Medical IDs for Marijuana Wait for Ruling – Health – redOrbit
Jul. 9–Fresno County officials want a state appeals court to rule on identification cards for medical marijuana users before deciding whether the county should start distributing them.The state started asking counties to issue ID cards to medical marijuana users in 2005, nearly a decade after voters approved such use in a statewide initiative.
Forty of the state’s 58 counties issue ID cards, which certify that a doctor has prescribed the drug.
Several medical marijuana users on Tuesday asked Fresno County supervisors to issue the cards. Some of them said they’ve been needlessly detained by law enforcement officials, while others said they fear arrest.
Dawn Nolan of Fresno said she has been using marijuana following a 2002 crash with a drunken driver. Now disabled, Nolan worries about driving home after purchasing marijuana in Tulare County. “I don’t want to see anyone arrested for something they need,” she said.
But Sheriff Margaret Mims asked supervisors to hold off on a decision until the appeals court rules. She said issuing the cards might encourage medical marijuana users to drive under the influence of the drug.
Now that’s an interesting criticism – If you give someone an identification card it will lead to DUIs. Here in Oregon, we have a statewide mandatory registration card system and over 20,000 registered patients. In 1998, when the program started, Oregon had 538 driving fatalities, 233 were alcohol-related. In 2006, those numbers had dropped to 477 driving fatalities, with 177 alcohol-related. In 1998 there were a total of 22,578 DUII arrests in Oregon; in 2005 the number had dropped to 19,521. There are no statistics specifically for DUIMJ that I could find, but if giving 20,000 people medical marijuana ID cards is leading to more DUIIs and deaths, then DUIIs and deaths from alcohol must have dramatically plummeted.
