[420 Girl]

Thirteen years after California voters passed Proposition 215, allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes, Stanislaus County is finally close to joining the many counties that provide identification cards to people with verified doctors' prescriptions for the drug.

The ID card program has been tied up in lawsuits. Several counties, including Merced, opposed the cards on the grounds that marijuana, for any use, is illegal under federal law. A San Diego Superior Court ruling in late 2006 upheld the state law and an appeals court agreed. Last fall, the state Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

More than two-thirds of California counties have implemented the ID card program. Stanislaus has been predictably cautious, waiting to see how others are handling the cards. Supervisors this week set a $184 fee for the cards. The Health Services Agency expects about 100 applications a year and plans to limit hours for application.

The ID cards, which are good for a year, provide a way for people to show law enforcement that they have a doctor's prescription to possess limited amounts of marijuana.

There's a certain irony in all this. Marijuana is decriminalized in many states and widely available. Yet Californians with chronic or debilitating illnesses who want to follow all the rules have had to wait years for a form of identification that confirms their need.


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