Oregon issues medical-pot cards again
SALEM – Oregon’s statewide health agency resumed issuing medical-marijuana cards Friday, deciding the program could continue despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing federal prosecution for possessing the drug.
State Attorney General Hardy Myers said the ruling didn’t overturn Oregon’s voter-passed program.
But his written opinion also warned that registration in the state program won’t protect patients or caregivers from federal prosecution for drug possession if the federal government chooses to take action against them.
Madeline Martinez, Oregon director of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws, called Myers’ opinion a “no-brainer.”
“It is the outcome we were expecting,” she said. “Patients were concerned though – when you have the boot of the federal government on your back and you are disabled, that doesn’t leave you in a very comfortable position.”
The Human Services Department stopped sending out the cards – but continued processing applications – after the Supreme Court held last week that federal authorities can prosecute marijuana possession under federal drug laws, even in states like Oregon, where medical use of the drug is legal.
The department was awaiting a review of the court ruling by Myers. The agency on Friday began mailing about 550 registration cards that had been held up, said Grant Higginson, a department administrator.
Martinez said the court ruling caused many patients to dismantle their gardens and consider going back to harsh pharmaceuticals.
She said her group tried to assure patients that medical pot users also weren’t protected from federal prosecution in 1999 after the program began “and that now we are right back where we were.”
More than 10,000 patients have registered for the state’s medical marijuana program, one of 11 in the nation.
Patients qualify if a state-licensed physician states that they suffer from certain conditions, including cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS or severe pain, and may benefit from marijuana use.