Pubdate: Sat, 09 Jul 2005
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2005 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Rong-Gong Lin II, Times Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

POT ID CARD PROGRAM SHELVED

Verification system for medicinal users is put on hold after U.S.
Supreme Court ruling creates concerns about possible
prosecutions.

California health officials Friday suspended a pilot program that
issues photo identification to medical marijuana users out of concern
that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling could make the state and ID
holders targets for federal prosecution.

The action comes a month after the nation's high court ruled that the
federal government could seize and destroy marijuana being used as
medicine, regardless of state laws such as California's Proposition
215 that allow the drug's use by patients who have received a doctor's
permission.

The state's Department of Health Services on Friday also asked Atty.
Gen. Bill Lockyer's office to determine whether the identification
card program could potentially make patients and state staffers liable
for prosecution because it identifies them as receiving marijuana or
helping to facilitate marijuana use.

Teresa Schilling, a spokeswoman for Lockyer, said the attorney
general's office plans to review the issue and present an opinion as
soon as it can.

Once the health department receives the legal review, it will make its
own decision on the future of the program. "We also wanted to ask
[Lockyer] whether information gathered from card holders could
potentially be used by federal law enforcement officers to identify
medical marijuana users for prosecution," health services spokesman
Ken August said.

The agency also had concerns that a state-issued medical marijuana
identification card could give patients a false sense of security and
might lead them to believe they are protected from federal
prosecutors, August said.

The identification card program was approved by the state Legislature
in 2003 and was intended to be used as a tool for state law
enforcement officers to easily determine whether an individual is
using marijuana for medicinal purposes under California's Proposition
215, August said.

Before Friday, the state had issued 123 cards in three counties -
Amador, Del Norte and Mendocino. The plastic cards bear California's
state seal, an identification number, a website to verify the card's
authenticity and an expiration date. Health officials had planned to
offer the cards statewide next month, but that is now in question.

The decision to suspend the program still allows patients who have
received the cards to use them, and law enforcement officers will
continue to be able to verify a card's authenticity online.

The suspension does not affect identification card programs counties
and cities have created on their own, August said. Patients can also
still offer a doctor's prescription as proof to law enforcement that
their possession and use of marijuana is legal, he said.

Medical marijuana advocacy groups immediately criticized the
suspension and said the cards are completely legal because state law
allows for the medical use of marijuana.

"The decision would seem to be a tragedy, and I hope they'll reverse
it as soon as possible," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of
the Drug Policy Alliance.

The program's suspension only makes it more difficult for law
enforcement officers to differentiate between patients who are using
marijuana for medicinal reasons and those who are not, Nadelmann said.

"It was always understood that the medical marijuana ID system would
not provide a protection against federal arrests. The whole point of
the program was to provide protection against arrests by state law
enforcement and to make it easier for law enforcement authorities to
enforce the law," he said.

Federal officials have so far expressed little interest in arresting
sick and dying people. Karen P. Tandy, head of the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration, has said her agency is after those
involved in trafficking and major cultivation.

Last month, Oregon's attorney general ordered health officials to
resume that state's medical marijuana identification program after
reiterating that it was legal, said Steph Sherer, executive director
of Americans for Safe Access.

"There is nothing illegal about the program, and it's unclear why
anyone has a question about the legality," said Daniel Abrahamson, a
legal affairs director at the Drug Policy Alliance.

"Even the attorney general of California, on the day of the [Supreme
Court] decision, declared California's law to be legal, and so why the
Department of Health Services is retreating from enforcing the law is
unclear," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin