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.

2. Already cities have placed bans on the recreational sale of marijuana so it is highly unlikely that you will be able to get it legally for recreational use anytime soon.   Given that cities are barely embracing dispensaries taking care of patients I think its clear that they are not going to support recreational sale.

3. If you have minors in the house it will be a felony to use marijuana in that house without a medical recommendation.   On top of that you are ONLY allowed to medicate in your residence.   It is not going to be legal to use marijuana recreationally at the beach or at concerts or at bars for that matter.

4. The amounts of marijuana you can possess or grow will be much less for  recreational users vs medical patients.   As law enforcement knocks on doors it will be very helpful to be able to show them a medical marijuana growers certificate signed by a physician.

5. Recreational use will still be illegal federally.  From all the attorneys I have spoken with about Prop 19 it is pretty clear the federal government will tie this up in court and it will not become law any time soon.

All of these restrictions are making it pretty clear that it still behooves patients to continue to use their physicians recommendation and not forgo it in hopes of saving a few dollars to use recreationally.

I would be happy to get your thoughts on these points and answer any questions you may have.

Dr. Breen