MORE DELAY FOR MEDICAL POT ID CARDS

Those who smoke pot to relieve suffering have been waiting since the start
of the year for identification cards a new state law says they are entitled
to. They will have to continue waiting.

Although the law took effect Jan. 1, the state Department of Health
Services has yet to devise rules for the cards' issuance because of a
funding shortage brought on by the chronic California budget crisis. A
report being delivered to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors today
suggests that the county wait on the state for guidelines before striking
out on its own with a temporary medical marijuana program.

A few counties, such as San Francisco, have started their own programs,
said Dr. Susan Mackintosh, assistant public health officer for Riverside
County and author of the report. The majority of counties have chosen to
wait for the state to lay out rules.

"We are anxious to get direction on this so that we can know best how to
serve the public when the time comes to roll this program out," Mackintosh
said.

Lea Brooks, spokeswoman for the Department of Health Services in
Sacramento, said it is unclear how much longer medical marijuana users will
have to wait for cards.

"The administration is reviewing options for implementation of this
statute," Brooks said.

The statute has its origin in Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act,
which was passed by California voters in 1996. The idea was to permit
Californians who suffer from chronic diseases, including AIDS, cancer,
arthritis and spinal injuries to legally use marijuana to relieve their pain.

But there was a problem: There was no way to distinguish illegal users from
those using marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, sought to remedy that problem last year
through Senate Bill 420, which called for an identification card system to
identify those authorized to use pot.

Users were to apply for cards from individual counties. Mackintosh said so
far nine Riverside County residents have applied.

Martin Victor, 51, of Temecula, who has been diagnosed with optical edema
or swelling of the optic nerve, is one of them. He said Monday he is
disappointed that the county is waiting on the state; he wishes Riverside
County would adopt its own program.

"It would stop so many problems," Victor said, saying he and other
medicinal users fear harassment by police.

However, Ingrid Wyatt, spokeswoman for District Attorney Grover Trask, said
there is no reason for medicinal marijuana users to fret.

"If they have the prescription, it's still OK," she said.

Wyatt said the key is whether users are living within the guidelines of the
law, which allows patients to cultivate a half-dozen marijuana plants. In
other words, she said, if they are growing more than the law allows, that
is going to be a problem even with a card.

David Herrick, 55, of Temecula, also applied for a card.

Citing the budget crisis and high cost of fighting Southern California's
wildfires last fall, Herrick said, "We all know why we are in this
position, but we have a law. And that law mandates that we get some sort of
identification issued by the state through the county. What it means is, I
have to count on my (doctor's) recommendation to get the police to leave me
alone."

Herrick is a former San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy who suffered
spinal injuries when run over and crushed by a patrol car years ago. He
said he uses marijuana to ease his suffering.

"We're coming into May," he said. "This law was passed Jan. 1. It's been
(nearly) 105 days and we still don't have an ID card."