Pubdate: Mon, 5 Feb 2007
Source: San Gabriel Valley Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2007 San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Contact: http://www.sgvtribune.com/writealetter
Website: http://www.sgvtribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3725
Author: Sandy Mazza, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Proposition+215
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/SB+420
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Scott+Imler

MEDICINAL POT DISPENSARIES UNDER SCRUTINY

WHITTIER - Some arrived wearing hippie clothes and facial piercings; 
some wore suits; others were dressed in jeans and sweat shirts.

The diverse group of people filled out paperwork as they sat silently 
inside a waiting room at the Holistic Clinic on Whittier Boulevard.

All of them had come for one reason - to receive a physician's 
recommendation for medical marijuana.

For just two hours every Thursday evening, a doctor opens shop at the 
clinic, evaluating people seeking marijuana. They come with $150 for 
the doctor's fee and an assortment of ailments - from cancer to AIDS 
to migraines, menstrual cramps and even sore muscles.

Armando, a 27-year-old medical marijuana user from the Whittier area, 
who would not reveal his last name for fear of federal prosecution, 
said he suffered from migraines for years and had bad side effects 
from prescription medications.

"I was unable to function," before using marijuana, said Armando. "I 
couldn't do normal, everyday things."

It's been more than a decade since voters allowed people to use 
marijuana for medical reasons by approving Proposition 215 in 1996. A 
2004 law, SB420, expanded 215 by making it legal for groups of 
patients to grow and use marijuana collectively.

But marijuana - medicinal or not - is still illegal under federal law.

The ambiguity has spawned a booming cottage industry of medical 
marijuana providers. Medical marijuana dispensaries, fed by a steady 
stream of patients from evaluation clinics like the Holistic Clinic 
in Whittier, have sprung up by the dozens in suburban strip malls 
across Los Angeles County.

Some police officials say abuse of medical marijuana is widespread 
and growing, and includes recreational users easily getting marijuana 
recommendations from profit-motivated physicians; dispensaries 
turning to illegal growers for supplies; and people selling their 
medical pot on the streets.

Surveying this new landscape, Proposition 215 co-author the Rev. 
Scott Imler laments this is not what he envisioned when he helped 
write the measure on behalf of severely ill patients, he said.

"When we wrote 215, we were selling it to the public as something for 
seriously ill people," said Imler, who opened the state's first 
marijuana dispensary, in West Hollywood. "It's turned into a joke. I 
think a lot of people have medicalized their recreational use."

The Whittier Collective dispensary opened in the city last year, and 
other dispensaries have opened in Covina, Hacienda Heights, Pasadena 
and Highland Park.

Whittier Mayor Cathy Warner strongly opposes marijuana dispensaries.

"For me, personally, federal law supersedes state law," said Warner, 
who last summer voted against the city's marijuana dispensaries 
ordinance. "I base my decision on that, and don't believe there 
should be any dispensaries in the city."

Warner believes people who are not seriously ill are regularly 
getting marijuana from the dispensary in Whittier.

At the Holistic Clinic, a young woman who would not give her name, 
said she was given a marijuana recommendation to treat painful 
menstrual cramps.

"Birth control made me really nauseated," said the Whittier resident, 
a student at East Los Angeles College. "I tried anxiety pills but 
became dependent on them. I treat like any other medicine. It 
shouldn't be any different."

But Anthony Alvarez, 55, of Whittier said he gets marijuana from the 
Whittier Collective for his terminal liver cancer. He said marijuana 
has helped him more than any prescription drugs.

"It helps me to eat and maintain my weight," said Alvarez. "I have 
two types of pain in my abdomen - a stabbing, shooting pain and a 
pressure pain. When I smoke, I relax."

Richard Brizendine, attorney for the Whittier Collective, said the 
group plans to stay in Whittier as long as possible, but collective 
officials also are looking for possible places to move within the 
proper zone. For now, the Whittier Collective has through Oct.  31, 
2008, to remain at its current location.

He said the collective follows the spirit of Proposition 215 in that 
it is a not-for-profit organization of concerned individuals.

"Their motivation is exactly the same as any person who volunteers to 
deliver Christmas gifts to a church, or to be on the board of 
directors of the Red Cross," said Brizendine. "The collective does it 
to provide a service to the patients who require medical marijuana."

The collective is among about 200 that have opened in Los Angeles 
County, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, which 
recently raided 11 medical marijuana clinics in Hollywood, Venice and 
the San Fernando Valley.

"Marijuana dispensaries are treated like any other illegal activity," 
said Sarah Pullen, spokeswoman for the DEA's Los Angeles office.

Although some local police officials report seeing the state's 
marijuana laws being abused, they complain they are powerless to stop it.

"What's happening is that every pothead out there is pulling the wool 
over the public's eyes, paying a doctor for a recommendation," said 
Lt. Jim Bitetto of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. "The 
majority of people who go into those places are younger and don't 
appear to be ill at all. It's making a joke of the whole system."

Imler, too, believes that many dispensaries now buy marijuana 
illegally from drug dealers. While medical marijuana patients are 
allowed to grow up to 12 plants each under Proposition 215, most 
dispensaries have found it is cheaper and less labor-intensive to buy 
it, Imler said.

As a result, patients who could truly benefit from marijuana are 
paying high prices for the drug, he said.

"The sad thing is that, 10 years later, you still have to have $80 to 
get marijuana if you have cancer or AIDS. Our program was a 
charitable program ... We were based on being off the black market."

At the Holistic Clinic, Armando said many medical marijuana users get 
negative reactions from their families and friends, Armando said.

"People come in here afraid of being put into a database, afraid of 
their mothers, fathers knowing," he said. "I had to break down a lot 
of walls for my family to understand. Now that I've explained it, 
they're more understanding." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake