The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has released a directive outlining the procedures for handling medical marijuana investigations under its jurisdiction.
While the Sheriff’s Department directive is clear on how to handle investigations regarding individual patients, some say it lacks specifics in other areas involving those who distribute the drug under the medical marijuana laws.
“It’s nice that we have something in writing, but there’s nothing in the directive about collectives,” said Lanny Swerdlow, a medical marijuana advocate who is the director of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Program and a clinic manager in Riverside for The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation. “Why are they so reluctant to provide a comprehensive policy? Because they want to keep harassing and intimidating people.”
Under California law, medical marijuana patients and primary caregivers can “associate within the State of California in order collectively or cooperatively to cultivate marijuana for medical purposes.” Known as “collectives” or “cooperatives,” these non-profit organizations provide a means for facilitating and coordinating medical marijuana transactions between their members.
“Over the last few years, I don’t know of single conviction case against an individual patient who followed the medical marijuana laws,” Swerdlow said. “Instead, they go after collectives.”
Swerdlow, who is a long-time medical marijuana advocate, said that since California law makes medical marijuana legal, cases against individual patients have declined.
“This latest Sheriff’s Department directive does nothing to clarify policies beyond the individual patient,” he said. “In the end, it makes it very hard for those who are sick. They are left to either grow their own marijuana, receive it from a primary caregiver, which is not easy, or look to criminals.”
The Nov. 19 Sheriff’s Department directive, which also covers cities that have police forces contracted under the agency, including Hemet, Lake Elsinore, Perris, Menifee and Temecula, is mostly inline with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office guidelines. The district attorney’s office guidelines follow that of the California Attorney General’s Office, which has recommended that law enforcement neither arrest nor prosecute “individuals within the legal scope of California’s Compassionate Use Act.”
California’s Compassionate Use Act of 1996 permits qualified patients and their primary caregivers to use, possess and cultivate marijuana for medical purposes without criminal prosecution. To promote the implementation of Compassionate Use Act, in 2003 the Medical Marijuana Program was enacted. The Medical Marijuana Program established a voluntary registration of qualified medical marijuana patients and their primary caregivers through a statewide identification card system to help law enforcement officers verify their legitimacy.
While there is much agreement among law agencies, the district attorney’s office and the California Attorney General’s Office, the Nov. 19 Riverside County Sheriff’s Department directive does take the medical marijuana issue a step further stating, “it is not necessary for a person to obtain an identification card in order to claim protection under the Compassionate Use Act.”
Because California law does not mandate that an individual obtain an identification card for Compassionate Use Act protections, the directive states, “when a person possessing, processing and cultivating marijuana claims to fall under the Compassionate Use Act, and does not possess either a government issued medical marijuana card or a written recommendation from a physician, deputies shall use sound professional judgment to determine the validity of the Compassionate Use Act claim.”
According to the directive, if an investigating deputy “reasonably believes that the medical marijuana claim is valid, and the person is within the state maximum possession limits, the person is to be released and the marijuana is not to be seized.”
Said Swerdlow: “These policies are remarkable. I’m glad we have them, but we need clarification on collectives.”
Under the Medical Marijuana Program guidelines, the policies are clear regarding the amount of marijuana a qualified patient or a primary caregiver can possess:
* –No more than eight ounces of dried marijuana per qualified patient
* –No more than six mature plants; or
* –Twelve immature marijuana plants per qualified person; or
* –Upon showing of a doctor’s recommendation that the above amounts do not meet the medical needs of a qualified patient, then an amount that meets such needs of the patient may be possessed.
The Riverside County’s District Attorney’s Office has offered its stance on the medical marijuana issue:
” … primary caregivers and qualified patients who are truly a member of a marijuana collective and who comply with … quantity restrictions may have some legal protections under the Compassionate Use Act,” said John Hall, public information officer for the District Attorney’s office.
Beyond that, according to Hall, the office did not offer any leeway: “It is this Office’s position that people who are truly in compliance with the Compassionate Use Act should not be prosecuted for the possession of marijuana solely for their own personal medical use or that of a qualified patient.”
The medical marijuana issue is still being vigorously tested in courts around the state.
Locally, a recent medical marijuana case against Temecula resident Martin Victor was dismissed. Victor, who was part of a collective that included Swerdlow, was charged earlier this fall with illegally cultivating and possessing marijuana with the intent to sell. In November, a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove that he was acting outside of state laws and California Attorney General guidelines.
Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez, public information officer for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said the district attorney’s office has its own directives.
“We (the DA’s Office and the Sheriff’s Department) have two different missions,” he said. “We are first responders. I am not familiar with the DA’s specific directives.”
