Card-Carrying Pot Smokers

SUPE WANTS TO GIVE S.F. MEDICAL MARIJUANA USERS ID CARDS

SUP. MARK LENO introduced an ordinance last week that would create an
identification card program for San Francisco residents who legally use or
provide medical marijuana under the Compassionate Use Act, which California
voters enacted in November 1996 via Proposition 215.

"The legislation is intended to attend to the needs of patients, providers,
physicians, and police," Leno told the Bay Guardian. "But my greatest
concern was for the patients."

The bill has been assigned to the Board of Supervisors' Public Health and
Environment committee. Leno said he expects "resounding" support from the
board.

Similar ID card programs have been instituted in other California cities
and counties, but Leno's goes beyond them in several respects. Most
significantly, the cards would be issued by the Department of Public
Health, not the Police Department.

A police-run ID card program in the city of Arcata has been praised as a
model of success by marijuana activists and law enforcement officials
alike, but activists have long urged that medical marijuana be treated as a
public health, not law enforcement, issue.

The San Francisco ordinance is also unique in that it would enable primary
caregivers as well as patients to receive ID cards. Under the Compassionate
Use Act, a caregiver can supply medical pot to users unable to grow their own.

Applicants would pay a sliding-scale fee for cards to cover the cost of the
card program, which Leno said would probably be administered by a local
nonprofit under DPH auspices.

The cards would bear a photograph of the holder and an identifying number
either a driver's license, a passport, or a state ID card number but no
other identifying information. A police officer would still have the right
to verify a cardholder's identity, Leno said, "but we didn't want the card
in and of itself to breach any sort of confidence."

To further ensure privacy, applications will be destroyed one week after
cards are issued. However, the DPH would maintain a cross-referenced
database of card numbers to ensure that no medical pot user has an
inordinate number of caregivers and vice versa potential signs of illegal
sales.

Dr. Herminia Palacio, special policy advisor to DPH director Mitchell Katz,
told us that the Health Commission would discuss implementation of the
ordinance at the same time as the Board of Supervisors and that DPH would
probably issue a request for proposals to run the ID card program. S.B.
848, a bill by state senator John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) that would
have created a statewide registration system, stalled in September after
members of a task force could not agree on whether to make registration
voluntary or mandatory.

Since Prop. 215's passage, enforcement has largely been left to local
sheriffs and district attorneys, with mixed results. While medical
marijuana enjoys strong official support in San Francisco, Oakland, Arcata,
Marin, Mendocino, and elsewhere, in some places most notoriously in Placer
County law enforcement officials have adopted a hard-line,
throw-'em-all-in-jail approach similar to that of the federal government,
which refuses to acknowledge that pot has any medical use despite mountains
of evidence to the contrary.

Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML (National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws), praised Leno's bill, saying "it shows a
commitment on the part of San Francisco to proceed with the implementation
of Prop. 215 despite Governor Davis's reluctance to go ahead with a
statewide voluntary registration system."

In June Leno also proposed that nonprofit urban gardens, such as those run
by the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners (SLUG), be permitted to
cultivate industrial hemp, which federal law does not distinguish from
marijuana. Leno said the City Attorney's Office is still drafting
appropriate legislation.

"It's an outrage that it's illegal to grow hemp in this country. It's
fiscally irresponsible and in every way detrimental to the country's
well-being," Leno said. "I would dare the federal government to bust us for
growing hemp. I would love to bring the issue to a confrontation."