MODESTO BEE
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

By TIM MORAN
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: October 24, 2006, 03:30:30 PM PDT

Medical marijuana identification cards in Stanislaus County will be delayed at least a few weeks while the Board of Supervisors waits for a state court ruling on a challenge to the cards.

The board voted unanimously this morning to delay the state-mandated cards.

The county would issue the cards to identify people with doctors' recommendation to use marijuana to relieve an illness. The purpose of the cards is to help police officers sort out medical marijuana users from recreational users, and avoid unnecessary arrests.

Medical marijuana use is legal in California, and the state requires counties to issue the cards. But federal authorities do not recognize any legitimate use of marijuana, which leaves local jurisdictions in a legal quandary.

San Diego, San Bernardino and Merced counties have joined in a lawsuit challenging the state law requiring the identification cards. A hearing is scheduled Nov. 16, and Stanislaus supervisors voted to delay at least until that date to see if the court clarifies the situation.

Aaron Smith, state coordinator for Safe Access Now, argued to the board that the cards do not violate federal law and are designed to curb abuse of the medical marijuana law.

Modesto Police Chief Roy Wasden said after the meeting that the medical marijuana system in California is widely abused. The county should not legitimize marijuana until the federal government reclassifies it and it is made available through pharmacies, Wasden said.

A handful of medical marijuana patients told the board that the drug relieved pain and allowed them to stop using prescription drugs with more serious side affects.