kendo
03-06-2006, 02:37 AM
Not all pot users sold on ID cards
Medical marijuana users worry about confidentiality
by K. Kaufmann, Palm Springs Desert Sun
March 3rd, 2006
Garry Silva says he will; Summer Glenney probably won't.
Both are medical marijuana users now facing a decision of whether to
get a county-issued medical marijuana identification card so they can
continue to buy the drug at CannaHelp, the medical marijuana
dispensary on El Paseo.
The dispensary's owner, Stacy Hochanadel, struck an agreement with
Palm Desert city officials Feb. 23 to require all CannaHelp customers
to get the card within 30 days.
But the last-minute deal - hammered out as the City Council was about
to consider revoking the dispensary's business license - has led to
questions and concerns among some CannaHelp clients.
"I look at it as getting a driver's license," said Garry Silva of Sky
Valley, who uses medical mari-juana to numb the pain of two herniated
discs. "There's no way to have this thing and not have it regulated."
Glenney, a Loma Linda resident, opposes making the cards mandatory,
mostly out of concerns for patient confidentiality.
"There are a lot of patients who don't want to put their names in a
state-run database," said Glenney, who is also a local coordinator
for Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group.
"With the county card program, if the federal government were to ask
for that, they would hand it over," Glenney said.
But Hochanadel said most of his more than 500 clients appear willing
to sign up, and about 10 percent already have cards. Hochanadel said
he dropped off his own application in Riverside on Wednesday.
And both he and Victoria Jauregui Burns, program chief for Riverside
County's medical marijuana program, said they would make every effort
to safeguard patients' personal information, even from federal
investigators.
"They would have to have a subpoena or search warrant, and then we
would call counsel," Burns said. "It would have to go through the
same process as anyone subpoenaing information from the Health
Department."
Federal investigators would also need a subpoena at CannaHelp,
Hochanadel said, and for additional security, the dispensary keeps
most of its patient information on an offsite server.
He is more concerned about the 60 to 80 dispensary clients who, like
Glenney, live outside Riverside County. Although the state law says
counties can issue cards to any California resident, Riverside is
only issuing cards to county residents.
"We have to work out some kind of clarification on that," Hochanadel
said, "so (people) outside of the county will still be able to (use)
regular (doctor) recommendations."
A written agreement between Hochanadel and the city has yet to be
finalized, said City Attorney David Erwin.
Hochanadel's lawyer should be receiving a draft today or early next
week, Erwin said.
The law and the cards
California voters approved a medical marijuana initiative,
Proposition 215, in 1996. The state Legislature passed Senate Bill
420 in 2003, setting out guidelines for counties to issue the
voluntary ID cards to patients with letters of recommendation from
their doctors.
Requiring patients to have a card is not in the spirit of the law,
said Lanny Swerdlow of Palm Springs, who heads the Marijuana
Anti-Prohibition Project, a patient support group.
But, he said, "It's the best expediency right now. My bottom line is
always no arrests, and it's only the card that guarantees no arrests."
And Erwin said the agreement still makes the card voluntary. "Mr.
Hochanadel is voluntarily agreeing to restrict his sales to those
people who have it; he's not forcing anyone to get the card."
Patti Roberts, spokeswoman for the California Department of Health
Services, which issues the cards, said the law is purposefully vague
to allow cities and counties to set their own standards.
"Those issues (requiring cards) are local county issues," Roberts
said. "DHS has no responsibility for dispensary requirements."
Riverside County started issuing the cards in December. CannaHelp is
one of two dispensaries in the county; the other is the Collective
Apothecary of Palm Springs - called CAPS.
Staff at the Palm Springs dispensary were not available for comment Wednesday.
CannaHelp is also starting its own card system, so each client has a
picture ID from the dispensary as well as the county card. The
dispensary will start issuing the cards in about three or four weeks,
he said.
City, business compromise
The agreement to require the county card was sparked by city concerns
about potential abuse of state law by people without a valid need for
medical marijuana.
Between October - when the city issued the license to CannaHelp, then
called Hempie's - and January, the Palm Desert police reported seven
incidents in which they arrested or cited CannaHelp clients.
In one instance, a client attempted to sell marijuana from the
dispensary to two teens, and in another, a client was alleged to have
shared medical marijuana with someone without a valid medical need.
In the other five cases, police were unable to verify a patient's
letter of recommendation from a doctor.
Hochanadel agreed to require clients to have the county card to
resolve what Lt. Steve Thetford, Palm Desert's assistant chief of
police, has called "gray areas of the law" - like the voluntary ID
cards - that do not provide clear guidelines for police.
Following the agreement, Thetford was cautiously hopeful that the
card requirement would help officers on the street to identify valid
patients.
The big question now is whether CannaHelp can meet the 30-day
deadline for getting cards for all its clients.
A week into the transition period, Burns said her office has not seen
an appreciable increase in applications.
As of Wednesday, the county Department of Public Health had issued
114 cards, up from 105 a week ago.
Burns said her staff could process 64 to 80 applications a week.
Turnaround from application to card is about eight to 10 business
days, she said.
Mike Lerner of La Quinta has yet to apply for a card, but the
CannaHelp client said he would before the March 23 deadline.
