MEDICAL MARIJUANA PERMIT PROCESS APPROVED

OROVILLE - Procedures for issuing identification cards for people
with prescriptions for medical marijuana got the nod Tuesday from the
Butte County Board of Supervisors. Voters approved Proposition 215 in
1996, which allows use of marijuana for people with certain illnesses,
such as cancer.

Butte County Sheriff Perry Reniff told the board he supported issuing
the identification cards because it helps law enforcement by not
requiring confiscation of marijuana grown and possessed by people who
have a doctor's recommendation for it. Without standardized
identification cards, law enforcement spends time figuring out if a
document is a forgery or dealing with a patient who ends up not
needing to be prosecuted for illegal drug use."Law enforcement is not
trained in medicine," Reniff told the supervisors Tuesday. By issuing
the medical marijuana IDs, law enforcement can shift the burden to the
public health system.

He said his office spends hundreds of hours a year investigating
whether people have gone through the legal steps to use marijuana for
illnesses. It takes considerable time for his staff to sort through
the particulars, Reniff explained.

Paradise Supervisor Kim Yamaguchi said there are other complications,
such as a "criminal element" learning a person has medical marijuana
and then stepping in and stealing it.

Reniff said the Sheriff's Office views theft of medicinal marijuana
the same as any other crime.

Complicating the issue is that federal law differs from the
voter-passed laws in California, and once marijuana is seized, federal
law does not allow it to be returned to the ill person.

Reniff's chief assistant, Francisco Zarato, said there are thousands
of patients in the county. The law states that the person with the
doctor's recommendation or their primary caregiver can possess the
"medicine." But it's tricky being a caregiver because there are
certain rules that must be abided by.

One man testified at the meeting Tuesday he had been caring for a man
with epilepsy and cancer. The ordeal ended up costing him thousands of
dollars for a attorney. He said he was dealing with a serious hassle
because "you guys didn't get it together," meaning the county should
have adopted an identification program previously.

Oroville Supervisor Bill Connelly said he has "disdain" for medical
marijuana, feeling there are other medical treatments that would be
similar. But he was inclined to vote for the identification program to
relieve hassles for law enforcement, freeing up officers' time for
other duties.

Supervisor Curt Josiassen of south Chico said he felt about the vote
on medical marijuana similar to when the supervisors were asked to
vote on a "nudie bar." This drew the ire of the one of the medical
marijuana supporters, who shouted from the back of the room. The vote
was 3-2, with Josiassen and Yamaguchi voting against.