SACRAMENTO SUPERVISORS REJECT STATE'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA ID PROGRAM

Turning away pleas from an elderly glaucoma patient, a local man with
AIDS and a teen with a rare bone illness, Sacramento County
supervisors rejected a call to implement a program allowing medical
marijuana patients to obtain a state-issued identification card.

Tuesday's 3-2 vote was instead in step with the position of
Sacramento County's law enforcement officials that implementing the
program would invite residents to violate federal law.

While state law allows the use of marijuana for legitimate medicinal
purposes, federal law does not.

Of the state's 58 counties, Sacramento County is among 18 that
haven't adopted the state program. Advocates say pot ID cards help
law enforcement by identifying those with a legitimate need for
medicinal marijuana.

Neoma Denny, 75, called medical marijuana her "lifeline."

"I can't take medicine for nausea. I can't take medicine for pain,"
said Denny, who said she suffers from glaucoma and cirrhosis of the
liver. "If I did not use medical marijuana, I would not be here. This
is my lifeline."

Thomas Coy, a Sacramento man who uses marijuana to ease symptoms of
AIDS, said he wanted the board to start the program "to let law
enforcement know it's really medicine for me."

Brittany Davies, 17, who suffers from a rare bone disease, said she
plans to drive to San Francisco for the weekend to look at prom
dresses, but she's afraid to take with her the cannabis cream she
uses to ease her pain.

"I don't want to be pulled over and have to go to jail or something,"
Davies said.

The three were among 30 medical marijuana supporters who entreated
the supervisors to support the program.

Supervisors Roger Dickinson and Jimmie Yee voted in favor of
implementing the program.

Supervisors Roberta MacGlashan, Susan Peters and Don Nottoli voted against it.

Sheriff John McGinness and District Attorney Jan Scully argued
against the program.

McGinness said that since sheriff's deputies aren't jailing people
for having a small amount of pot, the program wouldn't be of much help.

He added that issuing cards would encourage pot use. "We have a
conflict," he said. "We are talking about a behavior that is illegal
by federal law."

Jan Scully said marijuana cultivation and use sets people up for
crime - from home invasion robberies to murders. She also made light
of what she characterized as pot prescriptions for back pain,
menstrual cramps, diarrhea, flatulence and insomnia.

"The courts are going to have to sort this out," MacGlashan said. "We
can't sort it out on this level."

Dickinson said he was somewhat embarrassed that the county had turned
its back on state law.

"This is nothing more than an identification card," he said. "Federal
law is unaffected by this. We aren't making any judgments (about
marijuana use) by deciding to follow state law."

Aaron Smith, the California organizer for the Marijuana Policy
Project, unsuccessfully tried to convince the board that the state
constitution tells local officials to implement state law when there
is a conflict with federal law.

"We are not here to seek your endorsement of the medical marijuana
law. The people of California already did that," Smith said. "This is
a sensible and moderate way to regulate medical marijuana."