STATE TIGHTENS MARIJUANA POLICIES

Last month, after discovering that three medical marijuana cards had been
obtained with the forged signature of a physician, state officials decided
to take a closer look at how Oregon's ground-breaking medical marijuana
program was being managed.

They didn't like what they found.

The Health Division program wasn't following its own rules for verifying
applications, had a huge backlog of applications, and no procedures were in
place for rejecting incomplete applications.

As a result, state officials have instituted new procedures for issuing
cards and reassigned, at least temporarily, the woman who has run the
program since its inception two years ago.

Although the program has been understaffed, that's not an excuse for not
following procedures, said Bob Mink, director of the state Department of
Human Services.

"I want all the programs we administer to be well managed. These
high-profile programs I want to be particularly well managed," he said
Tuesday. "We have the procedures in place. All we have to do is follow our
procedures."

The state found itself thrust into the medical marijuana business after
voters approved a ballot measure in 1998 that permitted people with certain
medical conditions to use marijuana with their doctor's approval.

The state Health Division was charged with making the new law work and
established a registry of medical marijuana patients. After filling out an
application, providing a copy of their medical chart or having their doctor
sign a form, and paying a $150 annual fee, patients receive a laminated,
wallet-sized card and are exempted from the state's marijuana laws. Several
other states have since followed Oregon's model.

In one sense, the program has been very successful. The number of patients
has grown at a rapid clip - about 2,200 patients are now in the registry -
and relatively few problems have been reported between patients and law
enforcement officials.

But problems surfaced in February when a staff member noticed that the
handwriting of a doctor's signature on a patient's application did not
match the doctor's on-file signature. The staff member called the doctor,
who said he never signed a request for that patient.

After further investigation, two more cards were suspended and four other
applications were rejected for the same reason. All seven forged the same
doctor's signature.

The law requires Health Division staff to verify the signature of a doctor
either with a phone call or a letter. But the doctor whose signature was
forged had previously asked Health Division staff not to call for
verification unless the signatures didn't match his previous ones. As a
result, the staff stopped confirming the doctor's signature by phone.

The internal audit also found:

The program staff kept no written records of the verifications it did make.

The program received little oversight, had inadequate support staff, and
few management controls.

The program regularly failed to meet its own 30-day deadline for processing
applications, had no procedure for denying incomplete applications, and
doesn't compare registrations against death records.

Registration materials didn't explain patients were required to report name
and address changes.

New procedures have now been put in place. Staff will now verify all
applications by mail and keep a written record of verifications. Management
responsibilities will be established, formal reporting mechanisms will be
set up and permanent support staff will be hired.

The new interim manager, Chris Campbell, hopes to catch up on the backlog
of 780 applications in a month's time, Mink said.

Kelly Paige, who has managed the program since its inception in 1998, has
been temporarily reassigned to another job in the Health Division, as is
the practice during an internal management investigation.

She'll continue to work for the Health Division, Mink said, but he wouldn't
say if she'll get her old job back.

As for the forged applications, Oregon State Police are investigating, but
state officials would say little else about the case. Spokesmen for the
state police and Department of Human Services declined to discuss the
investigation or say where the forged signatures originated.

"It's confidential medical information," said Human Services spokesman Mac
Prichard.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.