75A - PH - MEDICAL MARIJUANA - PROHIBIT

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To me, it's unclear what boat I'm in. My ear does hurt. I've considered cutting my head off and throwing it in the ocean. The pain is intermittent, and in fact I haven't had any for weeks, but when it's around, I would smoke medicinal cxack if it did. the trick. Normal doctors and two specialists were no help. It's not an infection, we have determined. I got hit with an oar once, I always offer. The doctors and specialists nod. So I have chronic pain but not glaucoma and consequently suffer a faker's guilty conscience. Not that fakers are taking pot from the legitimately ill -- there's plenty to go around. Still, I don't know vrhere I belong, waiting room-~xlise, and keep myself between the ailing and the insincere. Uncertainty emerges later as a motif in the medical marijuana universe, but for now, I'm being called into the examining room. Ellis joins me in the bare room, slight, friendly and rushed. He seems breakable. He also has the air of celebrity, probably because he's the only man many people know who can. legalize pot, albeit one smoker at a time.l-Le talks fast, like someone who either has been in an )/.R. for years or has a line of patients out the door, each with a wad of cash. He takes my money and puts it in his pants pocket. "My ear hurts," I say, and I explain the pain. My honed explication of the problem doesn't seem to interest him. He interrupts after a minute, telling me to take my shirt off so he can use his stethoscope. 'fhe checkup is rudimentary. He hears my heart. He takes a peek at the bad ear. I-le looks into my eyes. 1 offer my oar theoxy. There's a brief, touching moment where he pats my arm, not weirdly, and then he's signing his recommendation. For the next 12 months, I'll be a legal medical marijuana smoker. I'll be a legal. medical marijuana smoker in California, that is. California may have approved Proposition 215 four years ago, but 215 has yet to be reconciled with federal law, which still classifies marijuana as an illegal narcotic. There is no consensus on how to interpret the ambiguity. California's medicinal marijuana proponents say medicinal marijuana is protected under law. The police, depending on the county, generally don't arrest smokers who have a prescription, except when they do. Courts often drop cases, depending on the judge, or how a jury might respond. Federal authorities generally say let's wait for the U.S. Supreme Court. Th.ey're referring to the long-anticipated ruling, which is likely to come down this summer. In September 1999, the 9th. U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that "medical necessity" justifies violation of federal distribution charges. The Clinton administration asked the Supreme Court for an ezner~en.cy order to stop the Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Club from selling pot. The order is temporary, and this summer the court will issue a final ruling on whether federal law permits the medicinal use of marijuana. It will be a significant ruling politically -- a verdict against 215 and similar measures would be a verdict against states' rights, typically a Republican. cause -- but the efficacy of any ban on medical marijuana would be dubious. It can't overturn California's 215, or the medical marijuana laws in the seven other states that have passed them. Likewise, state and local police can't be forced to enforce the federal laws. .Discerning any trend in the response to the medical marijuana question is difficult. In January, charges were dropped against Robert Voelker, a Merin County man found growing l 9 pot plants adjacent to his trailer home. Merin Superior Court Judge Verna Adams ordered the confiscated plants returned to the man, according to the Merin Independent Journal_ Given the physician's recommendation. that Voelker subsequently obtained, it seemed no jury would convict him. Other "legal" users don't get off as easy, and the pro- pot groups all have stories of various authorities flagrantly disregarding medical marijuana Legislation. 33 75A-42