I live in california and Ive been calling different physician offices that specialize in medical marijuana and some of them offer an ID card and some of them do not. They all say they will give me recomendation papers which will enable me to go to the clubs. But the ones that offer a card say that it is NOT a state medical card, its just a card for through them to be more convenient than the recomendation papers. They say that i would have to apply for a state card seperately and that they have nothing to do with that. My question is, what is the difference in having a state card, are there any advantages? And if i get a state card won't my information be turned over to the state?