MEDICAL MARIJUANA NOT LIMITED TO RESIDENTS

Rules Had Required Card Applicants To Show Proof Of Oregon Residency

Obtaining an Oregon medical-marijuana card no longer will be limited
to Oregon residents.

Current administrative rules require applicants to show Oregon
identification and proof of residency. But as part of a review of
otherwise routine changes proposed in the rules, the Department of
Justice has advised the Department of Human Services that the 1998
law authorizing medical marijuana is not limited to residents.

Temporary rules will allow the program to accept a driver's license,
government-issued identification card, U.S. passport or military
identification.

The other rules changes, including what is considered acceptable
documentation, will be heard at 11 a.m. July 30 in Conference Room
1-A at the State Office Building, 800 NE Oregon St., Portland.

As of April, there were 36,380 card holders. A card authorizes a
patient, or a designated caregiver, to grow a specified amount of
marijuana and possess it for medical use. Doctors must approve the
underlying condition, specified in the law, for which medical use is
sought. The state does not furnish the names of physicians or supply
medical marijuana, although a potential ballot initiative Nov. 2
would allow the state to license dispensaries.