SUPES EXTEND MARIJUANA MORATORIUM TO 2010

Medical-marijuana patients will soon be able to get their long-awaited
identification cards from the county, but as far as their medicine is
concerned, they'll have to find it elsewhere, at least for about
another year.

A temporary moratorium on issuing permits for medical-marijuana
dispensaries was extended by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday until
June 19, 2010, so the county has more time to set guidelines for
dispensaries. The board imposed a 45-day moratorium in June.

A change in the county development code is required. Officials from
the county's Land Use Services Department must draft an ordinance,
conduct any environmental studies deemed necessary and take it before
the county Planning Commission, said Julie Rynerson Rock, director of
the Land Use Services Department.

Officials, however, are pushing to get it done before next
June.

"We're certainly focused on trying to get it done sooner than that. We
don't have a draft (of an ordinance) yet, and it's going to take a
while to get it done," Rynerson Rock said.

Tim Graston, executive director of the nonprofit Marijuana Cleanup and
a member of the Medical Cannabis Association, praised the county's
efforts Tuesday, despite its three-year legal battle attempting to
block patients' rights to medical-marijuana identification cards.

He said 10 months to a year is not that long when it comes to the
process the county must perform before it can start issuing permits.

"They do need the time to work on it and do it right," Graston said.
"Forty-five days just isn't enough time for them to jump into this
thing. I don't think it's something to fight about now."

On May 18, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a lawsuit filed
jointly in 2006 by San Bernardino and San Diego counties challenging
California's Compassionate Use Act.

Under the county's medical-marijuana identification card program,
caregivers and patients who aren't on Medi-Cal will pay $166 per
identification card per year, and Medi-Cal patients will pay $83 per
card per year.

The county Public Health Department will administer the program six
hours a day, five days a week, excluding holidays.

The county is expected to launch the program this month.

For more information, call (800) 782-4264.