O.C. officials to vote on medical pot plan

System would include ID cards for eligible patients and would monitor
provider qualifications.

By Christian Berthelsen, Times Staff Writer
April 17, 2007


Orange County supervisors are poised to vote today on a plan to
regulate medical marijuana use, wading into a controversial — and
emotionally charged — area of unsettled law.

The proposal, if adopted, would create a system to issue
identification cards to patients eligible to use marijuana, as well as
validate prescriptions and monitor the qualifications of medical care
providers that dispense the drug.

In 1996, California voters passed Proposition 215, which allowed
doctors to recommend marijuana to patients to ease pain, nausea and
other complications from ailments including cancer and HIV. But the
state law conflicts with federal law, which still treats marijuana as
a highly addictive controlled substance with no medical value, and the
U.S. has resisted states' efforts to make it more available.

Still, state and county authorities have continued to push forward to
regulate its use.

A 2004 state law ordered counties to set parameters under which sick
Californians could use the drug.

It is not clear how Orange County's all-Republican Board of
Supervisors will vote on the matter, but the chairman, at least,
supports the plan.

"The war on drugs should not be a war on people," said Chairman Chris
Norby, "and certainly not a war on the weakest, sickest people."

Norby agreed to introduce the measure after nearly two years of
lobbying by medical marijuana policy advocates. Aaron Smith, state
coordinator for Safe Access Now, said the issue came to a head in
recent months, when the county was nearly sued because patients with
legitimate marijuana needs fell under criminal scrutiny because the
county had not put a plan in place.

The state's Department of Health Services estimated in 2004 that there
were about 16,000 patients in Orange County who would be eligible for
the medical marijuana system.

Thirty-two counties have set up the system to regulate medical
marijuana; Los Angeles County is expected to launch its version June 1.

San Diego County sued the state, contending it was being wrongly
forced to violate federal law. A Superior Court judge upheld the law,
but San Diego County is appealing.

christian.berthelsen@...

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