Posted on Tue, Apr. 17, 2007

Salinas to vote on medical pot shops

Santa Cruz is the closest place to get legal marijuana

By CLAUDIA MELÉNDEZ SALINAS
Herald Salinas Bureau


In the small studio he shares with autographed pictures of sports
celebrities, Salinas resident Randy Oka talks about living with
constant back pain, the result of a series of unfortunate events.

Oka, 46, an avid sportsman most of his life, spent two weeks in the
hospital in 1983 after a drunken driver cut him off while he was
driving his Kawasaki 250 home from classes at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.

Seven surgeries later, his back continues to be a source of constant pain.

Medication helps him cope, but nothing has given him the results he
gets from smoking pot, which he says provides instant relief.

"It really helps with the pain levels," he said. "It goes down right
away. I've looked into getting (marijuana) in Santa Cruz, but it's a
lengthy process. The drive to Oakland is bad for my back."

Oka is among hundreds of potential patients who could benefit from
having a medical marijuana dispensary in Monterey County. But two of
its cities -- Marina and Seaside -- have already banned establishment
of such dispensaries and Salinas could soon be the third.

The Salinas City Council will consider today whether to place a
one-year moratorium on issuing permits to open the pot shops, or to
scrap the idea altogether. Law enforcement officials and attorneys for
the city want the extension so they can fully research the potential
ramifications of allowing a store that sells a federally banned drug.

But they'd just as soon see the issue go up in smoke. Banning the
establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries "presents the most
prudent course of action," administrators in the police and legal
departments wrote in their report to the council. "Staff has
determined that this represents the greatest balance for the community
at large."

Salinas administrators argue that the ongoing conflict between state
and federal law regarding the use of marijuana would be an obstacle if
the city endorsed medical dispensaries, and said that nowhere in
California law are "dispensaries" either permitted or defined.

The Monterey County District Attorney has taken the position that such
establishments are illegal under both state and federal law, so owners
and operators of marijuana dispensaries could be subject to local
prosecution.

In a strongly-worded letter to the city, District Attorney Dean Flippo
said he believes "dispensaries" are not "primary caregivers," which
are allowed under state law to distribute medical marijuana.

"California law prohibits marijuana sales in stores and elsewhere,"
Flippo writes in a letter dated April 17. "The only exception is for
'primary caregivers.' Clearly a store, by nature and definition, is
not a primary caregiver."

In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215 to allow sick
patients access to marijuana, which is widely regarded as having
pain-relieving and other medical properties. Since then, activists
have butted heads with almost all levels of government trying to
expand patient access to the drug.

At present, only 24 cities and seven counties in the state allow the
dispensaries. Thirty-nine cities and two counties ban them outright,
and 80 cities and six counties have moratoria in place, according to
research by Salinas administrators.

Santa Cruz is the city nearest Monterey County that allows marijuana
to be sold legally. There is at least one dispensary in Santa Cruz,
and some ill Monterey County residents have expressed their desire not
to have to drive that far.

Monterey County Director of Health Len Foster said he has not received
many inquiries to set up a marijuana user identification system, which
was required by the Legislature soon after Proposition 215 was approved.

Said requirement was challenged by San Bernardino and San Diego
counties and it's now tied in the courts, Foster said.

"In the course of the last year and a half, I've had three e-mails and
a couple of telephone calls from medical marijuana advocacy groups,"
he said. "There has not been a significant citizen demand for this
program in my estimation."

Oka said he is not surprised that demands for making the drug more
easily available to sick people are not louder. But he said he wishes
things were different, especially on his bad days.

"People my age have a nice house," he says. "My life has been cut
short. I'm not fully functional. I can't even carry a case of water up
the stairs. I've been a stockbroker, a financial advisor, but I can't
sit or stand, so I went on social security disability. On some days I
stay on my back several hours. I'm not here saying you should legalize
drugs. But when I'm in a lot of pain (marijuana) provides instant relief."

Claudia Meléndez Salinas can be reached at 753-6755 or
cmelendez@....

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/17089975.htm

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