cannabisnews.com: Supervisors Consider Voluntary ID Program 





Supervisors Consider Voluntary ID Program 
Posted by CN Staff on January 27, 2004 at 12:40:49 PT
By Erin Carlyle -- Staff Writer
Source: Lompoc Record 
If you're smoking pot to alleviate pain from a serious medical condition such as AIDS or cancer, the last thing you want is to end up in jail. Although a 1996 state voter initiative made growing and consuming the drug for health purposes legal, some people fear that medical users may be unduly targeted or prosecuted for growing or possessing the drug.
Today the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will look at the logistics of a new state law designed to prevent that through a voluntary identification card program. The cards would be issued to patients who use marijuana and physicians who prescribe it.The county Public Health Department most likely will be the clearinghouse for the program, beginning in January 2005.Signed last year, the law sets specific standards for issuance of the cards and how much of the drug may be possessed, but provides exceptions and flexibility that ultimately puts the prescribing physician in charge.Under the law, any chronic condition that causes serious harm to the patient's safety or physical or mental health would be considered serious enough for treatment with marijuana. Specific examples of conditions warranting marijuana use include AIDS, anorexia, cancer and persistent muscle spasms.The law says patients and caregivers may posses eight ounces of the drug in its dried form, or six mature or 12 immature plants at a time. However, an exception allows patients to posses more when deemed medically necessary for treatment. Selling the plants for profit would be illegal."This isn't a for-profit kind of thing. If you are cultivating it for your own use you are not allowed to sell it for anyone else," said Michele Mickiewicz of county public health.To acquire an ID card, patients would need written documentation from a physician; proof of residence; the name, address, phone number and license number of the prescribing doctor; the name and address of their primary caregiver; and a government-issued photo identification.ID cards would include a marijuana user's photo, an identification number, the name and telephone number of the department issuing the card, and an expiration date, and would be valid for one year. The state would maintain a database of valid cards for law enforcement.Both law enforcement and health officials say more details need to be addressed.One issue is the establishment of a state cooperative for growing marijuana, which is mentioned in the law but not specified as to how it would be set up."How people are supposed to get it, it doesn't really tell you ... it tells you you can grow an amount that would be consistent with your use," Mickiewicz said."In order for law enforcement to embrace something like that there has to be work done on the law to establish quality control," said Lt. Mike Cordero of the Santa Maria Police Department."The whole story is that there has to be some restrictions with regard to who is going to decide that it's truly being used for medical purposes, how much can they have, what can they do with it, can they drive, can they not drive, all these things are not addressed in the law," Cordero said.For more information on the ID card program visit: http://www.sbcphd.org/Source: Lompoc Record (CA)Author: Erin Carlyle -- Staff WriterPublished: January 27, 2004Copyright: 2004 Pulitzer Central Coast NewspapersContact: rstockton pulitzer.netWebsite: http://www.lompocrecord.com/Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by Virgil on January 27, 2004 at 13:13:21 PT
Compassionate Use Act
The law is known as the Compassionate Use Act. There really must be editorial guidelines that say not to use the real name of the actual law.I cannot wait until someone gets a GW delivery device and fills it with their own extract and ask, "Why is this legal in the UK and not in the US?" After 5 years of serious study, I bet the delivery devices are of extreme quality. It should be a marketable commodity by itself.Whenever I think of alcohol for a solvent of cannabis, for some reason I always think of meade. Meade is made by fermenting honey. When I think of this device, whatever its qualities, I always think of using it to take someone to a state of "enhanced fermentation." Now that I finally have said it, maybe I can move on.
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