Task force made up of warring factions calls for a voluntary registry to protect patients from arrest.
Backers hope to introduce proposal in Legislature.
A committee of cops, medical marijuana advocates and doctors has recommended that California establish a voluntary registry of medical marijuana patients to protect users from arrest. The Medical Marijuana Task force, appointed in March by state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, also has recommended that the state develop regulations to allow groups of patients and caregivers to grow marijuana. The proposals, if made law, would represent an about-face from the policies of former Gov. Pete Wilson. Wilson's attorney general, Dan Lungren, maintained that Proposition 215, passed by voters in November 1996, allowed only individual patients to grow marijuana and to use the medical marijuana law as a defense if prosecuted.