COUNTY OKS MEDICAL MARIJUANA IDS

Card Doesn't Necessarily Protect Patients, Caregivers From Arrest

After hearing from more than a dozen speakers -- some in wheelchairs and
others with canes -- the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1
Tuesday to support issuing medical marijuana identification cards.

Supervisor Scott Haggerty cast the lone dissenting vote, saying the cards
only had symbolic value because most county police chiefs and the sheriff
said they would not honor them.

Haggerty said he feared the county would be giving medical marijuana
card-holders false hope.

"When you walk out of here, you will have nothing more than when you walked
in," Haggerty told about 40 medical marijuana supporters toward the end of
the debate. Those supporters applauded after the proposal by Supervisor
Nate Miley was voted upon. It will require a second reading before it's
adopted.

After the meeting, Angel McClary Raich, a leading proponent of medical
marijuana use, said although the card doesn't necessarily protect patients
and their caregivers from arrest, she said, "It reinforces state law."

She was referring to Prop. 215 -- passed by California voters in 1996 --
which allows the possession, cultivation and use of medicinal marijuana.
Furthermore, she said the card, "legitimizes the patient and care giver."

McClary Raich, a 37-year-old Oakland resident who uses eight pounds of
marijuana a year to treat her many illnesses, including a brain tumor and
seizures, said if police arrest a legitimate medical marijuana user, they
can be forced to pay triple damages. That happened in the case of a
Berkeley resident who won $30,000 in damages in 2001 after suing for false
arrest, she said.

William Drury, 45, of Castro Valley was among the many speakers who
testified about the drug's health benefits.

Since undergoing removal of a kidney after discovering he had cancer in
1999, he has suffered severe intestinal problems with flu-like symptoms.
Use of medical marijuana has relieved most of the pain, he said, allowing
him to attend Chabot Community College, where he has earned straight A's.

Stacy Fernandez, 53, of Hayward said her weight had dropped to 76 pounds
due to an auto immune disease, and she was frequently hospitalized for
dehydration until she started using medical marijuana.

Now, she said, she weighs 120 pounds and no longer needs a care giver.

"My card has been so wonderful," she said, referring to a card issued by
the city of Oakland. "I've been able to use my card and feel like a whole
person."

Miley doesn't see opposition by many of the county's police departments to
the identification card as being insurmountable, noting a similar ordinance
met resistance from the Oakland Police Department when it was introduced.

"Now Oakland is finally on board," Miley said.

All it takes is for police officers to be educated about the cards and for
their city councils to direct them to honor them, he said.

At this time the ordinance only would be applicable to the unincorporated
areas, although Miley eventually wants the county as a whole to abide by
it. "We'll fight that another day," he said.

The ordinance, which took more than a year to make it out of committee,
does not specify how much is permissible for a medical marijuana user or
care giver to grow or possess.

Board President Gail Steele has been bothered by the potential for abuse by
a caregiver.

But she supported the ordinance after being reassured the card wouldn't
protect a caregiver supplying marijuana to a whole neighborhood.

Joe DeVries, field director for Miley, said the next step would be to
develop growing standards, something he estimated may take a couple of years.

Haggerty said medical marijuana regulations need to be developed by the
state rather than each county or city, noting that he agreed to push for
that if one of the speakers he talked to after the meeting followed through
and worked with him.