The Los Angeles Medical Marijuana Blog

With an explosion of Los Angeles medical marijuana storefronts - 143 of them, more than half in the San Fernando Valley - and reports of Grant High School students being targeted for business, Police Chief William Bratton is backing a moratorium on pot-distribution centers.
Bratton and the Los Angeles Police Commission called for the City Council to impose a moratorium on all new Los Angeles Medical Marijuana until they ban dispensaries within 1,000 feet of any school, day-care facility, church or other house of worship.

United States Attorney General Eric Holder announced that Federal law enforcement will no longer target Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries in California that operate legally. That means that Southern California and Los Angeles medical marijuana defense attorneys will have an upper edge. For the first time in the history of the United States, Federal laws are no longer going to be used to prosecute a drug crime. President Obama announced during his campaign that medical marijuana prosecutions would no longer be a priority under his administration.
The new policy has a direct effect on the 13 states that have legalized marijuana laws. Of those 13, only California allows for medical marijuana dispensaries operate legally. Until now, the Feds have not acknowledged the existence of Proposition 215 enacted by the citizens of California in 1996. Also called the Compassionate Use Act, Prop 215, allows for those with a medical need to have a doctor “recommend” the use of marijuana to relieve symptoms.
Under a 1996 state ballot measure, the Los Angeles Medical Marijuana clinics can distribute doctor-prescribed marijuana to relieve anything from anxiety to nausea to acute pain. But federal officials consider all marijuana illegal.
Bratton said he supports medical marijuana but believes pharmacists - not storefront operators - should be the ones dispensing pot.
“I am sorry, but the vast majority of these places are using it for recreational drugs, and that’s my opinion,” he said.
With the number of dispensaries jumping from just five in July 2005 to 143 by the end of last year, police say the centers’ tactics have become more brazen, including distributing fliers near high schools and colleges.
At Grant High in Van Nuys, police found medical marijuana fliers on car windshields in August and said they appeared to be ads to get teens high.
The message in the fliers, emblazoned with a marijuana leaf: “It is still legal to own, grow and smoke medical marijuana as long as you do it properly. Qualification is simple, and our experienced physicians are more than happy to help you.”
The Pacific Support Services ad offered “$15 off with flier.” A call to the number on the flier went unanswered.
The dispensaries also have attracted crime, with neighborhood complaints around the centers totaling 110 as of November, police said. Police also note an increase of robberies around the dispensaries.
But medical marijuana advocates say any change in the city’s law could harm patients in need of pain relief.
“This is completely arbitrary and capricious. There is no rational reason,” said Bruce Margolin, director of LANorml, a local marijuana legalization advocate group. “By forcing it back into the black market, you are going to be encouraging more underground use of marijuana.”

