California voters approved Prop. 215, the Compassionate Use Act, almost a decade ago. However, issues involving the medicinal use of cannabis continues to be a daily subject in news and courts around the state.
The Act, now Health and Safety Code 11362.5, affirms the legal right to cultivate, possess and obtain cannabis with a doctor’s approval. However, enforcement of this law has been sketchy, at best.
The status of different county-run ID card programs is available online at safeaccessnow.net.
 Having a state ID card gives more access to the cannabis dispensaries. - Photo by Jaime Galindo
Without specific legislative direction, procedures for state and local law enforcement encounters involving medical marijuana are left up to each jurisdiction and, all too often, the personal discretion of individual officers. In less progressive communities, law enforcement will ignore a physician’s note, arrest, prosecute, and leave it up to a court to sort out. Some patients are willing to fight charges and get property returned, but it is an unnecessary hardship on the the patient community.
A key part of SB 420 was to create an official, statewide voluntary identification card program, to be made available through the patients county of residence. The status of different counties can be looked up at safeaccessnow.net.
The ID card program works to provide clear direction to state and local law enforcement personnel throughout CA and serves as an added layer of protection from detainment, arrest or seizure of medicine. For patients choosing to carry an ID card, the law is black and white. HS11362.7 states, “No person or designated primary caregiver in possession of a valid identification card shall be subject to arrest for possession, transportation, delivery, or cultivation of medical marijuana in an amount established pursuant to this article…”
At this year’s NORML conference, founder Keith Stroup called the ID card a “get out of jail free card, or even a not-get-arrested-at-all card.”
Unfortunately, the debate is not over. Many counties are still finding ways to cut off safe and legal access to cannabis
Many counties are still finding ways to cut off safe and legal access to cannabis 
through dispensary bans and moratoria as well as refusal to offer the cards.
This program is supported by all major medical cannabis advocacy groups but has not been completely embraced by the patient community, mainly due to concerns over privacy. Many patients fear the federal Drug Enforcement Administration may someday subpoena the patients’ documentation retained by the counties.
Because of this concern, the state Department of Health gives counties the option of whether or not to retain patient records after issuing cards. Some counties, such as San Francisco, Marin, and Sonoma either shred or return all applications after the ID card is issued.
In January, San Diego County filed a lawsuit in State court claiming our medical marijuana laws are pre-empted by the federal Controlled Substances Act. In the eyes of most legal experts, this case is without merit, but that didn’t stop San Bernardino and Merced Counties from joining the suit using local tax dollars to pay for this swipe at the voters. Other counties use the suit as a rationalization for not implementing the card program as they take a “wait and see” approach to the issue.
Such counties oppose the program for the same reasons many patient advocates support it. Once residents become valid card-carrying cannabis patients, counties have no choice but to accept them as legitimate.
Once residents become valid card-carrying cannabis patients, counties have no choice but to accept them as legitimate.
No more excuses about the difficulty of verifying a doctor’s recommendation during a traffic stop after business hours; no more police speculation as to whether a carded patient qualifies for immunity.
Making each county sign-on to the program locally means that every county’s Board of Supervisors will be on record as accepting the legality of medical marijuana in CA. For example, in Tulare County Prop 215 only garnered 37 percent of the vote, but the card program was approved by the Supervisors unanimous vote. Progress on Tulare’s program was driven by local patients and advocates who demanded that the county follow the law.
The federal government has made no attempts to seize the records of the registry programs in the seven other states that have them, including Oregon’s, which has been in place since 1999.
Additionally, the DEA has already seized thousands of patient records from various dispensary raids throughout the state but has not indicated that they were going to use them in any attempt to conduct a mass-raid on individual patients. Even if they did have the resources to do so, they know it would be political suicide.
In a more equitable world, such a program would not be needed. However, for the time being, the county ID card program seeks to protect patients from needless harassment by state and local police,
the county ID card program seeks to protect patients from needless harassment by state and local police,
who conduct almost all cannabis arrests.
This program also helps to form a more positive perception of California’s groundbreaking medical marijuana laws throughout the nation. Statewide implementation of the here could have a politically positive effect on cannabis laws both within the state and nationally.
The bottom line is that the cards are voluntary and it is up to you to decide if it’s in your best interest to apply for one — but making them available to those who want or need them is the right thing to do.
* Smith heads up the Safe Access Now cannabis ID card project. For more information about the state ID card program in your county, contact Aaron Smith at 707-291-0076 or email
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Volume 2 
The Men's Wearhouse George Zimmer
