and Lintott and a debate between Allman and
Broin on Sept. 30 at Area 101, 10 miles north of Laytonville on
Highway 101.

Lintott and Broin were both invited to the Friday forum, but could not
make it, said Trippet.

Craver got interested in the issue when he worked for a former sheriff
who ordered raids and seizures "of everything somebody had but their
skivvies," knowing they would be returned. Craver also was
uncomfortable with the policy of former California Attorney General
Dan Lundgren who after the passage of Proposition 215 wanted law
officers to arrest everyone caught with marijuana and let the courts
"sort out the good guys from the bad guys."

"People want to play by the rules S I felt we needed at least a white
paper [explaining how the program was supposed to work]," Craver said.

Craver and Vroman became a team because both men were searching for a
program that would interpret the new laws for local citizens. Craver
went to Arcata and studied a pioneering card program there.

He had hoped to pair with a judge to come up with standards for
officers to rely on when headed to court "but Norm was talking about
it," he said.

Craver said the third person in the trilogy was then county public
health officer Trotter, who "went way out on a limb to help create the
standards and particularly to protect patient confidentiality.

"What is a person's medical condition never came into the equation,"
Craver said.

Instead, law enforcement's job became simply to confirm whether a
prescription existed.

"Anybody with a personal computer can sit down and write a
prescription from Dr. Feelgood who says my client is a pot head, give
him all he wants," Craver said.

As moderator, Trippet said Friday's meeting was all about taking the
issue to higher ground.

"There is a future for this issue like few other issues. The herb is
safe, people are a little bit more non-violent than the average
person, due to the mellowing effect of marijuana," she said.

The audience at Friday's meeting was a markedly different group than
those who regularly attend and demonstrate for issues like health
care, peace, clean foods, opposition to offshore oil drilling and
other issues traditionally labeled as "left." Friday's audience
included many patients of all ages who were clearly in physical or
emotional pain.

If confusing state laws, contradictory county interpretations and
federal intrusions weren't enough for the issue, a local conflict has
been brewing lately.

After an increase in seizures this year of pot plants, county
supervisors have considered raising the bar for prosecution, according
to published reports. Vroman responded to that effort by pointing out
that supervisors don't control who the district attorney prosecutes.

Craver described the icy reception he got from fellow top county law
officers as being made to feel like his underarm deodorant wasn't
working when he walked into the room.

Vroman said he was laughed at by other prosecutors who mocked him for
thinking the card program would work. Since then, he said, many of
those same fellow prosecutors have contacted him to learn more about
how Mendocino County's program does work, faced with their own
problems over medical marijuana,

The MMMAB policy group formed April 5 at the Ukiah Brewery, with
public officials, law enforcement, doctors, patients, caregivers,
activists and defendants represented. Other board members include
Registrar of Voters Marsha Wharff, Ukiah Planning Commissioner Judy
Pruden, Lorraine Ahlswede of the Mendocino County SB 420 ID Card
Program and Paula Deeter, who runs the local dispensary Urban Legend.

For information, call 984-9124 or 964-YESS.