BIG FEE HIKE SOON FOR MEDICAL POT ID CARDS

The state Department of Health Services has announced that effective
March 1, participants in California's medical marijuana ID card
program will see a roughly 1,000 percent fee hike for their ID cards.
Patients' annual fees to the state for the cards will go from $13 to
$142, in addition to the $33 paid to the city.

This is such a drastic increase in price that some are worried
current and potential participants will be discouraged from taking
part in the program.

According to Dale Gieringer of the California chapter of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, the fee increase is
due to lack of participants in the program, which was launched in
2005. The extra fees will cover the state's cost of the program.

"Cal NORML is concerned that the rate increase will strongly
discourage new enrollment," according to Gieringer. "The prospective
applicant pool will double shortly, when Los Angeles County comes
online. We hope the fee increase can be delayed so as to encourage an
influx of new applicants to pay for the program."

Currently only 24 of the state's 58 counties have implemented ID
programs. San Francisco County holds the most cards issued at 3,241,
followed by Marin County with 1,121, and Mendocino County with 742.
In San Francisco, the ID cards are obtained at San Francisco General Hospital.

The Department of Health Services says there are presently only 8,703
patients registered statewide but estimates the actual patient
population ranges from 150,000 to 350,000.

The fight to use marijuana for medicinal purposes has been a long and
drawn out one.

In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215, or the
Compassionate Use Act. Proposition 215 reads that its purpose is "to
ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and
use marijuana for medical purposes where that medical use is deemed
appropriate and has been recommended by a physician who has
determined that the persons health would benefit from the use of marijuana."

It also aimes "to ensure that patients and their primary caregivers
who obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes upon the
recommendation of a physician are not subject to criminal prosecution
or sanction."

But even with the law, the process was murky as to who could use the
medical marijuana and how to get it. In an attempt to clarify the
Compassionate Use Act, in 2003 the state legislature passed SB420,
which established the state medical marijuana ID card program.

The federal government, however, does not recognize the laws of
California and 10 other states, maintaining that marijuana has no
legitimate medicinal value and that its use is illegal under all
circumstances. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2005 that the
federal Controlled Substances Act trumps state medical marijuana
laws, but did not declare such laws invalid.

California has gone ahead with the ID card program.

San Francisco District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi said the fee hike
would have an adverse effect to the ID card program's original goal.

"This fee increase is completely defeating its purpose," said
Mirkarimi, an advocate for medical marijuana. He said the city is
looking into returning to the local, and less expensive, ID card system.

Kevin Reed, president and founder of the Green Cross, called the fee
hike outrageous.

"This has gone far beyond preposterous," said Reed. "Where are the
patients' rights? How can patients afford to keep fighting bad policy?"

The Green Cross is a unique online dispensary and delivery service.
The decision to become an online delivery service came after the
Green Cross outgrew its former location in the residential Fair Oaks
neighborhood. Reed complied with the conditions imposed by the local
Medical Cannabis Act and combed the city for a location within the
narrow "green zones" not within 1,000 feet of a school but was unable
to find a suitable site and moved his operation online.

Reed says the fee hike will be horrible for patients who are just
getting by right now.

"Most patients just won't be able to afford it," Reed told the Bay
Area Reporter.

There will be a patient protest regarding the fee increase on
February 14 at noon at San Francisco General Hospital. The protest is
being organized by Axis of Love San Francisco.