In 2003, Senate Bill (SB) 420 (Chapter 875, Statutes of 2003) was passed as an extension and clarification of Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996. The Medical Marijuana Program, within CDPH, is administered through a patient’s county of residence. Upon obtaining a recommendation from their physician for use of medicinal marijuana, patients and their primary caregivers may apply for and be issued; a Los Angeles Medical Marijuana Identification Card. Senate Bill 420 also required that the MMP be fully supported through the card application processing fees. Both the state and the counties have authority to cover their costs for the program through these application fees.
Only patients or their legal representatives may apply for a card for themselves and/or their primary caregivers. Because of this, patients are also known as applicants. The patient or applicant is a person diagnosed with a serious medical condition for which the use of Los Angeles medical marijuana id is appropriate. These serious medical conditions are: acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS); anorexia; arthritis; cachexia (wasting syndrome); cancer; chronic pain; glaucoma; migraine; persistent muscle spasms (i.e., spasms associated with multiple sclerosis); seizures (i.e., epileptic seizures); severe nausea; any other chronic or persistent medical condition that limits the ability of the patient to conduct one or more major life activities as defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, or if not alleviated, may cause serious harm to the patient’s safety, physical, or mental health. As an applicant, it is your responsibility to ensure you meet these criteria before continuing with the application process and if pass will quality for Los Angeles medical marijuana id.
Los Angeles Medical marijuana dispensaries are reporting a sharp rise in customers lately, looking to ease their aches and pains with a few puffs from prescriptions of the Los Angeles medical marijuana doctors. Since President Obama took office, he has eased fears of Drug Enforcement Administration raids, which prevailed under the Bush administration. Additionally, an increasing number of people are without health insurance, compelling them to seek cheaper alternatives to prescription opiates.
Obama made clear during his campaign, he supported the use of prescribed medical marijuana to relieve pain. Recently, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said new DEA policy mandates raids, only when the Los Angeles Medical Marijuana dispensaries break both state and federal laws. Holder says agents will go after large-scale illegal growers who are not in compliance with local laws.
On August 3, 2007, there had been a medical marijuana protest at Van Nuys. They had squall for medical marijuana patient’s rights. The rally was a protest to the DEA actions and local police involvement in recent raids and fear letter campaign.
At the Timothy Leary Medical Dispensary in the San Fernando Valley, there’s a 24-hour medical marijuana vending machines which is accessible only during business hours. An employee there said the machine was introduced about five months ago (that would be on July 2007), and provides speedy service.
“It helps a lot of patients who are in a lot of pain and don’t want to wait around to get help,” Robert Schwartz said. “It’s been working out great.”
“Convenient access, lower prices, safety, anonymity,” inventor and owner Vincent Mehdizadeh said, extolling the benefits of the machine.

Cannabis, also known as marijuana or marihuana, or ganja (from Hindi/Sanskrit: gañjā, hemp), is a psychoactive drug extracted from the plant Cannabis sativa, or more often, Cannabis sativa subsp. indica. The herbal form of the drug consists of dried mature flowers and subtending leaves of pistillate (female) plants. The resinous form, known as hashish, consists primarily of glandular trichomes collected from the same plant material. The major biologically active chemical compound in cannabis is Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), commonly referred to as THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol).
Humans have been consuming cannabis since prehistory, although in the 20th century there was a rise in its use for recreational religious, or spiritual, and medicinal purposes. It is estimated that about four percent of the world’s adult population (162 million) use cannabis annually and 0.6 percent (22.5 million) daily. The possession, use, or sale of psychoactive cannabis product without a valid Los Angeles medical marijuana id became illegal in most parts of the world in the early 20th century. Since then, some countries have intensified the enforcement of cannabis prohibition while others have reduced the priority of enforcement.
Today, marijuana has been used as a medicine looking to ease people’s aches and pains with a few puffs from prescription cannabis. With little notice and even less controversy, marijuana is now available as medical treatment.
In Los Angeles medical marijuana is widely used to compensate with the illness which would make people who are trying to turn to because of its cheaper costs. Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries are reporting a sharp rise in customers lately, looking to ease their aches and pains with a few puffs from prescription medical marijuana. Since President Obama took office, he has eased fears of Drug Enforcement Administration raids, which prevailed under the Bush administration. Additionally, an increasing number of people are without health insurance, compelling them to seek cheaper alternatives to prescription opiates.
Because of the sharp rise of Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries, on July 18, 2005, the California Department of Health Services (CDHS) resumed implementation of the Medical Marijuana Program (MMP) and the issuance of identification cards or the Los Angeles medical marijuana id to qualified patients and their designated primary caregivers. This started the implementation of the Los Angeles medical marijuana identification card.
The identification cards were meant to aid officials of the law enforcement agencies in determining if a patient is found with marijuana and utilizing it under compliance with the law.
Aside from the identification card, there are also some regulation that was established for the use of medical marijuana in Los Angeles. These regulatons are: Senate Bill 420, Compassionate Use Act, and Health and Safety Code. Also, the Medical Marijuana Program (MMP) was established to provide a voluntary medical marijuana identification card issuance and registry program for qualified patients and their caregivers. The web-based registry system allows law enforcement and the public authorization to possess, grow, transport and/or use Medical Marijuana in California.
Although California was the first state to decriminalize the use of medicinal marijuana in a 1996 proposition, under the state’s federal law, all marijuana users can still be prosecuted and sanctioned.

