cannabisnews.com: Supes Pass Plan To Issue ID Card To Med. Pot Users





Supes Pass Plan To Issue ID Card To Med. Pot Users
Posted by FoM on January 31, 2000 at 18:41:52 PT
By Ron Harris, Associated Press Writer
Source: Sacramento Bee
The San Francisco board of supervisors put its stamp of approval Monday on a plan to issue identification cards to medical marijuana users.The board voted 10-1 in favor of adopting a city ordinance designed to allow qualified cardholders to obtain high-grade pot from several San Francisco dispensaries and dispel their fears of being arrested for possession of drugs.
"For people who are suffering, this is a giant step because here's a medicine that I think really, really works. Reefer madness is dead," said Gary Farnsworth, a director at the San Francisco Patients Resource Center. His center is one of several medical marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco.The cards have yet to be designed, and no fees for them have been determined. Mayor Willie Brown has 10 days to sign the ordinance."What the card does is to certify that the holder fits the requirements of the California medical marijuana statute," said deputy city attorney Marc Slavin. His office helped draft the language of the ordinance."It's a card that will not contain a name or photo for confidentiality purposes. It will only display a unique serial number," Slavin said.If a police officer stops someone in possession of marijuana, the person would present the ID card along with standard photo identification. The ID card serial number would be verified against a database of numbers at the police department and the cardholder would be free to go -- with their drugs."This is an ordinance that is simply designed to give effect to the statewide proposition," Slavin said.If approved by the mayor, this would be only the third such program in the state. Those efforts are all byproducts of Proposition 215, approved by voters in 1996. It allows for possession, cultivation and use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.Similar ID card programs are used in Mendocino County and Arcata, Calif., where the chief of police personally issues photo ID cards to registered medical marijuana patients.The ordinance is not funded by the city, leaving it up to public health officials and sponsors to determine an affordable fee for users that could finance the program.Randi Webster was in attendance as the supervisors approved the ordinance. She is hobbled by a degenerative arthritis, gall stones and soft tissue disease.She described the "bone-on-bone" pain she treats through medical marijuana."Imagine having your legs stabbed and also having heat applied. And having that between your fingers, your shoulders, your jaws, your eye sockets, your back, your knees," Webster said. "When I ingest through the inhalation of either smoking or vaporizing, it's instantaneous."SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  Published: January 31, 2000  Copyright © The Sacramento Bee Related Articles:S.F. Approves ID Cards for Medical Pot - 1/25/2000http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4476.shtmlS.F. Supes Vote for Medical Marijuana I.D. Cards-1/24/2000http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4464.shtmlS.F. Board to Vote Today on Plan For Pot-User IDs-1/24/2000http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4453.shtml 
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Comment #1 posted by military officer guy on January 31, 2000 at 19:24:31 PT
step in the right direction
that's a great step for our cause...keep up the good worktroops...yet another battle we won, the war is long, but if we win enough battles we can win the war...
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