"I'm not real happy about it, but I will apply for it," said Lerner,
who uses medical marijuana for his arthritis. "That way I know I'm
not going to get hassled."----
Medical marijuana users worry about confidentiality
by K. Kaufmann, Palm Springs Desert Sun
March 3rd, 2006
Garry Silva says he will; Summer Glenney probably won't.
Both are medical marijuana users now facing a decision of whether to
get a county-issued medical marijuana identification card so they can
continue to buy the drug at CannaHelp, the medical marijuana
dispensary on El Paseo.
The dispensary's owner, Stacy Hochanadel, struck an agreement with
Palm Desert city officials Feb. 23 to require all CannaHelp customers
to get the card within 30 days.
But the last-minute deal - hammered out as the City Council was about
to consider revoking the dispensary's business license - has led to
questions and concerns among some CannaHelp clients.
"I look at it as getting a driver's license," said Garry Silva of Sky
Valley, who uses medical mari-juana to numb the pain of two herniated
discs. "There's no way to have this thing and not have it regulated."
Glenney, a Loma Linda resident, opposes making the cards mandatory,
mostly out of concerns for patient confidentiality.
"There are a lot of patients who don't want to put their names in a
state-run database," said Glenney, who is also a local coordinator
for Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group.
"With the county card program, if the federal government were to ask
for that, they would hand it over," Glenney said.
But Hochanadel said most of his more than 500 clients appear willing
to sign up, and about 10 percent already have cards. Hochanadel said
he dropped off his own application in Riverside on Wednesday.
And both he and Victoria Jauregui Burns, program chief for Riverside
County's medical marijuana program, said they would make every effort
to safeguard patients' personal information, even from federal
investigators.
"They would have to have a subpoena or search warrant, and then we
would call counsel," Burns said. "It would have to go through the
same process as anyone subpoenaing information from the Health
Department."
Federal investigators would also need a subpoena at CannaHelp,
Hochanadel said, and for additional security, the dispensary keeps
most of its patient information on an offsite server.
He is more concerned about the 60 to 80 dispensary clients who, like
Glenney, live outside Riverside County. Although the state law says
counties can issue cards to any California resident, Riverside is
only issuing cards to county residents.
"We have to work out some kind of clarification on that," Hochanadel
said, "so (people) outside of the county will still be able to (use)
regular (doctor) recommendations."
A written agreement between Hochanadel and the city has yet to be
finalized, said City Attorney David Erwin.
Hochanadel's lawyer should be receiving a draft today or early next
week, Erwin said.
The law and the cards
California voters approved a medical marijuana initiative,
Proposition 215, in 1996. The state Legislature passed Senate Bill
420 in 2003, setting out guidelines for counties to issue the
voluntary ID cards to patients with letters of recommendation from
their doctors.
Requiring patients to have a card is not in the spirit of the law,
said Lanny Swerdlow of Palm Springs, who heads the Marijuana
Anti-Prohibition Project, a patient support group.
But, he said, "It's the best expediency right now. My bottom line is
always no arrests, and it's only the card that guarantees no arrests."
And Erwin said the agreement still makes the card voluntary. "Mr.
Hochanadel is voluntarily agreeing to restrict his sales to those
people who have it; he's not forcing anyone to get the card."
Patti Roberts, spokeswoman for the California Department of Health
Services, which issues the cards, said the law is purposefully vague
to allow cities and counties to set their own standards.
"Those issues (requiring cards) are local county issues," Roberts
said. "DHS has no responsibility for dispensary requirements."
Riverside County started issuing the cards in December. CannaHelp is
one of two dispensaries in the county; the other is the Collective
Apothecary of Palm Springs - called CAPS.
Staff at the Palm Springs dispensary were not available for comment Wednesday.
CannaHelp is also starting its own card system, so each client has a
picture ID from the dispensary as well as the county card. The
dispensary will start issuing the cards in about three or four weeks,
he said.
City, business compromise
The agreement to require the county card was sparked by city concerns
about potential abuse of state law by people without a valid need for
medical marijuana.
Between October - when the city issued the license to CannaHelp, then
called Hempie's - and January, the Palm Desert police reported seven
incidents in which they arrested or cited CannaHelp clients.
In one instance, a client attempted to sell marijuana from the
dispensary to two teens, and in another, a client was alleged to have
shared medical marijuana with someone without a valid medical need.
In the other five cases, police were unable to verify a patient's
letter of recommendation from a doctor.
Hochanadel agreed to require clients to have the county card to
resolve what Lt. Steve Thetford, Palm Desert's assistant chief of
police, has called "gray areas of the law" - like the voluntary ID
cards - that do not provide clear guidelines for police.
Following the agreement, Thetford was cautiously hopeful that the
card requirement would help officers on the street to identify valid
patients.
The big question now is whether CannaHelp can meet the 30-day
deadline for getting cards for all its clients.
A week into the transition period, Burns said her office has not seen
an appreciable increase in applications.
As of Wednesday, the county Department of Public Health had issued
114 cards, up from 105 a week ago.
Burns said her staff could process 64 to 80 applications a week.
Turnaround from application to card is about eight to 10 business
days, she said.
Mike Lerner of La Quinta has yet to apply for a card, but the
CannaHelp client said he would before the March 23 deadline.
"I'm not real happy about it, but I will apply for it," said Lerner,
who uses medical marijuana for his arthritis. "That way I know I'm
not going to get hassled."----