BOARD SETS PRICE FOR MARIJUANA CARDS

Program Will Be Funded Solely By Cards' Annual Renewal Fee

Merced County will begin issuing identification cards to local medical
marijuana users in May at a cost of $225 per card, the Board of
Supervisors decided Tuesday.

The board voted unanimously to approve the fee that the county's
public health department will charge patients for an ID card.

John Volanti, the county's public health director, said the department
is now on track to begin accepting applications for the cards on May
1.

"We're pretty much set to go now," Volanti said following the board's
vote.

County officials announced in December their decision to begin issuing
the ID cards, following a state judge's decision to reject the
county's challenge to California's medical marijuana law.

Merced, San Diego and San Bernardino counties brought the lawsuit
against the state. They argued that because federal law prohibits all
uses of the drug, counties shouldn't be held to state laws requiring
them to accommodate medical marijuana users.

In California, people with a valid prescription for the drug are
allowed to have up to eight ounces of usable marijuana and six mature
pot plants.

The ID cards are meant to help law enforcement officials quickly
determine whether a person found in possession of marijuana is using
the drug in compliance with the law, or whether he or she should be
arrested.

Merced resident Grant Wilson, who has long been urging the county to
begin issuing the ID cards, spoke in support of the board's action at
the meeting.

"I hope the board realizes that there are a lot of sick people who use
this as medicine, not as a recreational drug," Wilson said. "... I've
been accused of that too many times, and it hurts."

Wilson, who suffers from Hepatitis C and was arrested in 2005 after
police discovered pot plants growing in his home, said he thinks $225
is "a little high."

But he added, "I'm not squabbling about the price. I'm just glad I can
finally get a card."

One other person spoke in favor of the ID card program during the
meeting's public comment portion; no one spoke against it.

To get a card, Volanti said, county residents will be required to
submit an application and a physician's order. The county will verify
the order, take a digital photo of the applicant and mail the
applicant's information to the state. The state's health department
then issues the card.

The cards expire after a year.

Volanti said applications will be available on the health department's
Web site. They'll be accepted on Wednesdays in Merced and on Tuesdays
in Los Banos by appointment only, he said.

The $225 annual fee includes the state's $66 charge and the county's
$159 charge. By law, the costs of running the program must be covered
entirely by users.

Patients with Medi-Cal will only have to pay $112.50 for a card,
Volanti said.

Currently 24 of California's 58 counties issue ID cards, as required
by a 2003 state law that expanded on Proposition 215.