cannabisnews.com: County To Charge $25 for Medical Marijuana Card





County To Charge $25 for Medical Marijuana Card
Posted by CN Staff on March 08, 2003 at 10:11:38 PT
By Richard Halstead, IJ Reporter
Source: Marin Independent Journal 
Beginning April 1, the county of Marin will begin charging a $25 annual processing fee for its medical marijuana photo ID cards."This is the same fee that San Francisco charges. We believe that it will approximately cover the costs," Larry Meredith, Marin County's director of Health and Human Services, told county supervisors last week.
The board voted 3-0, with supervisors Hal Brown and Steve Kinsey absent, to implement the fee. There are currently 403 people using the cards, Meredith said."We're getting about 50 applications a month," said Frima Stewart, a county health department administrator who oversees the program.The number of people using the cards has increased significantly since Marin County Sheriff Robert Doyle and Marin's municipal police chiefs pledged last year not to arrest card holders - unless there is probable cause of possession for sale or some other offense."They've agreed to honor the county card," said Lynnette Shaw, founder and director of Fairfax-based Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, the county's only medical marijuana dispensary. "There have been very little problem with the patients getting busted."Despite the success of the county's card, the Marin Alliance continues to issue its own card to its 1,970 registered members so that they can track their marijuana purchases for tax purposes."It's 100 percent deductible as a medical expense from state taxes," Shaw said.Shaw originally advised Marin Alliance members to stay away from the county's certification process, which was initiated in 1997, after several early card holders were arrested.Angered by District Attorney Paula Kamena's policy on medical marijuana enforcement, Shaw led an unsuccessful recall drive against Kamena in 2000. The election cost the county $500,000.At the same time that local law enforcement officers agreed to take the card seriously, Kamena also eliminated guidelines from her office as to the maximum number of marijuana plants or pounds of pot that a card holder could possess without fear of prosecution."In effect, the recall worked because they quit busting the patients," Shaw said.But Kamena said that the new policy is not a green light for card holders to possess as much marijuana as they want. Prosecutors now judge each case based on the medical evidence available, Kamena said.The county's card has been perfected over time.At first, in addition to doctors, the county accepted recommendations from dentists, dental surgeons, podiatrists, psychologists, chiropractors and acupuncturists. These days card seekers must submit a physician's signed statement that cannabis will benefit their medical condition. Once a card is issued, the application is shredded.In 2001, a photo ID was added to the card, and the card holder's address removed. Cards also contain serial numbers. Law enforcement officers in the field can call a 24-hour hotline to verify patients' registration. While the county's ID card shields legitimate medical marijuana users from arrest and prosecution by local law enforcers, it provides no protection from federal prosecution.Shaw isn't sure how the conviction of Oakland resident Ed Rosenthal on charges of felony conspiracy and cultivation charges last month will affect the Marin Alliance. Rosenthal had been deputized by the city of Oakland to grow marijuana for a patient's cooperative.In June, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who presided over the Rosenthal case, ordered a permanent injunction against the Marin Alliance and other Northern California cannabis clubs. Those who continue to operate do so with the possibility of being held in contempt of court."Who knows what is going to happen," Shaw said. "It's very frightening."Source: Marin Independent Journal (CA)Author: Richard Halstead, IJ ReporterPublished: Saturday, March 08, 2003Copyright: 2003 Marin Independent JournalContact: opinion marinij.comWebsite: http://www.marinij.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuanahttp://www.cbcmarin.com/Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmEd Rosenthal's Trial Pictures & Articleshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/trialpics.htmShopping in Oakland for Her Medicine http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15518.shtmlMedical Pot Usage Check Simplified http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13094.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #5 posted by motavation on September 02, 2003 at 03:35:32 PT:
wonder..wonder...wonder why
Who will change california?Any idea's email us?How does $30-35 sound per a piece 1/8?
I think that would be a reasonable club price,when will it change? who will help?Any I wonder how there card system is really going. I wonder how much pot the cops have taken?
