VERY HAZY LANDSCAPE

LET'S SEE, NOW ... California voters want it. The federal government
doesn't. Patients need it. But if they use it, they could be
prosecuted. Oh yes, lest we forget, the state department charged with
keeping track of it is making it more expensive to obtain.

Confused? You are not alone. Let's see if we can help.

The "it" in this case is medical marijuana. More than 10 years ago,
the electorate in California -- and many other states since -- voted
to allow marijuana as a medical treatment, primarily to ease pain
associated with serious diseases. But the feds have steadfastly
insisted that passage of Proposition 215 does not supersede the
federal Controlled Substances Act, which bans marijuana use.

A federal appeals court Wednesday ruled that medical necessity
doesn't shield users from prosecution, all the while advancing the
notion that it could be used as a defense at trial.

Meanwhile, one might think the state Department of Health Services
(DHS) is out to kill the medical marijuana identification card
program. The department planned to increase the cost of the cards
tenfold before wiser minds prevailed and cut the hike in half.

But the episode makes us wonder if health services officials are
serious about implementing Prop. 215.

In December, the DHS proposed to increase the fee for the
identification cards from $13 to $142. The cards are available to
patients authorized by physicians to use marijuana for medical
purposes, indicating their purchase, use and possession of marijuana
is legal under state law.

Supposedly, officials did not consider that the cost might be a
deterrent for patients. They said they were only thinking about
covering the cost of the program.

Even without the proposed huge fee increase, the card program has
been a flop. Thirty-four of the state's 58 counties have not joined
the program because of concerns about how the state is running it.

San Francisco and others have threatened to disregard the state
program and issue their own cards. Although an estimated 100,000
Californians were expected to sign up for cards, only 9,500 had done
so by February.

The big fee hike would have been the death knell for the program,
according to Democratic Assemblyman Mark Leno of San Francisco. It
makes one wonder if that was the intent.

Were DHS officials attempting to undermine the state program? As it
is, the lower fee still represents a fivefold increase, from $13 to
$66 and up to $33 for Medi-Cal patients. Medical marijuana advocates
seem willing to accept the smaller increase.

Now, DHS officials need to get serious about implementing a plan that
facilitates the distribution of medical marijuana. That's what the
state's voters approved more than a decade ago.