cannabisnews.com: Medical-Marijuana ID Card Sought 





Medical-Marijuana ID Card Sought 
Posted by CN Staff on April 26, 2003 at 07:52:27 PT
By Jeanene Harlick, Sentinel Staff Writer
Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel 
Santa Cruz — A county supervisor wants to protect county residents who use marijuana as medicine by issuing them ID cards that would let sheriff’s deputies know they are an approved user.Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt on Tuesday will ask her colleagues to give a conceptual OK to the program, which would mirror one pioneered by San Francisco County three years ago. Alameda, Marin and Mendocino counties also offer the cards.
Under the program, ill residents would be issued photo ID cards after presenting a signed statement from a doctor saying they need marijuana for medical reasons. The cards would legitimize medicinal pot use to sheriff’s deputies challenging someone’s possession, Wormhoudt said."The cards are not a panacea, but they can offer people who are often very ill or dying some slight measure of security," she said.Sheriff Mark Tracy supports the program, which would be run by the county Health Department: "It can be difficult at times to determine if someone is using marijuana for medical or illegal purposes. If the cards can help clarify that, it would be a good thing."The cards also would prohibit officers from confiscating marijuana from someone when they think a resident possesses more than is needed to ease his or her symptoms."That’s not a determination a deputy should be making," said Valerie Corral, director of the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana.Corral said she’s received hundreds of requests for ID cards from ill residents. While WAMM issues its own cards, the organization can only give them to members, limited to a pool of about 250 at any given time due to available resources.The program would be a boon to not only patients but doctors, Corral said. Physicians sometimes fear putting their medical recommendations on marijuana in writing because of possible reprisals by the federal government, which maintains that all pot use is illegal. Under the proposed program, doctor statements would be destroyed after verification to protect a physician’s identity.The program would also get the county a step closer to complying with a long-overdue mandate approved by county voters in 1992, Corral said. Measure A required the county Health Department to help promote medicinal pot use through education, research and other programs, she said.The new program would cost the county nothing because of fees charged to each user. San Francisco County charges residents $25 to register. That county has issued more than 4,400 cards, said Joshua Bamberger, program director."The program has worked very well here," he said. "All pot clubs in San Francisco require our card now."Wormhoudt is asking the board to OK looking into an ID program, with the health director reporting back on the issue May 20.Proposition 215, passed in 1996, gave California residents or their caretakers the right to possess pot for medical reasons.The ID cards would not protect residents from federal raids, such as the one that took place in September at WAMM’s Davenport garden. Drug Enforcement Administration agents seized 167 plants.Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA)Author: Jeanene Harlick, Sentinel Staff WriterPublished: April 26, 2003 Copyright: 2003 Santa Cruz SentinelContact: editorial santa-cruz.comWebsite: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/Pictures from WAMM Protesthttp://freedomtoexhale.com/eventpics.htmWAMM Lawsuit Seeks To Curb Federal Authority http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16047.shtml Medicinal Pot Farmers Deputized in Santa Cruz http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14945.shtmlMenace or Medicine? - Santa Cruz Sentinel http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14648.shtml 
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Post Comment