MEDICAL MARIJUANA SUPPORTERS SUE DMV

Driver's Licenses Suspended

SAN FRANCISCO -- When Matt Vaughn was pulled over for speeding on the
freeway in Northern California early on a Sunday morning, he had a
bag of marijuana on the passenger seat.

The California Highway Patrol officer smelled the weed, searched the
car, took the marijuana and a pipe and gave Vaughn a sobriety test,
which he passed. Vaughn showed the officer his doctor's
recommendation to use marijuana for glaucoma. The officer was unimpressed.

"He said, in Glenn County they don't recognize those kinds of
things," said Vaughn, 55, who has a ponytail, a mustache and a beard.
"He was not very friendly about it."

The 2005 incident cost Vaughn a speeding ticket, his 1 1/4 ounces of
pot, his driver's license -- and nine months of fighting the
California Department of Motor Vehicles -- before he prevailed.

As a result of that and other encounters involving medical marijuana,
an advocacy group has sued the state DMV, asking for a written policy
that says medical marijuana should be treated the same as prescription drugs.

The suit contends that the DMV has a pattern of investigating and
suspending the driver's licenses of people who use pot on the
recommendation of their doctors.

"It happens a disturbing amount," said Joseph D. Elford, chief
counsel for Americans for Safe Access, which promotes legalizing
marijuana for medicinal purposes and research.

Elford said his Oakland-based group has received complaints about the
DMV from patients Advertisement in several Northern and Central
California counties. Elford and others said they were unaware of any
Southern California cases.

The DMV can obtain medical information about someone if an
investigation is launched into the person's fitness to drive.

In Vaughn's case, the CHP officer sent the DMV a report about Vaughn,
along with a medical journal article saying marijuana was not the
choice drug for treating glaucoma.

In another case, Rose Johnson, 53, the plaintiff named in the pending
suit, used medical marijuana for back and neck injuries and lost her
license after a DMV worker referred her for an investigation. The
worker had noted that Johnson had difficulty moving when she went in
to renew her license. Despite a perfect driving record, the DMV cited
the Merced woman's marijuana use last year in revoking her license,
the suit said.

Elford said the DMV also learns of medical marijuana patients from
law enforcement officers who ask drivers if they have used drugs in
the 24 hours before a traffic stop.

Medical marijuana users answer truthfully, thinking they are
protected by law, Elford said. He added that he does not advise them
to lie because defrauding a police officer is a misdemeanor in California.

State officials said in interviews that it is not their policy to
take licenses from marijuana patients.

DMV spokesman Armando Botello declined to comment on the lawsuit and
said the office does not keep statistics on the number of licenses
yanked as a result of medical marijuana. But he indicated the
instances were probably isolated.

Although medicinal weed is not automatic grounds for revoking a
license, conditions that impair safe driving, including "poor
judgment, aggressive behavior, impaired decision-making, slowed motor
functions, impaired coordination ... and drowsiness" could result in
license removal, he said.

During a DMV investigation, the driver's doctor is asked to fill out
a five-page questionnaire about the patient's medical condition and drug use.

Jaime Coffee, a CHP spokeswoman, said its policy is to comply with
the state medical marijuana law, a policy that Americans for Safe
Access won in an earlier suit.