cannabisnews.com: ID Cards in Medical Pot Use Approved ID Cards in Medical Pot Use Approved Posted by CN Staff on September 17, 2003 at 13:02:07 PT By Ray Huard Source: SignOnSanDiego.com Sick and dying people who use marijuana to ease their symptoms with a doctor's approval will be able to get an identification card to protect them from arrest by San Diego police under an ordinance the City Council approved yesterday.The measure, adopted 6-3, formally establishes the ID-card program and puts into law guidelines the council adopted in February governing the medical use of marijuana. The guidelines and the ID-card program will be tried for two years before the council re-evaluates them. Yesterday's vote was identical to the one in February, with Mayor Dick Murphy and Councilmen Brian Maienschein and Jim Madaffer – the council's three Republicans – opposed.The ordinance must come back for a final vote, as a procedural matter, to be enacted. It will allow adult marijuana patients with the approval of a San Diego County doctor to keep up to 1 pound of marijuana and grow up to 24 plants.Under the measure, caregivers can keep up to 2 pounds of marijuana and grow up to 48 plants for as many as four patients.The measure prohibits smoking in public, bans outdoor marijuana cultivation and requires plants to be grown in locked greenhouses or inside other locked structures.Police Chief William Lansdowne said police have been following the guidelines as a matter of policy. Putting them into law "clearly defines the issue and makes it easier to enforce," said Lansdowne, who became chief in August.His predecessor, David Bejarano, opposed the guidelines. Bejarano resigned in April to take over the Southern District of the U.S. Marshals Service.Lansdowne didn't address the council. Asked after the meeting whether he supported the ordinance, Lansdowne said it was the law and he would enforce it. He added that the ordinance "makes my job easier."Jerry Meier, chairman of the city's Medical Cannabis Task Force, said he hopes to have the ID-card program running within four months. He said the task force is privately raising $20,000 to pay for it. The council established the task force in May 2001 to implement Proposition 215, a 1996 ballot measure authorizing the medical use of marijuana."We're elated," Meier said after the council vote. "Just to get the ordinance on the books . . . is an important positive step."Murphy said establishing a city medical marijuana program might be "a potential trap for the unwary."The measure creates what supporters call a "safe harbor," shielding patients who follow the rules from arrest by San Diego police. But patients with the city ID card could still be arrested and prosecuted by federal agents."What we're doing here is not a good idea," Murphy said. "I think it sends a bad message that the use of drugs is OK."Murphy, a former Superior Court judge, said, "I have seen first-hand in hundreds of cases the devastation caused by drugs to families and society, and I cannot support legislation that supports drug use."Councilwoman Toni Atkins said the council vote "reaffirms what California voters voted on in 1996." The ID-card program will "provide law-abiding citizens with clear guidelines," Atkins said.The ID program will be run by a nonprofit agency, which has yet to be chosen. The cards will be issued to patients and caregivers. They will include a photograph of the cardholder, a serial number, an expiration date and a phone number of the nonprofit agency for police to contact to verify the card.The ordinance provides that police will not detain cardholders for longer than necessary to verify a patient's status and will not seize the marijuana or plants of cardholders as long as the amount and conditions are within the rules.Several patients told the council that the ordinance would give them a measure of security.Ronald Little said he turned to marijuana to ease chronic back pain because prescription drugs he tried had unpleasant side effects. Yet, he said, "I am subject to arrest."David Broner said marijuana allows people to get off prescription drugs "that really chew up your liver."Critics said allowing the medical use of marijuana would encourage recreational use."It really amounts to de facto legalization," said Donald Thornhill, a special agent with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. "There is no medical use for marijuana, period." He said sick people could use other legal drugs to ease their symptoms.Jo Ann Smith, a breast cancer survivor, said she feared that approving the medical use of marijuana would lead more youths to try the drug. Marijuana appeals "to healthy young people who have bought the lie that marijuana is not harmful."Diana Lavery, a June graduate of San Dieguito High School Academy in Encinitas, said laws allowing the medical use of marijuana would make more of the drug available to youths."Please, keep our neighborhoods and communities safe and healthy," Lavery said. Sidebar: Medical Marijuana Law In February, the San Diego City Council adopted guidelines for the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The council voted 6-3 yesterday to make the guidelines law and establish a medical marijuana identification card. Features of the law are:* Patients with a San Diego County physician's recommendation can obtain a city-issued identification card.* Patients can keep up to 1 pound of marijuana and grow up to 24 plants for their own use.* Caregivers can keep up to 2 pounds of marijuana, grow marijuana for up to four patients and grow up to 48 plants.* Outdoor cultivation is prohibited.* Marijuana may be grown only in enclosed locked greenhouses or other locked structures.* Smoking in public is prohibited.* San Diego police will not detain a card-carrying patient longer than necessary to verify the patient's status.* San Diego police will not seize the marijuana or plants of card-carrying patients. Note: Action codifies council policy adopted earlier.Source: SignOnSanDiego.com (CA)Author: Ray HuardPublished: September 17, 2003Copyright: 2003 SignOnSanDiego.comWebsite: http://www.signonsandiego.com/Contact: http://www.signonsandiego.com/about/ut/contacts.htmlRelated Articles & Web Site:Americans for Safe Access http://www.safeaccessnow.org/City Slow To Act on Law for Medical Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17301.shtmlSan Diego City Council OKs Pound of Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15375.shtmlGuidelines Might OK Less Than 3 Poundshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15240.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #1 posted by FoM on September 17, 2003 at 14:22:20 PT News Brief from Bay City News Lawyers Want Court To Consider Medical MarijuanaFour Clubs Say Pot ConsitutionalSeptember 17, 2003Lawyers for four medical marijuana clubs asked a federal appeals court in San Francisco Wednesday to declare that patients have a constitutional right to obtain medicine that could alleviate pain or prolong their lives. Santa Clara University professor Gerald Uelmen urged a panel of three judges to find that "Americans have a fundamental constitutional right to relieve their pain." The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel took the case under consideration after hearing an hour of arguments in two cases concerning the clash between California's medical marijuana law and federal statutes outlawing the drug. The judges will issue a written ruling at a later date. In one case, the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative and two other clubs are contesting a permanent injunction by a federal judge barring them from distributing marijuana. The Oakland club lost a key argument two years ago when the U.S. Supreme Court said federal law does not allow a "medical necessity" exception for providing marijuana to seriously ill patients. But the Oakland club, the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana and the Ukiah Cannabis Buyer's club are now appealing several constitutional claims left in the case, including the argument that patients have a constitutional right to seek medical treatment. In the second case, the Santa Cruz-based Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana is seeking the return of marijuana and other property seized in a federal raid on a marijuana farm in northern Santa Cruz County last year. Uelmen represents the group. Copyright 2003 by Bay City News [ Post Comment ] Post Comment