MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWSUIT CHANCES BUDDING

After Sutter County supervisors' refusal to issue identification
cards to medical marijuana users, cannabis advocates say a lawsuit to
force the program into being is their possible next step.

A lawyer for Americans for Safe Access said Thursday the group may
launch litigation against the county to force it to issue the cards,
which help those using the drug under a doctor's direction identify
themselves to law enforcement as legal medical users. State law
requires such programs in all counties, but the Board of Supervisors
on Tuesday blocked the launch of its own program by a 3-2 vote.

County officials "are saying 'We recognize this as state law, but
we'll flout it nonetheless,'" said Joe Elford, an Oakland-based
attorney for the group, which campaigns to overhaul marijuana laws
nationwide. "They have the obligation to obey this regardless of
their personal views on medical marijuana."

Still unclear is whether Sutter County could face state sanctions for
resisting the ID card requirement, which passed in 2003 as Senate
Bill 240. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Jerry Brown, Christine
Gasparac, declined to comment Thursday on any possible enforcement action.

Americans for Safe Access previously has written other California
counties warning legal action unless they issued identification for
marijuana users, according to Elford, who credited the campaign for
leading Solano County to start providing user cards in 2007.

Several counties initially resisted providing ID to cannabis users,
and San Diego and San Bernardino counties led an unsuccessful fight
to overturn the requirement in court. Sutter and Colusa counties are
the last counties without a card program.

Elford suggested one way to avoid a showdown could be for the county
to have an outside company issue the cards, something Jim Whiteaker
- -- one of three supervisors to vote against the in-county program --
has proposed to avoid county workers' involvement. Alameda County
began issuing ID for cannabis users in April 2006 under a similar arrangement.

"They've dragged their feet an awful long time, but if they tell us
in good faith that they plan to implement it with a private entity,
we'd willingly work with them on that," said Elford.

However, a local activist and group member was far more combative,
warning the board's decision might trigger not only a lawsuit, but a
push to force three supervisors from office.

Yuba City resident Juston Purcell said he and other members of the
Yuba-Sutter Medical Cannabis Alliance will meet later this month to
consider filing a recall campaign against Whiteaker, Larry Munger and
Larry Montna, all of whom voted to veto Sutter County's ID card program.

"The state constitution gives them no power to not enact the
program," said Purcell, who said his father used cannabis to treat
digestion and appetite problems while terminally ill with cancer
before dying in 1999. "In doing so they are bringing in their
personal views rather than enacting the law, and it's a possible
grounds for recall."