Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press - Wednesday, November 6, 1996.
Mark Evans, Associated Press Writer
Even though it is uncertain how the mandates will be implemented, users hailed the initiatives as compassionate ways of helping ease the pain and suffering of people with AIDS, cancer or other terminal illnesses.
"It's about time," said 73-year-old Mary Rathbun, a San Francisco resident who earned the name "Brownie Mary" after years of passing marijuana-laced treats to AIDS patients.
Steve Kubby, 49, of Squaw Valley, Calif., said his doctor had already given him verbal permission to use marijuana to help relieve the symptoms of abdominal cancer.
"I told my wife Monday night that this is the last night I'll have to break the law to get my medicine," said Kubby. "Pot gives me relief. It helped me get through. It has literally allowed me to live, and even with cancer, I live a good life."
Wayne Justmann, 51, of San Francisco, who has been HIV positive for nine years, celebrated with long drags on a pot-packed pipe at the Cannabis Buyer's Club, which was shut down two months ago by California Attorney General Dan Lungren.
Lungren, an outspoken opponent, called for a meeting of all the state's sheriffs, district attorneys and police chiefs to discuss the law, writing saying "the proposition may create an affirmative factual defense in certain criminal cases."
"My greatest concern is kids," Lungren said Wednesday. "This is going to make marijuana far more available to young people than before."
Sam Vagenas, who coordinated the medical marijuana campaign for Arizonans for Drug Policy Reform, said such fears are unwarranted.
"We are not decriminalizing marijuana. We are treating it as a public health issue," Vagenas said.
California's plan approves legalizing the cultivation, possession and use for health reasons. Arizona agreed to allow doctors to prescribe the drug for critically ill patients.
Unanswered, however, was how patients are to legally obtain marijuana if it is still against federal law to use, grow or sell the drug.
"You can talk to your doctor today," said Dave Fratello, spokesman of a group supporting California's measure. "But I can't tell you where to get it. I can only tell you you're not subject to prosecution if it's prescribed."
Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director of President Clinton's national drug control policy and an outspoken critic of the proposition, said Wednesday he plans to meet with Attorney General Janet Reno and other U.S. government officials to discuss how federal law should be enforced.
McCaffrey credited the bill's passage to deceptive wording.
"It exploited the compassion of the American people," he said. "We called it a stealth initiative. We don't think that either state understood what was going on."
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