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Southwest Riverside News Network
Author: Toni McAllister
Contact: Southwest Riverside News Network
Copyright: 2009 Southwest Riverside News Network
Website: RivCo Sheriff’s Dept. Spells Out Medical Marijuana Guidelines
While the Sheriff’s Department directive is clear on how to handle investigations regarding individual patients, some say it lacks specifics in other areas involving those who distribute the drug under the medical marijuana laws.
“It’s nice that we have something in writing, but there’s nothing in the directive about collectives,” said Lanny Swerdlow, a medical marijuana advocate who is the director of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Program and a clinic manager in Riverside for The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation. “Why are they so reluctant to provide a comprehensive policy? Because they want to keep harassing and intimidating people.”
Under California law, medical marijuana patients and primary caregivers can “associate within the State of California in order collectively or cooperatively to cultivate marijuana for medical purposes.” Known as “collectives” or “cooperatives,” these non-profit organizations provide a means for facilitating and coordinating medical marijuana transactions between their members.
“Over the last few years, I don’t know of single conviction case against an individual patient who followed the medical marijuana laws,” Swerdlow said. “Instead, they go after collectives.”
Swerdlow, who is a long-time medical marijuana advocate, said that since California law makes medical marijuana legal, cases against individual patients have declined.
“This latest Sheriff’s Department directive does nothing to clarify policies beyond the individual patient,” he said. “In the end, it makes it very hard for those who are sick. They are left to either grow their own marijuana, receive it from a primary caregiver, which is not easy, or look to criminals.”
The Nov. 19 Sheriff’s Department directive, which also covers cities that have police forces contracted under the agency, including Hemet, Lake Elsinore, Perris, Menifee and Temecula, is mostly inline with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office guidelines. The district attorney’s office guidelines follow that of the California Attorney General’s Office, which has recommended that law enforcement neither arrest nor prosecute “individuals within the legal scope of California’s Compassionate Use Act.”
California’s Compassionate Use Act of 1996 permits qualified patients and their primary caregivers to use, possess and cultivate marijuana for medical purposes without criminal prosecution. To promote the implementation of Compassionate Use Act, in 2003 the Medical Marijuana Program was enacted. The Medical Marijuana Program established a voluntary registration of qualified medical marijuana patients and their primary caregivers through a statewide identification card system to help law enforcement officers verify their legitimacy.
While there is much agreement among law agencies, the district attorney’s office and the California Attorney General’s Office, the Nov. 19 Riverside County Sheriff’s Department directive does take the medical marijuana issue a step further stating, “it is not necessary for a person to obtain an identification card in order to claim protection under the Compassionate Use Act.”
Because California law does not mandate that an individual obtain an identification card for Compassionate Use Act protections, the directive states, “when a person possessing, processing and cultivating marijuana claims to fall under the Compassionate Use Act, and does not possess either a government issued medical marijuana card or a written recommendation from a physician, deputies shall use sound professional judgment to determine the validity of the Compassionate Use Act claim.”
According to the directive, if an investigating deputy “reasonably believes that the medical marijuana claim is valid, and the person is within the state maximum possession limits, the person is to be released and the marijuana is not to be seized.”
Said Swerdlow: “These policies are remarkable. I’m glad we have them, but we need clarification on collectives.”
Under the Medical Marijuana Program guidelines, the policies are clear regarding the amount of marijuana a qualified patient or a primary caregiver can possess:
* –No more than eight ounces of dried marijuana per qualified patient
* –No more than six mature plants; or
* –Twelve immature marijuana plants per qualified person; or
* –Upon showing of a doctor’s recommendation that the above amounts do not meet the medical needs of a qualified patient, then an amount that meets such needs of the patient may be possessed.
The Riverside County’s District Attorney’s Office has offered its stance on the medical marijuana issue:
” … primary caregivers and qualified patients who are truly a member of a marijuana collective and who comply with … quantity restrictions may have some legal protections under the Compassionate Use Act,” said John Hall, public information officer for the District Attorney’s office.
Beyond that, according to Hall, the office did not offer any leeway: “It is this Office’s position that people who are truly in compliance with the Compassionate Use Act should not be prosecuted for the possession of marijuana solely for their own personal medical use or that of a qualified patient.”
The medical marijuana issue is still being vigorously tested in courts around the state.
Locally, a recent medical marijuana case against Temecula resident Martin Victor was dismissed. Victor, who was part of a collective that included Swerdlow, was charged earlier this fall with illegally cultivating and possessing marijuana with the intent to sell. In November, a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove that he was acting outside of state laws and California Attorney General guidelines.
Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez, public information officer for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said the district attorney’s office has its own directives.
“We (the DA’s Office and the Sheriff’s Department) have two different missions,” he said. “We are first responders. I am not familiar with the DA’s specific directives.”
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Southwest Riverside News Network
Author: Toni McAllister
Contact: Southwest Riverside News Network
Copyright: 2009 Southwest Riverside News Network
Website: RivCo Sheriff’s Dept. Spells Out Medical Marijuana Guidelines
