Community News
Medical Marijuana Hot Council Topic
by Kirt Ramirez
As the City Council tries to regulate the medical marijuana dispensaries and collectives popping up all over the city, Long Beach Police will continue to enforce the laws regarding illegal pot smoking.
Under former President Bush, federal agents went after such stores because all marijuana is illegal at the federal level—even though California voters approved a proposition in 1996 allowing cannabis use for medicinal purposes.
But since the Obama administration declared in March that the feds would stop prosecuting marijuana stores that stick to state law, cannabis dispensaries and collectives have multiplied in Long Beach and the state.
The police can keep doing its job locally however.
“It’s really very black and white,” Public Information Officer for the Long Beach Police Department Nancy Pratt said. “It is illegal to possess marijuana unless you’re in possession for medicinal purposes, and if that’s the case, you must also be in possession of a legal prescription from a physician.”
“And if you are in possession of it illegally, then you are subject to arrest or being cited,” Pratt said.
Various circumstances play into what the potential punishment would be for smoking weed illegitimately and an arrest for the misdemeanor depends on the quantity, Pratt added.
If the police are called on someone smoking pot, the responding officer/s can see whether or not the smoker has a medical marijuana license or a doctor’s letter. In cases where the provided documentation might look suspicious, police can use their cell phones to do fact checking.
It is estimated that 50 to 60 marijuana shops exist in Long Beach currently. Los Angeles has about 1,000 of them. Collectives run on donations and volunteer work while dispensaries sell the pot much like a pharmacy sells prescription drugs. Both types of stores require a doctor’s recommendation to smoke weed and a photo I.D.
Herbal Solutions at 5746 E. 2nd St. sells cannabis to marijuana patients and has a price menu and other information at www.herbalsolutionsca.com. But one must first go to a doctor and get a “prescription” and then come to the dispensary, an operator said via telephone.
She provided phone numbers for three clinics whose doctors serve the Long Beach area.
An operator for the clinic MediCann—a group of 20 medical clinics spanning from Eureka to San Diego—said all new patients must pay $150 for the initial consult and that discounts are offered for Medicare and Medi-Cal patients and military service personnel.
Asked if stress would qualify for a prescription, the operator said “It’s up to the doctor.” The interview ended and an appointment was not set.
Myhealthsense.com (currently linked to the Los Angeles Times online) says pot smoking can help migraines, nausea secondary to chemotherapy, depression, trouble sleeping, chronic pain, loss of appetite and others.
But cons pointed out by the Web site include respiratory problems, the addictive potential and mental effects. The site reads:
“Cannabis may increase the risk of psychotic disorders, according to a 2002 study in the American Journal of Epidemiology. And the national drug abuse agency warns that ‘heavy or daily use of marijuana affects the parts of the brain that control memory, attention, and learning.’
“A study of 15 heavy pot smokers published in June 2008 in the Archives of General Psychiatry showed loss of tissue in two areas of the brain, the hippocampus and amygdala, regions that are rich in receptors for marijuana and that are important for memory and emotion, respectively.”
Some science has found that marijuana also has an estrogenic effect and can affect the endocrine system in animals.
“Marijuana and the main psychoactive substance in cannabis can have direct effects on the testes. Reductions in testicular size have been observed in rodents and dogs with administration of cannabis extract,” a research paper on the “endocrine effects of marijuana” at www.ukcia.org reads.
In the brand new book Anatomy of Evil, released July 2009, Michael Stone, M.D., professor of clinical psychiatry at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, touched upon marijuana use:
“In my experience at a forensic hospital, it was common to see men (and a few women) who had begun heavy marijuana use around age 12 or 13, sometimes as the only drug of abuse, more often admixed with alcohol or cocaine.
“They then went on to develop a psychosis mimicking schizophrenia. This was true of many of the patients who were remanded to a hospital because of murder (more often of a family member or sexual partner than of a stranger.)
“Since these patients behave in ways very similar to the genuine ‘hereditary’ schizophrenics, there is good reason to suspect that the drug has, over time, actually altered the genome, creating brain changes that are permanent—as though they came about via inheritance.
“Such changes are called epigenetic, and concern chemical ‘switches’ that can turn certain genes on or off, thereby altering their expression.”
Meanwhile, City Attorney Robert Shannon crafted a draft ordinance to bring order to Long Beach’s marijuana collectives and dispensaries—which the City Council supported for the most part Nov. 10. But council members didn’t like some parts of the ordinance and voted for Shannon to make some changes. The topic and new draft will return to council and be looked at in the weeks to come.
|