MEDICAL MARIJUANA: Advocates Want ‘Safe Place’ to Smoke in Orange County

      Three years after California voters approved a medical marijuana initiative, authors of the measure are pleading with Orange County officials to designate a "'safe place' where the seriously ill can use the drug without fear of arrest or harassment by law enforcement." Said the legislation's co-author Anna Boyce, "We have people with neurological diseases and several others with crippling spinal arthritis. These people are not addicted to marijuana but using it as medicine, and it's a shame that they can't get it because so much pressure is applied against them and their caregivers" by local law enforcement. She added, "Orange County needs a safe place like the one they have in Los Angeles. There, they have a church and nobody bothers them." Boyce noted that "two to three dozen county residents" have had encounters with law enforcement officials who ignored medical documentation for the use of marijuana. Laguna Beach resident and former Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Steve Kubby, who is afflicted with cancer of the adrenal glands, contended that marijuana "has kept him alive." He would just "like to stay alive and be allowed to use marijuana," he said, noting, "This is a law that was passed but is being ignored. We've been arrested, thrown in jail and strip-searched." Supervisors did not immediately take a position on the issue, saying they want more information (Reyes, Los Angeles Times, 11/3).