Salem, Ore. The state’s medical marijuana registry program is "working as intended," said Martin Wasserman, MD, administrator of the health division for the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS), in a news release that gives details of the program’s first year.

"[We feel] that the registration system discourages abuse [of the medical marijuana program]", said Kelly Paige, medical marijuana program manager for the health division of the DHS.

Oregon voters passed the Medical Marijuana Act in 1998 and created the first registry program for patients who want to grow marijuana for their own medical purposes. To qualify for a registration card, patients must provide a statement from their physician that they have a qualifying, debilitating disease that might be helped by marijuana. The request must be approved by the DHS.

Patients must pay a registration fee of $150 and renew the card annually. They are allowed to have seven plants, three of them mature and producing usable marijuana.

A total of 594 patients have registered in the first year, 67 percent of them wanting help to control severe and chronic pain. The average age of those registered is 46, with a range of 14 to 87 years. Participating physicians numbered 329 the first year.

"Physicians are happy to have a clearinghouse, and all law enforcement in Oregon know there is a card," Paige said. "I get calls from law enforcement every day."

Not all law enforcement officials, however, are enthusiastic about the new law. "When people are growing marijuana and some have the right to and some don’t, it becomes a complicating issue in marijuana arrests," said Lt. Mike Hefley of the Portland Police Bureau.

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