[420 Girl]

More than 20 protesters gathered Tuesday at the San Bernardino County Government Center and called for the county to start issuing medical-marijuana identification cards.

In 2003, the state Legislature required county health departments to issue medical-marijuana cards allowing chronically ill patients to obtain the drug if their doctors recommended it.

The county has not issued the cards due to conflict with federal law, which criminalizes marijuana, said David Wert, county spokesman. San Bernardino and San Diego counties had taken the case to a state court of appeal, but lost the case July 31.

A number of the protesters said the county was wasting taxpayer money on legal action.

"They have basically put themselves at opposition with the people of California," said Fontana resident Craig Johnson, a medical marijuana advocate who is on disability from his job.

Protesters also urged the county to issue the cards.

"I want my I.D., and I want it soon," Vikk J. Molina Sr., a Rialto resident, told the Board of Supervisors. "I don't like feeling like a criminal."

The board will ultimately decide whether the county will appeal the case to the state Supreme Court. The supervisors will consider the matter later in the month, Wert said.

Wanda Smith of Phelan, who suffers from kidney failure and diabetes, told the board it's time to issue the cards. Smith said she must rely on high doses of morphine to manage her pain.

"I can't get (marijuana) legally," she said, "because they won't issue our cards."

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