Orange County Supervisors OK medical pot identification cards

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Supervisors OK medical pot identification cards

Janet Nguyen is the lone vote on the county board against issuing cards for
medical marijuana users.

By PEGGY LOWE
The Orange County Register

SANTA ANA – The Orange County Board of Supervisors today approved a program
that will issue photo identification cards to users of medical marijuana,
joining 31 other California counties who already have the program.

After four months of debate and a nearly two-hour public hearing, the board
voted 4-1 to allow the health-care agency to establish the program within
120 days. The lone vote against the program was Supervisor Janet Nguyen, who
agreed with District Attorney Tony Rackauckas that marijuana is still
illegal under federal law.

The county was forced to set up the program under a 2003 state law that
implemented the voter-approved Proposition 215. Chronically ill patients who
use cannabis under doctors' care say they need the cards to protect them
from persecution by law enforcement.

Aaron Smith, a leader in Safe Access Now, was thrilled with the vote.

"(The board) saw through the ideological zealotry and adopted the reasonable
course of action," he said.

Board chair Chris Norby has lead the movement toward the cards, urging
compassion for people who are seeking marijuana for chronic pain. Of all the
people who come before the board seeking funding and other issues, the many
who spoke at the program's two public hearings aren't asking for much, Norby
said.

"They don't want money. They don't want programs funded," he said. "All they
want is the right to be left alone, and I think that's a right we should
respect."

Supervisors Pat Bates and John Moorlach worried that the cards could be
abused and added a provision that would allow for revocation. Bates also
asked the county's attorneys to make certain that illegal immigrants be
barred from receiving the cards.

Contact the writer: (714) 285-2862 or plowe [at] ocregister.com

http://www.ocregister.com/news/program-cards-board-1769849-want-law