The effects of smoking marijuana fade quickly, but the drug can be detected in the body for weeks and sometimes longer. How long it remains in the system depends on how often or how much marijuana the user has been smoking.
The Los Angeles Medical Marijuana reminds people who have been using marijuana that the active ingredient in marijuana — Tetrahydrocannabinol or delta-9-THC or simply THC — enters the body’s bloodstream rapidly after smoking marijuana. If marijuana is ingested, rather than smoked, it takes longer to be absorbed into the blood, usually from 20 minutes to an hour and a half.
Some THC metabolites have an elimination half-life of 20 hours. However, some are stored in body fat and have a elimination half-life of 10 to 13 days. Researchers from Los Angeles Medical Marijuana agree that urine tests for marijuana can detect the presence of the drug in the body for up to 13 days.
However, there is anecdotal evidence that the length of time that marijuana remains in the body is affected by how often the person smokes, how much he smokes and how long he has been smoking. Regular smokers have reported positive drug test results after 45 days since last use and heavy smokers have reported positive tests 90 days after quitting this is based on the study conducted by Los Angeles Medical Marijuana Id.
Although false positives are common for other substances, they are rare for marijuana due to the sophistication of today’s tests. The laboratory first screens the sample with a immunoassay test, known as the EMIT or RIA. If positive results are returned, the sample is again screened with a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GCMS), which is much more accurate. That’s why false positives are rare.
According to Los Angeles Medical Marijuana no known substances would cause a marijuana urine test to return a false positive. At one time, ibuprofen — sold over-the-counter as Advil, Motrin, Nuprin and others — would cause false marijuana positives. But today’s tests have been adjusted to eliminate that problem.
On the other hand, urine tests done at the Los Angeles Medical Marijuana clinics for marijuana metabolites can only show recent marijuana use, not intoxication or impairment, because of the time required between smoking and the metabolites being eliminated in the urine. However, because many employers have a zero tolerance for drug use, most workplaces use urine tests for any recent use of drugs.
If you are required to take a urine test on short notice for employment or other purposes and you have recently smoked marijuana, you are probably going to fail the test. This is particularly true if you are a regular or heavy pot smoker.

Marijuana harms in many ways, Use of the drug can lead to significant health, safety, social, learning and behavioral problems for young users.
It can cause problem with concentration and thinking has been shown in research funded by Los Angeles Medical Marijuana an agency that brings the power of science to bear on drug abuse or addiction.
Use of marijuana has adverse health, safety, social, academic, economic, and behavioral consequences; and children are the most vulnerable to its damaging effects. Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug all over the world and is readily available to kids.
Another study conducted at Los Angeles Medical Cannabis found that people who use marijuana frequently 7 or more time weekly shows deficit skills in mathematical skills and verbal expressions as well as selective impairments in memory retrieval process.
Marijuana of today is not the marijuana of the baby boomers 40 years ago the average THC level rise to 1 percent In the mid 1970’s to more than 8 percent in 2008. B.C. Bud a popular type of marijuana cultivated from British Columbia, Canada is roughly twice the average ranging from 15 percent THC content or even higher this was stated by the Los Angeles Medical Marijuana.
Marijuana was the second most common illicit drug responsible for the drug treatment admissions in 2006.Outdistancing Crack Cocaine the next most prevalent cause.
The younger a person is when he or she first uses marijuana the more likely a person can use other drugs such cocaine and heroin and become drug dependent as an adult. The study of Los Angeles Marijuana Id found that 62 percent of the adults who uses marijuana at the age of 14 were likely to go on to use cocaine.
Robert Smith a researcher of Los Angeles Medical Marijuana says that smoking marijuana can cause significant health problems because it contains more than 400 chemicals of which 60 are cannabinoid. A marijuana cigarette deposits 3 to 5 times tar in our lungs than 1 filtered tobacco cigar.
Marijuana also harms when it contributes to auto crashes or other incidents that injures or kills especially among young people.
In a study reported by Los Angeles Medical Marijuana even a slight use of marijuana can impair driving performance. Regular marijuana use has been shown to be associated with other problems one of this is the risk of having multiple sex partners, initiating sex at a young age and failing to use contraceptives.

