If you are a medical marijuana patient (proposition 215) and are wondering how proposition 19 will change things I want to make a few points for you to think about.

1. Only patients with recommendations will be allowed to get medicine from current dispensaries. They will not be allowed to sell marijuana for recreational use.

It’s pretty amazing the lengths collectives/dispensaries have to go to make their business legitimate these days. The state of California talks about all the revenue they are going to collect by taxing medical marijuana sales… but how can they do that when collectives and clinics are not allowed to open a bank account!

PLEASE CLICK AND READ THIS POST! Today I took care of a 16 year old patient who suffers from Inherited Recessive Epidermolysis Bullosa (rare skin disorder) and has had incredible relief of his pain and discomfort using medical cannabis for the past three months. The only way to describe this is by showing you a PICTURE in the post. Only then can you begin to understand the suffering and life of someone who has this disease.

As medical director for Medical Cannabis of Southern California I have seen several thousand patients for medical marijuana recommendations. I operate two clinics in Irvine and Long Beach 5 days per week. In the past 6 months I have seen an explosion of doctor “clinics” pop up offering recommendations for almost nothing. Wondering how any doctor or business model could sustain with such ridiculous prices I decided to do some homework to see what was really taking place out there. What I found is pretty gross (for lack of a better word). I want to encourage dispensaries to look into the clinics for recommendations that are new or they do not recognize to make sure they are operating legally before accepting their patients.

With November’s election approaching Californians have gained enough signatures to put proposition 19 on the ballot which would “legalize” marijuana for recreational use in the State. I have blogged pretty extensively about this in the past but I want to focus on the difference between the current laws regarding medical marijuana and what the differences will be for patients who currently hold a medical marijuana doctors recommendation.

Last week I had a patient who suffered from Transverse Myelitis come in for a medical marijuana recommendation. She was the first patient that I have taken care of with this problem. However today I had a 61 year old women who came in with a 10 year history of Transverse Myelitis and she complained of a burning pain in her left leg that makes it extremely difficult for her to sleep. She also has complete numbness to pressure in that leg. It wasn’t until recently, after her sons begged her to try, that she found cannabis not only reduces the pain but allows her to sleep through the night! Amazing.