YUBA COUNTY: No action on pot ID cards

YUBA COUNTY: No action on pot ID cards

By Andrea Koskey/Appeal-Democrat
August 15, 2007 - 12:07AM


Yuba County supervisors deferred discussion on medical marijuana ID cards Tuesday to give county lawyers more time to review state and federal laws.

“This is question for counsel right now,” said Supervisor Dan Logue. “There are a lot of federal and state issues here, and I want to hear our rights.”

Aaron Smith, state coordinator for Safe Access Now, a nonprofit organization promoting legal access to medical marijuana, asked for public hearings to be scheduled to coordinate a program with the state to issue ID cards for legitimate users of medical marijuana.

“The laws are not being applied uniformly,” Smith said. “This is a tool for bona fide patients to be verified, and it gives law enforcement added confidence that patients are who they say they are.”

The Compassionate Use Act was passed in 1996 allowing doctors to prescribe the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Then in 2003, SB 420 was approved by state legislators enabling the Department of Health Services to create an ID card program.

To date, 35 counties have implemented programs, including Butte, Plumas and Sierra counties.

San Diego County is involved in a lawsuit questioning the legality of the ID cards. The county lost in lower courts, but is appealing the decision.

Supervisors, however, said they were interested becoming familiar with the rights of the voter-approved law before making a decision.

“I’m comfortable waiting to see how the appeal goes,” Supervisor John Nicoletti said of the San Diego case. “I understand the issue, but there is an appeal in process I think we should wait to see the outcome.”


Appeal-Democrat reporter Andrea Koskey can be reached at 749-4709 or at akoskey@appealdemocrat.com

http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/state_52655___article.html/marijuana_medical.html