Pubdate: Mon, 12 Jan 2009
Source: Modesto Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2009 The Modesto Bee
Contact:  http://www.modbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/271
Author: Tim Moran
Cited: Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors 
http://www.co.stanislaus.ca.us/board/index.shtm
Cited: Americans for Safe Access http://www.americansforsafeaccess.org/
Cited: Marijuana Policy Project http://www.mpp.org/
Cited: California NORML http://www.canorml.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Proposition+215
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

MARIJUANA ID REVIEWED BY COUNTY

Stanislaus One of Dozen Without a Card Program

A medical marijuana identification card program will come before the 
Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors sometime in the next few 
months. It's a program that has been in the works for more than 2 1/2 years.

Stanislaus is one of just 12 of the state's 58 counties that does not 
already have an identification card program, which is required by 
state law. The programs issue identification cards to medical 
marijuana users who ask for them. The cards can then be shown to law 
enforcement officers when patients are stopped and questioned about 
possession of the drug.

The cards, like the whole issue of medical marijuana, have been 
controversial. Two years ago, then-Stanislaus County Supervisor Ray 
Simon called the program "a huge fraud perpetrated on us by the state 
of California." Modesto Police Chief Roy Wasden also criticized the 
program, saying it should go through a formal U.S. Food and Drug 
Administration trial and be dispensed by prescription through 
pharmaceutical companies.

Proponents, however, point out that medical marijuana use was 
approved by the state's voters in 1996 in Proposition 215. The 
federal government still considers any marijuana use to be illegal, 
but proponents of Proposition 215 point out that issuing the ID cards 
violates neither state nor federal law -- and not issuing them would 
violate state law.

Stanislaus and several other counties delayed issuing the cards while 
legal challenges played out. Now that the ID cards have cleared legal 
hurdles, most counties have launched programs. San Joaquin County 
announced its card program last week.

The Stanislaus ID card program is under review to make sure it 
complies with state law, said Deputy County Counsel Dean Wright. The 
program will require the county to acquire camera equipment to take 
pictures of applicants, along with paperwork to ensure that the 
applicants have a doctor's recommendation. The information would then 
be forwarded to Sacramento, where the cards will be issued.

Some of the delay in getting the program before the Board of 
Supervisors has been caused by the small staff in the California 
Department of Public Health dedicated to overseeing the program, Wright said.

When it gets on the supervisors' agenda is still in question, because 
the county is wrestling with midyear budget adjustments, said 
Cleopathia Moore, associate director of the county Health Services 
Agency, which will administer the program.

The cards are completely voluntary -- medical marijuana users don't 
have to get them in order to comply with the state law. The cards in 
theory will prevent them from being arrested if police officers find 
them in possession of marijuana.

When the medical ID card program comes before the board, members will 
be faced with a decision to approve or reject a specific program. 
Rejecting the idea of an ID program carries a legal risk: Solano 
County was sued last week by Americans for Safe Access for failing to 
implement a card program.

Most Dispensaries Banned

In the meantime, the medical marijuana environment in California and 
the Northern San Joaquin Valley continues to evolve. Most of the 
cities in the northern valley have banned marijuana dispensaries. 
That leaves patients with a doctor's recommendation a choice of 
either driving to the Bay Area, where there are many dispensaries; 
seeking the drug in the underground illegal market; or growing their 
own, which is allowed by law in limited quantities.

Medical marijuana advocates say most patients don't want to grow 
their own. It takes time and some expertise, as well as a place to 
grow it, said Aaron Smith, California policy director for the 
Marijuana Policy Project.

Driving to the Bay Area is also inconvenient if not impossible for 
some patients, Smith said. Some patients are undergoing chemotherapy 
and are physically unable to cultivate plants or drive for hours to 
get marijuana, he said.

Sources Will Deliver

"Many are going into the black market. It's readily available in the 
black market, but part of the intent of Prop. 215 was that they not 
have to go to the black market," Smith said.

"They are pushing the market into the dark corners of society instead 
of open, licensed and inspected dispensaries."

The Web site of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana 
Laws, another marijuana advocacy group, lists several sources that 
will deliver marijuana to the Modesto area, but the group doesn't 
vouch for the reliability of the sources, said Ellen Comp, a board 
member and volunteer for California NORML.

Doctors are more willing to recommend marijuana to patients since a 
U.S. Supreme Court ruling that it was a First Amendment right of 
doctors to make recommendations, Smith and Comp said.

In Modesto, a MediCann clinic at 725 18th St. provides patient 
evaluations and marijuana recommendations. MediCann is a San 
Francisco-based group with 12 clinics throughout the state dedicated 
to helping patients with medical marijuana referrals and other 
alternative medical treatments. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake