Pubdate: Sat, 18 Jun 2005
Source: Corvallis Gazette-Times (OR)
Copyright: 2005 Lee Enterprises
Contact: http://www.mvonline.com/support/contact/GTedletters.php
Website: http://www.gazettetimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2976
Author: Charles E. Beggs, Associated Press writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

STATE ISSUES POT CARDS AGAIN

Oregon Resumes Practice Despite Supreme Court Ruling Against It

SALEM -- Oregon's statewide health agency resumed issuing
medical-marijuana cards Friday, deciding the program could continue
despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing federal prosecution for
possessing the drug.

State Attorney General Hardy Myers said the ruling didn't overturn
Oregon's voter-passed program.

But his written opinion also warned that registration in the state
program won't protect patients or caregivers from federal prosecution
for drug possession if the federal government chooses to take action
against them.

Madeline Martinez, Oregon director of the National Organization to
Reform Marijuana Laws, called Myers' opinion a "no-brainer."

"It is the outcome we were expecting," she said. "Patients were
concerned though -- when you have the boot of the federal government
on your back and you are disabled, that doesn't leave you in a very
comfortable positions."

The Human Services Department stopped sending out the cards -- but
continued processing applications -- after the Supreme Court held last
week that federal authorities can prosecute marijuana possession under
federal drug laws, even in states like Oregon, where medical use of
the drug is legal.

The department was awaiting a review of the court ruling by Myers. The
agency on Friday began mailing about 550 registration cards that had
been held up, said Grant Higginson, a department administrator.

Martinez said the court ruling caused many patients to dismantle their
gardens and consider going back to harsh pharmaceuticals.

She said her group tried to assure patients that medical pot users
also weren't protected from federal prosecution in 1999 after the
program began "and that now we are right back where we were."

More than 10,000 patients have registered for the state's medical
marijuana program, one of 11 in the nation. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake