MARIN'S MEDICAL POT CARD TO HAVE PHOTO

A photo ID will be added to the cards issued by the county of Marin to each
approved user of medical marijuana in an effort to provide patients with
increased confidentiality, county health officials said yesterday.

The user's address, listed on current cards, will be removed.

"We wanted to develop a system that would make people feel more comfortable
using the county system while still meeting the needs of law enforcement
and patients and their caregivers to know that the cards were issued
legitimately," said Frima Stewart, a county health department administrator
who helps oversee the county's medical marijuana ID program.

The county program was initiated with some fanfare in 1997. It was designed
to help patients verify that they were acting within the law when
cultivating, possessing or using marijuana.

Currently, however, there are only 12 people using the county card, Stewart
said. That compares with 700 reported to be using a similar ID issued by
the Fairfax-based Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, the county's only
medical marijuana dispensary.

Medical marijuana users have regarded the county's program with suspicion.
According to Lynnette Shaw, founder of the Marin Alliance, several medical
marijuana users were arrested or had their plants confiscated after
registering with the county in the early days of the program.

In fact, the first person to be issued a county certificate in 1997 was
Alan Ager, a Nicasio podiatrist who had already been arrested for growing
135 marijuana plants in 1996. Ager was arrested again in 1999 for growing
hundreds of marijuana plants, which he said were for his personal medical
use, and eventually sentenced to a year in jail.

"I tend to doubt in light of their track record that they're going to
inspire any confidence at all in their program until they adopt the methods
established by the San Francisco ID program," said Jane Weirick, who is
serving as interim director of the Marin Alliance while Shaw is on a leave
of absence.

The San Francisco ID card contains just a photo of the patient and a serial
number - no name or address, Weirick said. No file or additional
information on patients is kept, she said. Police can confirm the card is
legitimate by confirming the serial number via the city's health department.

Stewart acknowledged that leaving the patient's name on the Marin county
card is a drawback. But she said, "It's as confidential as we can make it.
We also have to provide a reliable method in the field for verifying these
cards are valid."

Other than that, however, the county's ID program will now be virtually
identical to San Francisco's.

To get a Marin county card, prospective patients must submit a doctor's
signed statement that cannabis will benefit their medical condition. Once a
card is issued, the application is shredded, Stewart said.

"We've never kept files on patients," she said.

The Fairfax Planning Commission, which issues the Marin Alliance its use
permit, voted in March to require the club to allow the county's ID program
- - rather than the town - to check identification of buyers.

The club has resisted this and the matter will be discussed again at a
commission meeting in September, along with other questions regarding the
Marin Alliance's compliance with its use permit guidelines, said
Commissioner Terri Alvillar.

The ID card issued by the Marin Alliance includes the name and photograph
of the patient, Weirick said. Unlike the county, the group keeps files on
patients. The club would like to maintain greater confidentiality, Weirick
said, but it must follow the dictates of the town of Fairfax.