cannabisnews.com: Card-Carrying Medical Pot Users Like Protection





Card-Carrying Medical Pot Users Like Protection
Posted by FoM on July 15, 2000 at 10:51:34 PT
No Name - Address Listed Protects Confidentiality
Source: San Francisco Chronicle 
Joyful marijuana activists gathered on the San Francisco Health Department's steps yesterday to show off their new, anonymous ID cards -- a San Francisco first -- that allow them to buy pot with no hassle from the cops. The enigmatic cards are ``another brick in the path paving the way to legal use of medicinal marijuana,'' said Wayne Justmann, the man who got the very first one. 
The new San Francisco program was created to make it easier for patients to show that they qualify for medicinal marijuana. Patients submit a form from their doctor and a $25 fee. Clerks verify that a licensed doctor signed the form before issuing the card, which is valid up to two years. The non-ID identification cards are unlike any previous kind of ID. They do not bear the name or address of the holder, a provision insisted upon by marijuana activists to protect confidentiality. The application forms are handed out at the clerk's window covered with blank sheets of paper. The doctor's letter is returned to the applicant, a photocopy of it is destroyed, and no records are kept by the Health Department. ``No (original) records are destroyed and no records are kept,'' said Dr. Mitchell Katz, the director of public health. Twelve of the plastic cards have been issued under the new program. Justmann, the director of the San Francisco Patients Resource Center, which sells cannabis to patients at its Divisadero Street office, said he already used his new card to buy an eighth of ounce of marijuana for $50 to help relieve the side effects of drugs he must take to control his HIV infection. A handful of marijuana users picked up their cards yesterday from the clerk's window on the first floor, the same counter where birth and death notices are issued. ``This card recognizes the right of every medicinal cannabis patient to use cannabis in a safe and effective manner,'' said Supervisor Mark Leno, who sponsored the ordinance that created the cards. ``The police need to understand this card deserves 100 percent respect.'' Assistant Police Chief Earl Sanders pledged that officers will recognize the card and not arrest users of medicinal marijuana who have them. ``This is not an invitation to come to San Francisco and smoke marijuana,'' Sanders said. ``Police officers are bound to uphold the law, and Proposition 215, the last time I read it, is the law.'' Proposition 215, passed by California voters in 1996, allows patients to use marijuana with a doctor's permission. The law has faced several challenges from state and federal authorities. District Attorney Terence Hallinan said San Francisco was ``moving in the correct direction'' and vowed not to prosecute marijuana users who have their doctor's approval, whether or not they have the new card. ``Anybody who is fair-minded has no question that marijuana is a medical agent that greatly reduces suffering,'' Hallinan said. By Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff WriterE-mail Steve Rubenstein at: rubensteins sfgate.comPublished: Saturday, July 15, 2000 ©2000 San Francisco Chronicle  Page A19 Related Articles & Web Site:Marijuana.orghttp://www.marijuana.org/San Francisco Issues ID Cards for MMJ Users http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6401.shtmlNew System Eases Access To Medical Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6400.shtmlStudy Finds Pot Safe for AIDS Patientshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6390.shtmlStudy Finds Marijuana Use Safe for HIV Patients http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6383.shtmlSF Ready to Issue ID Card For Medicinal Pot Usershttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5722.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives: http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Direct Link To Article With Pictures:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/07/15/MN45993.DTL 
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on July 17, 2000 at 20:54:49 PT:
Medical Users Get Marijuana ID Cards
Authorities in San Francisco have unveiled a new scheme which will provide medicinal users of marijuana with ID cards protecting them from local prosecution. Monday, 17 July, 2000, 15:52 GMT 16:52 UK Click the link to read the complete article.http://news6.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_838000/838034.stm
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