MEDICAL MARIJUANA: Lockyer Gives Tacit Approval

      State Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D) said Friday that medical marijuana distribution can proceed in San Francisco so long as it is done discreetly. "If local law enforcement is supportive of implementation of Proposition 215 and their policies don't provoke outside prosecution, I have no intention of intervening," Lockyer said, following a meeting with San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano, District Attorney Terence Hallinan, City Attorney Louise Renne and Public Health Director Dr. Mitch Katz. "I respect local community values," Lockyer added. "If we attempt to distribute marijuana to those who are verifiably sick, and if that is not done with an in-your-face attitude, we can almost guarantee that those people's needs will be met," said Ammiano, who suggested that the city's public health department may "help verify that patients' referrals from doctors are genuine." In related news, Lockyer and other attorneys general today will lobby members of Congress to reclassify marijuana as a schedule II drug, and call for more federal research on the medical uses of marijuana (Epstein, San Francisco Chronicle, 3/20).