[420 Girl]

Thirteen years is an awfully long time for public officials to wrestle with whether to implement the voters' will in regard to medical marijuana.

But that's how long it's taken for officials in San Bernardino County to satisfy themselves that they can comply with California's laws without running afoul of federal laws.

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors will learn from county counsel the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal two weeks ago to hear the county's lawsuit challenging the state's medical marijuana laws.

Presumably, the supervisors will agree it's time for the county to stop making life miserable for patients awaiting an official county ID card to legitimize their use of pot to ease their suffering.

It's been a long saga.

In 1996, California voters passed Prop. 215, giving their stamp of approval to marijuana use by patients whose doctors legitimately authorize it for the relief of nausea, pain and other symptoms of serious diseases.

The state Legislature passed the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 spelling out who can use marijuana, under what conditions, without violating criminal statutes.

In 2003, the Legislature enacted another law requiring counties to issue ID cards to patients who get written recommendations from their doctors.

The state attorney general issued guidelines for law enforcement on how much marijuana these patients could possess "for personal use" without triggering drug-possession charges.

About half of California's 58 counties began issuing ID cards.

Not San Bernardino County, which argued it couldn't comply because federal drug laws supersede the state laws.

San Bernardino County, at the urging of then-Sheriff Gary Penrod, joined San Diego County in 2003 in a court battle that went all the way up through trial and appellate courts, each ruling the counties could comply with the state's laws without violating federal laws.

Lanny Swerdlow, director of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project, thinks the long delay was the county's excuse to "terrorize" medical-marijuana users by arresting and prosecuting them.

But county spokesman David Wert said the county just wanted to clarify the conflict between state and federal laws, not to overturn Prop. 215. The county was poised in 2003 to begin issuing ID cards, but held off until the lawsuit clarified the law, he said.

Now that the law is clear, sheriff's deputies will have more discretion over whether to arrest people who have marijuana with a doctor's recommendation, sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Beavers said.

Official county ID cards for medical-marijuana patients would remove any lingering suspicion.

Swerdlow's group next will press for zoning laws to allow medical marijuana dispensaries. Not allowing them forces patients to buy from street dealers, he said.

Do you sense another court battle coming on?

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