[420 Girl]

SAN LORENZO — State-issued medical marijuana cards may become a requirement rather than an option for people who want to patronize medical marijuana outlets in unincorporated areas of Alameda County. The reason: While the cannabis retailers have generated big money in portions of state sales taxes that return to the county, many residents and public officials in the county remain uneasy about how the retailers operate.

The two Cherryland dispensaries with county pot-sales permits — plus a third shuttered last fall — collectively brought in past sales taxes of $350,000 per month, Bob Swanson, a county supervisorial aide and pro-marijuana sales advocate, said Wednesday.

The county and residents in communities such as Ashland, Castro Valley, Cherryland and San Lorenzo want businesses that attract customers and bring in sales taxes, because the county gets a share of the income. But vocal area residents and county officials question how these businesses verify buyers are truly in need of weed. A state-issued card might be the answer, advocates say.

"The state card is the gold standard," Pam Willow, a county public health spokeswoman, told a dozen area residents at an Unincorporated Services Committee meeting Wednesday.

"None of us wants to see abuse," added Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker, who with Supervisor Nate Miley represents the county's urban unincorporated areas.

On June 10, county supervisors will vote on stiffer controls on marijuana sales in unincorporated areas. The proposed changes were first discussed April 23 during an Unincorporated Services Committee meeting in San Lorenzo. Specifically, the two remaining Cherryland clinics can dispense pot to anyone with a doctor's prescription.

State-issued cards, available through the county since August 2006, aren't an additional requirement. The picture cards verify a person's identity, proof of residence, physician's prescription and physician's state license, and are designed to identify medical marijuana patients to law enforcement officers.

"We thought every patient (using) dispensaries would have a state identification card," Willow explained, adding that hasn't occurred. In fact, of 578 county residents who have obtained cards during the past year, only 45 — or 7.8 percent — live in unincorporated areas, she added.

Willow said supervisors will be asked to require medical marijuana sales permit applicants to identify how they will verify someone as a patient.

Without making an outright requirement for a marijuana buyer to obtain a card, the county can give highest ranking to businesses requiring customers to present a state card — along with prescription — at the time of purchase.

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