ANYBODY CAN GET STONED - FOR $US25

Marijuana smokers in San Francisco are to be given a special ID card
to show they are allowed to use the drug, if they can prove they need
it for medical reasons.

The city, where the likes of Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead lived
in the 1960s, is considered by many to be the home of "weed" smoking
but in recent years open use of the drug has declined.

The ID card scheme has not been welcomed by many police or the city's
anti-drug campaigners.

A spokesman for the latter said: "All you will need is $US25 and a
note from a doctor saying that you need marijuana for medical reasons
and you can get the card.

"Everyone will be able to get one and be able to use the drug as they
please.

"The card is basically legalising the possession and use of marijuana
in the city.

"Although there has been some proof that marijuana can help soften the
effects of certain illnesses such as arthritis, the link between the
drug and its medical value has been abused."

Campaigners and parents are concerned that the ID card can be easily
faked, just as young people in America obtain false driving licenses.

There is also mounting opposition to the card from cigarette smokers
who, over the past few years, have been banned from smoking tobacco in
almost all public areas in California, including parks and
restaurants.

"It seems very unfair to me," said Roger Trimlett, a resident of San
Francisco who has been smoking tobacco for more than 50 years and can
now virtually only do so at home.

Those who have a card will be able to show it at approved health
clinics or newly formed "cannabis clubs" to obtain the drug.

The card will only guard users from local prosecution and will not
protect them if caught with the drug outside the San Francisco area.

California was a pioneer in legalising the use of marijuana for
medical reasons when it approved Proposition 215 in 1996.

However the legislation has been tangled in legal and medical disputes
ever since.