SOLANO TO ALLOW MEDICAL MARIJUANA ID CARDS

Solano County joined the rest of the Bay Area in authorizing
identification cards for medical marijuana users Tuesday when
supervisors voted to let patients apply for documents that protect
them from arrest for carrying small amounts of the drug with their
doctor's approval.

The 3-2 vote followed the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal last month to
hear a lawsuit by San Diego and San Bernardino counties that
challenged both the law that required identification cards and the
1996 ballot measure, Proposition 215, that made California the first
state to approve marijuana for medical use.

Both counties argued that issuing ID cards would require them to
condone drug use that violated federal law. They had asked the Supreme
Court to review a state appellate ruling last year that concluded
California can decide whether to eliminate its own criminal penalties
for medical marijuana regardless of federal law.

Solano County did not take part in the suit but had resisted issuing
the identification cards while the case was pending, said Americans
for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group that sued the
county over the issue in January.

Of California's 58 counties, 52 issue the cards or are in the process
of approving them, the advocacy group said. The organization said it
has threatened to sue the holdouts - Colusa, Madera, Mariposa, Modoc,
Mono and Sutter - unless they go along.

"More than 12 years after the passage of California's medical
marijuana law, it's time for local officials to respect the legal
rights and protections offered to patients," said the group's lawyer,
Joe Elford.