Well the answer is maybe a yes or a no. Medicines that we intake in proper dose is good right but when we over used, it may affect our health.
The Los Angeles Medical Marijuana report, marijuana and medicines assessing the science base released in March 1999 that marijuana’s active components are potentially effective in treating pain.
The therapeutic effects of smoked marijuana are typically modest and in most cases there are more effective medicines.
Marijuana according to the study of Los Angeles Medical Marijuana is overwhelming because it can relieve certain types of pain and other symptoms caused by such illnesses as multiple sclerosis cancer and AIDS—or by the harsh drugs sometimes used to treat them. Indeed marijuana is less toxic than many of the drugs that mostly physician prescribe.
In their 1999 report the Los Angeles Medical Marijuana panel of experts flatly rejected the idea of that herbal(usually smoked)cannabis would ever be considered a safe and effective medicines for widespread use. Smoked marijuana cannot be subjected to careful, well controlled trials, because it does not come in standard formula or dose and cannot meet the accepted standards for drug purity, potency and quality.
Karen P. Tandy, JD, former Administrator of the Los Angeles Medical Marijuana, stated the following during her Senate Confirmation hearing, in an Apr. 30, 2003 document titled “Responses of Karen Tandy to Questions Submitted by Senator Durbin”:
”the active ingredient in marijuana THC has been accepted having medicinal value when process into Marinol.Marijuana itself however has not been shown to have medical benefits:accordingly I have no basis for believing that marijuana and smoking of marijuana has any such benefits.
”It is fundamentally wrong to make preserving one’s health—or life a crime. Yet the federal law on marijuana and many state laws do just that. There is overwhelming evidence that marijuana is one of the safest available options, when used at the direction of the physician.
Research has shown that marijuana alleviates pain, nausea, AIDS and cancer wasting and glaucoma. In trials where patients have been allowed to present evidence of their medical need for marijuana courts have frequently found that marijuana is necessary to their health.
We are facing Drug use on the rise. Many drugs are coming out every now and then. Not everyone who smokes marijuana will necessarily become an addict. Most reasons are only due to curiosity, peer pressure etc..It is in the person who used it that can only say if its doing any good or harm within himself.
If there is any benefit to the medical use of marijuana, which remains to be proven, it rest in THC, the active ingredient and not in the smoke and any other chemical contaminants found in the crude plant. We believe that the risks of marijuana use outweigh any potential benefits says Christopher Largen consultant of Los Angeles Medical Marijuana.

The date’s significance can be traced to 1971 San Rafael, Calif., when a group of teenagers would meet every day at 4:20 p.m. after school and smoke marijuana together, said Norma Sapp, a member of the Los Angeles Medical Cannabis group .The ritual of smoking at 4:20 p.m. subsequently spread and became a national “cannabis culture” holiday.
Los Angeles Medical Cannabis is an organization that seeks to legalize adult marijuana use for recreation and medicine, Sapp said.
She said taxing and regulating the drug like alcohol would be more cost effective than prohibition in protecting against any harm marijuana causes. There should be an age limit and laws prohibiting driving under the influence of marijuana, Sapp said.
In Los Angeles Medical Marijuana laws states a person caught in possession of marijuana without a Los Angeles medical marijuana id can be subject to a year in prison with a misdemeanor charge on the first offense and as published in the forms when you get Los Angeles Medical Marijuana Id. A subsequent offense can carry two to 10 years in prison, and growers can face anywhere from two years to life in prison.
Sapp said law enforcement agencies’ time against the Los Angeles Medical Marijuana users would be better spent fighting violent crimes rather than drug offenses. She said Los Angeles spends too much money on putting drug offenders in prison when drug rehabilitation for addicts would cost about 1/7 of incarcerating them.
Sen. Jim Wilson, D-Tahlequah, said about 80 percent of prisoners are incarcerated because of some sort of mental health or drug abuse issue. He said Los Angeles drug laws should be relaxed.
“Our prisons are full of people with drug problems,” he said.
He said many people who have serious drug problems are afraid to ask for help because they are afraid of getting into legal trouble.
Drug policy in Oklahoma is also on the minds of many OU students.
Kaylee Burton, professional writing senior, is starting the Students for Sensible Drug Policy chapter at OU next fall. SSDP has over 100 chapters across the country and consists of college students who are interested in revising national drug policy, she said.
“We’re part of the D.A.R.E. generation,” she said. “It’s proven to not be effective because they only used scare tactics.”
Right now the OU chapter is still in the early stages and is currently looking for a faculty sponsor, Burton said. She said once the group has official campus status, it plans to work with UOSA on the referendum regarding drugs, and to implement “good Samaritan laws” which would prevent anyone from being arrested if seeking help for a person who had an overdose.
Burton said many people in the area aren’t active in revising drug policy because there’s a stigma with drug usage in the region.
“I think in the Midwest, people have been closed off for so many years and do what they’re told,” she said. “If it doesn’t affect me, why should I care?”
Burton said the group doesn’t advocate usage of marijuana, but does advocate the change in policy.
“Why are we punishing people so much?” Burton said. “We want people to be fair, not try to force or scare us.”

