As reported in today’s Orange County Register.   No wonder the state is doing nothing about the large number of illegally operated medical marijuana clinics.   “Hundreds of California doctors who lost their hospital privileges for malpractice, incompetence, and other serious errors have never been disciplined by state regulators, and the Medical Board of Californiadoesn’t seem [...]

I am often amazed how few people exercise.   Many patient come to me complaining of depression, anxiety, insomnia and a variety of other conditions.   The first thing that doctors do and patients expect is to receive medication. The Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine Recently completed a follow up study comparing the effective of aerobic [...]

Since I have been recommending medical marijuana I have been telling patients that they MUST vaporize and avoid the smoke.    Smoke from medical marijuana contains some of the same carcinogens as cigarette smoke in addition to the carbon monoxide that is produced.   Marijuana smoke is harsh, burns your throat and lungs and robs [...]

Today in my Irvine office I took care of a patient with the diagnosis of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), also known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, who has been using medical marijuana for the past 12 months.   I initially met with him a year ago and today was the first time he followed up [...]

In the past month I have taken care of three patients who were suffering from chronic Lyme Disease infections.   All complained of severe arthritis in their knees, hips and back and were tired of taking traditional anti-inflamatories.   They had each tried medical marijuana and received excellent results. Lyme Disease is a bacterial infection [...]

Yesterday I spoke with a good friend who went to a clinic in Santa Ana to get a medical marijuana recommendation. They told him that they could see him right away. He went in, paid his $25 and left with a recommendation. So what it is that these clinics can offer the “card” for so [...]

I am a physician and regularly recommend medical marijuana to patients. I have found it extremely helpful for thousands of them. From a medical standpoint Proposition 215 is excellent and the authors and state of California deserve recognition. However, there is a movement to legalize marijuana for recreational use in California for the 2012 general [...]

Today in Long Beach I took care of a 21 year old man (really a kid!) who was diagnosed with Behcet’s Disease (pronounced Bah-shets). 24 months ago he was full of health and had a promising modeling career. Today he writhes in pain, has debilitating oral and genital ulcers and has terrible skin ulcers which [...]

Patients often ask me if I catch flack from my colleagues for having a practice that centers around medical marijuana.   The truth is I rarely speak to my colleagues but suspect that it is not going to be the crown jewel on my CV.   Many physicians and people think medical marijuana is a [...]

It is no surprise that pharmaceutical companies lobby our politicians to keep marijuana a schedule 1 drug (which means no medicinal value and highly addictive).    ONE PLANT can take the place of AT LEAST 6 COMMON DRUGS.    Today I was taking care of a cancer patient who was not doing well.   He [...]