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by The GCW on March 09, 2003 at 03:56:52 PT
Cannada
CN BC: Doc Gets One-Year Sentence For Growing PotA Richmond man accused of trafficking in marijuana says he is a scientist, not a criminal. "It was about discovery. It was never about money," said Paul Hornby of the illegal crop he was growing in his backyard greenhouse until his arrest last year. But, on Tuesday, a provincial court judge disagreed, sentencing the 50-year-old Hornby, who holds a doctorate in human pathology, to a one-year jail term to be served in the community, with house arrest for the first three months. That sentence could have been longer, warned Judge E.J. McKinnon in her ruling before the Richmond provincial court. But, she added, "I deliberately have confined you to your residence for only three months because, despite the aggravating factors... you were involved with ( marijuana ) production for the Compassion Club." He was also fined $1,500. Hornby was first arrested on the pot charges last April. At that time, police found a "large and sophisticated" grow operation in the greenhouse on his three-acre east Richmond property. Several kilograms of harvested marijuana, as well as 43 grown plants and 1,500 clones were seized in the raid. An expert police witness told the court at an earlier hearing the entire operation was worth up to $2.5 million on the street. But Hornby maintained he was growing the plants at a financial loss for the benefit of the B.C. Compassion Club, a nonprofit organization that provides medicinal marijuana to the sick and dying. Hornby testified earlier he was doing research on the plants to determine which strains were best to ease the chronic pain of those suffering from diseases like AIDS. His lawyer, John Conroy, had argued for an absolute or conditional discharge for his client. But the judge found too many strikes against Hornby. In particular, "I find Dr. Hornby was highly motivated by financial gain," she said Tuesday, citing the size of the crop and potential benefits to Hornby's private herbal company. Judge McKinnon said the case was further aggravated by the discovery of an unloaded shotgun and switchblade in the house, as well as a second production charge levelled against Hornby in August while he was on bail. The judge also cited Hornby's flagrant disregard of a Health Canada permit that allowed his Vancouver-based laboratory to test - though not grow - strains of marijuana puts the entire federal process of decriminalizing marijuana for medical reasons in jeopardy. Outside the courthouse Tuesday, Hornby vowed to reapply to the federal government in order to be granted a licence to test and grow medicinal marijuana. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n363/a11.html?1042
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by AlvinCool on March 08, 2003 at 19:34:17 PT
Homegrown Tobacco
VirgilI think you are very correct. I'm putting in a large garden this year, vegetables guys, compared to just growing a few veggies as in years past. With the price of gas going up you can bet that if it comes down it won't be to current prices. With that increase all products, especially food, will rise in cost to new levels. That said people will finially find that instead of paying 20+ bucks a carton they can grow their own tobacco for almost nothing. I did a search on how to grow your own tobacco and the internet is infested with sites to sell you know how and seeds.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by Virgil on March 08, 2003 at 12:40:09 PT
DEAwatch
DEAwatch is very interesting today- http://members.aol.com/deawatch/daily.htm The first comment up now is my favorite since yesterday. However, the one copied below is most relevant to our subject because it relates to the temporary director of the DEA, John Brown.07 Mar 2003, 21:37 PST, 11th EditionJohn Brown, con't:I have assessed JB's first thirty days and I have concluded that he is an empty, personality-absent, yes-man who more deserves the title "Caretaker" than "Administrator". The mere fact that this dried-up, testicle-less individual agreed to accept the title "Acting Administrator" proves he is a total wimp. Any real man who had respect for himself and DEA would have told Dick Cheney to either submit his name to Congress as 'full' Administrator or appoint someone else (from the FBI or retired from Congress) to succeed Asa.This week's CB dictate proves that John Brown is without character, dignity or respectability... except to the horseholders he patronized.Get used to it... DEA is in spiraling decline. But maybe we are all getting what we deserve for voting for an alleged ex-coke snorter who has consistently refused to deny he used cocaine and his coke buys helped finance the terrorist organizations now plaguing our country. Had people like our president not used cocaine we probably would not have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars today in Colombia. Hundreds of millions of dollars that are being spent in Colombia when over 2 million Americans have lost their jobs since Bush was elected.Someone... please tell me I'm dreaming... and that we are not reliving the nightmare years of the first Bush Administration...
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by Virgil on March 08, 2003 at 11:30:08 PT
The money thing
The deficit in California is one great story. The borrowing will only make things worse as their credit rating falls and interest is tacked on to the crushing expenses already on the taxpayer.South Carolina is talking about raising its cigarette tax to 59 cents a pack to help with the mental illness program and NC facing a near 2 billion$ deficit even after sales tax went up to 7% most places in December wants to raise ours from 5 cents to 75 cents. South Carolina's tax might be 6 cent a pack now. It is near NC. Virginia's is lowest at 4 cents.You know I would not be suprised to see rolling your own come back in style. There are a lot of unemployed people around that have more time than money. The Hickory Daily Record has an article on another textile plant closing in a small town called Maiden in Catawba County- http://www.hickoryrecord.com/MGBCM1D11DD.html It contains information saying that the quotas that protect what textiles remain will be gone in 2005. It does not look good around here at all. Catawba County went from being the highest per capita wage in early 2001 to 92 out of 100 counties in late 2002. When the quotas come off, I would think we would see Chinese hemp products come on the market. We will see.http://www.statesville.com/MGBEPIF11DD.html= This is an article about a 24-year veteran State trooper talking about all the car crashes and deaths he has seen due to alcohol intoxication. There was no White House parrot conferred to say "Alcohol is a dangerous drug." Honesty is the best policy.
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment