MEDICAL MARIJUANA: Task Force Spurs Detente for Long-Time Opponents
The Los Angeles Times reports that state Attorney General Bill Lockyer's (D) task force to find ways to implement the state's medical marijuana law has provided a forum for law enforcement advocates and marijuana advocates to find some common ground. Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center Director Scott Imler, whose facility is the state's largest marijuana center still in operation, said, "There's kind of an armistice. Everybody seems genuinely interested in trying to implement Proposition 215 in a responsible way." California Narcotics Officers Association President Christy McCampbell said, "We are all just trying to reach common ground on how to deal with an extremely complex issue." Both Santa Clara County Narcotics Chief Karyn Sinunu and attorney Gerald Uelman serve on the task force, but then "square off in Santa Clara Superior Court," where Uelman's client, Peter Baez, is charged with seven felonies for running a medical marijuana club. The Justice Department is "skeptical" of Lockyer's effort, with one anonymous official saying, "They are trying to implement a marijuana statute that the [DOJ] and the federal government believe to be illegal and unconstitutional." In related news, U.S. District Court Judge George King refused Wednesday to allow HIV-positive Peter McWilliams to smoke pot while awaiting marijuana-related conspiracy charges. He plans to appeal (Curtius, 3/10).
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