COUNTY OKs MEDICAL MARIJUANA ID CARDS

There was no debate. No controversy. No protest. People using
marijuana for medical purposes with doctors' recommendation will be
issued state-sanctioned identification cards in Kings County, the
Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday.

By a unanimous vote, the supervisors adopted a medical marijuana ID
card program. The decision makes Kings County the 42nd California
counties to establish the program in compliance with a 2003 state law.

The program -- which advises police to accept authenticated cards as
proof of medical need -- is intended to help legitimate patients with
serious illness avoid arrest while giving police the tools to
distinguish legal medical marijuana users from illegal stoners.

"To me this is a no-brainer, and I'm a strong supporter of this
because this is not opening the gates to marijuana. This is focusing
on people that (have the reasons) to register," said Supervisor Tony Oliveira.

"I'm not the one who is open to the use of marijuana personally, but
I'm the one that strongly supports this. Our sister counties --
Fresno and Tulare counties -- have already stepped up to the plate,
so it's time that we do the same," Oliveira said. The decision comes
as a result of July 31 ruling by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals
that rejected the challenge by San Bernardino and San Diego counties
and upheld that the medical marijuana ID system is legal. Similar
decisions are pending in several other counties.

Advocates welcomed the action by Kings County.

"It's a win-win situation for law enforcement and patients," said
Aaron Smith, California organizer with Marijuana Policy Project, the
largest marijuana policy reform organization in the country.

Kings County's decision signals the kind of paradigm shift regarding
the legalized, regulated use of marijuana, Smith said.

"In a conservative county like Kings County, where a majority of
voters rejected Prop 215, this shows that the time to debate whether
or not to follow the law is over."

In 1996, state voters legalized medical marijuana by passing
Proposition 215 dubbed as the "Compassionate Use Act." In Kings
County, nearly 57 percent of voters rejected the measure.

Meanwhile, Hanford police Chief Carlos Mestas took an "wait-and-see"
attitude with the program.

"I think there's truly a need for select individuals who need relief.
I have no problem with that, just as I have no problem with people
who have needs for prescribed pain medication," Mestas said. "But too
often, this card has become an excuse for some people to carry and
grow marijuana.. A number of cities have reported a spike in crimes
around marijuana dispensaries.

"This is going to be an wait-and-see," Mestas said.

Currently, there is no medical marijuana dispensaries in Kings County.

Fresno County, which has recently adopted its medical marijuana ID
card program, projects about 500 patients seeking the cards. Tulare
County, which implemented its program in 2006, has issued about 40
cards over the past year, although officials say the $300-plus fee
might have discouraged applications.

In Kings County, about 10 individuals are projected to apply for the
cards, said Perry Rickard, public health department director.

Two of these people showed up to the board chambers Tuesday urging
the board to adopt the program.

Charlie Ennes, 24, of Lemoore was one of them.

Ennes, a Fresno State student, said he suffers from Graves' Disease
and social anxiety disorder and that medical marijuana provides him
with an alternative without the side effects of prescribed
hydrocodone that he takes for his conditions.

"I use it when I just can't take the pharmaceutical narcotics
anymore," Ennes said." I think most people like me who have a history
of taking other medications would be responsible in the use of
medical marijuana. Marijuana is definitely less impeding to my
functionality. I'm glad that Kings County took the step to adopt the
program today."

Ennes said he has previously took a trip to a dispensary club in
Oakland for medical marijuana. That's because his local doctor has
been ambivalent of signing any written recommendation for medical
marijuana use in the absence of a county-adopted ID program, he said.

"Based on the supervisors decision today, hopefully my doctor will be
ready to write a recommendation for me," Ennes said. "It helps me to
stay with a local doctor."

Joni Davis-Carter, of Hanford also praised the supervisors' decision.
Davis-Carter, who identified herself as a patient of a nerve disorder
called reflex sympathetic dystrophy, said the decision was long-awaited.

"It's bad enough suffering from the pain. I've been feeling like a
criminal; I've just been trying to help myself," Davis-Carter said.
"Medical marijuana helps relieve my symptoms and keeps me calm."

County officials say some strict protocols must be followed before ID
cards are issued to patients with proven need for medical pot.

The county charges a fee of $225 per application and $112.50 for a
Medi-Cal beneficiary.

The application must designate a primary care provider and includes a
physician-signed recommendation proving that the need is legitimate.
In addition, an electronically transmittable photo will be taken of
an applicant and sent over to the state.

During a 30-day verification period, the county will verify the
applicant's residence within the county and the recommending
physician's licensure status with the Medical Board of California,
Rickard said.