The Compassionate Coalition

Medical pot ID program gets El Dorado OK
By Cathy Locke - Bee Staff Writer
Link: http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/209170.html

Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, June 7, 2007
Story appeared in METRO section, Page B3

The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to implement an identification card program to allow patients who have a physician's recommendation to use marijuana for medical purposes to easily identify themselves to law enforcement officials.

El Dorado is the 33rd California county to approve the program, said Aaron Smith, statewide coordinator for the medical marijuana advocacy group Safe Access Now.

The program is required under a state law passed in 2003 to clarify Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative approved by California voters allowing medical marijuana use.

Implementation had been stalled by lawsuits brought by some counties concerned about the conflict with federal law.

Gayle Erbe-Hamlin, county public health director, said the program would be available on a voluntary basis to patients and caregivers, who would apply annually for
the cards. She said the county would maintain the minimum amount of information required by the state and at the end of each year, the information would be destroyed.

Erbe-Hamlin said she would return with a resolution setting the fee for the card.

On top of the $66 the state charges, she recommended a $59 fee to cover the county's administrative costs, for a total fee of $125. Fifty percent of the cost would be waived for MediCal patients, she said.

Nikos Leverenz, director of Drug Policy Alliance in Sacramento, urged the board to approve the program, calling it a "win-win-win situation" benefiting the patient, law enforcement, and state and local health
departments.

The program, he said, would provide health officials with more information about the number of patients using medical marijuana and the conditions for which they use it.

Undersheriff Fred Kollar said the Sheriff's Department has worked with various groups regarding medical marijuana issues.

"We support what's being proposed today," he said. "It should make our lives easier."

Board members stressed that their votes to implement the identification card program was not an endorsement of medical marijuana use.

"I'm supporting the program only to support the
Sheriff's Department," Supervisor Rusty Dupray said.

The board agreed to evaluate the program's cost and effectiveness at the end of its first year.

In the area, Amador County has implemented the
identification card program, and Yolo County will begin issuing cards July 13, said Smith of Safe Access Now.