Marijuana is the most commonly abused illicit drug in the United States. It is a dry, shredded green and brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves derived from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. The main active chemical in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol; THC for short.
Marijuana is usually smoked as a cigarette (joint) or in a pipe. It is also smoked in blunts, which are cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and refilled with marijuana. Since the blunt retains the tobacco leaf used to wrap the cigar, this mode of delivery combines marijuana’s active ingredients with nicotine and other harmful chemicals.
Long-term marijuana use can lead to addiction for some people; that is, they use the drug compulsively even though it often interferes with family, school, work, and recreational activities. According to the Los Angeles Medical Marijuana an estimated 5.6 million Americans age 12 or older reported problems with illicit drug use in the past year.
Over 12 million had used the drug in the month before the survey. The Los Angeles Medical Marijuana survey conducted a survey and they stated that students from 8th, 10th and 12 grades have tried marijuana at least once.
Marijuana is the Nation’s most commonly used illicit drug. More than 83 million Americans (37 percent) age 12 and older have tried marijuana at least once, according to the 2001 Los Angeles Medical Cannabis group.
The Los Angeles Medical Marijuana, a system for monitoring the health impact of drugs, estimated that, in 2001, marijuana was a contributing factor in more than 110,000 emergency department (ED) visits in the United States, with about 15 percent of the patients between the ages of 12 and 17, and almost two-thirds male.
In 1999, the Los Angeles Medical Marijuana ID, which collects data from 34 sites on the number of adult arrestees testing positive for various drugs, found that, on average, 39 percent of adult male arrestees and 26 percent of adult female arrestees tested positive for marijuana. ADAM collected data on juvenile arrestees in nine sites and found that marijuana was the most commonly used drug among these youths. On average, 53 percent of juvenile male and 38 percent of juvenile female arrestees tested positive for marijuana.
NIDA’s Community Epidemiology Work Group (CEWG), a network of researchers that tracks trends in the nature and patterns of drug use in major U.S. cities, consistently reports that marijuana frequently is combined with other drugs, such as crack cocaine, PCP, formaldehyde, and codeine cough syrup, sometimes without the user being aware of it. Thus, the risks associated with marijuana use may be compounded by the risks of added drugs, as well.
According to the Los Angeles Department of Corrections, as of April 13, 2009, prisons were at 99.32 percent capacity.
State Rep. Gary Banz, R-Midwest City, said he is opposed to legalizing marijuana. He called marijuana a gateway drug to other harder substances.
“It’s illegal for valid reasons,” Banz said. “It’s personal destruction and harm you potentially do to others.”
Banz said many religious people in the Midwest believe the human body should not be exposed to dangerous substances and intoxicants.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy Baca has referred to the Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensary or the LACRC as a heroic endeavor. In 1996, shortly after passage of Proposition 215 - the Compassionate Use Act - patients, law enforcement, city officials, and the public health community came together and drafted the first set of rules and procedures for the Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensary.
Each patient submitting an application to the co-op is required to provide valid photo identification, proof of California residency, a physician’s written recommendation for approval (confirmed by phone), signed consent, and agreement to follow the Rules and Co-Op Procedures of the Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensary, and a personal interview with an intake counselor.
Every member, upon completion of the intake process and qualification of services, is issued an LACRC Photo Identification Card to be carried at all times while in possession of cannabis products acquired through the Co-Op programs. This card is presented to law enforcement in the case of any inquiries. An officer of the Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensary is available at all times to verify for officers that a patient’s status is current. The Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensary known as the LACRC is a non-profit patient-based organization that has been providing safe and affordable access to Los Angeles medical marijuana for almost 1,000 seriously ill and disabled residents of Los Angeles since 1996.
The DEA seized all of the Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensary’s patient records, computers and plants, leaving no medication for the Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensary almost 1,000 member-patients afflicted with cancer, AIDS, epilepsy, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and other serious illnesses. For the patients, medical marijuana has alleviated their pain, allowed them to tolerate medication and treatment, and to hold down food every day.
Scott Imler, president of the Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensary said, “It’s sad and wrong that at this time of national crisis and mourning, the US Justice Department has elected to use its resources and manpower to harass and hurt sick people…This action is effectively a death sentence for patients all across Los Angeles County.”
Along with Los Angeles medical marijuana providers, family members, caregivers, clergy and West Hollywood elected officials, a large number of chronically and terminally ill patients stood at West Hollywood City Hall, protesting the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raid and seizure of the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center (LACRC). The effective closure of the Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensary’s distribution operation leaves patients no access to the medication they rely on for their well-being and very survival.

The number of Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries has grown from 5 to 143 in spite the raids conducted by the DEA. Bratton together with Councilman Dennis Zine have both supported rules that banned Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries within 1,000 feet of any day-care facility, school, church, or other houses of worship.

On the other hand, many medical marijuana supporters claim that in these modern times, rules should be able to support sick people needing the medicinal value of marijuana. According to Southern California coordinator for the Americans for Safe Access, Don Duncan, “It’s disgusting in this day and age, when cities and counties are moving to regulate medical marijuana, that the federal government would still be busting people.”

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raided 11 Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries, including five in the San Fernando Valley. The raids of the Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries transpired after William Barton, Los Angeles Police Chief denounced the Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries as magnets of crime, which started to prey on teenagers specifically through handing out fliers at Grant High School in Van Nuys.

According to DEA special agent Sarah Pullen, “(These) enforcement operations send a message to these drug traffickers…The DEA will continue to conduct these enforcement operations and keep our community safe by enforcing federal drug laws.”
Based on a 1996 state ballot measure, medical marijuana clinics and dispensaries can distribute marijuana, provided they are prescribed by doctors. However, federal officials still consider all marijuana use and distribution as illegal.

The Los Angeles Police Commission has released a report that about half of all Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries and clubs were in San Fernando Valley. Such report found increased cases of robberies and aggravated assaults around dispensaries and clubs near Van Nuys and more citizen complaints.

California and Washington State federal agents have raided several medical marijuana distribution centers, where they seized thousands of pounds of the drug, marijuana edibles, weapons, as well as cash. On the other hand, there were no arrests.

Ralph Partridge, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge, who heads the agency’s Los Angeles field office, said his agents served 11 federal search warrants Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries located throughout Los Angeles County. The searches included five locations in West Hollywood, four in the San Fernando Valley and other Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries in Venice and Hollywood.

According to Partridge, the “enforcement operations show that these establishments are nothing more than drug-trafficking organizations bringing criminal activities to our neighborhoods and drugs near our children and schools.” According to the DEA, no state regulation on the cultivation or distribution of marijuana is on hand. Thus, the state leaves the dispensaries of any rules to local jurisdictions that can vary widely.