75A - PH - MEDICAL MARIJUANA - PROHIBIT

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License to Chili SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: SMOKING MARIJUANA CAN BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH, UNLESS YOU LIVE IN CALIFORNIA AND SUFFER FROM. ANOREXIA, ARTHRITIS, CANCER, CHRONIC PAlN OR ANY OTI-IER ILLNESSES I>y r~Liclui~l Croldsieir~ l~ebru.ary 1 k, 007 I'm not talking about Xanax or Prozac or Vicodin or their siblings. I have a "recommendation" (not a prescription, a recom.men.dation) for pot. This puts me in a legally and socially problematic condition. The state of California says I can ingest marijuana for medicinal purposes, but the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration thinks I'm a criminal if I do......In Los Angeles County a recommendation can be filled at more than 100 dispensaries, many of which .have been raided by the DEA......I was aware of these laws long before last summer but hadn't felt the urge to take advantage of them until someone stuck a flier under my windshield. It was from California Natural Pain Relief on. Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, and it informed me, misspellings and all, that Medical cannabis can be recommended for the care and treatment of Cancer, Cronic pain,1arthritis, Migraines, Diabetes, Insomnia, Anxiety, Aids Nausea, Epilepsy, Lupus, Depression, Eating Disorders, Menopause, PIv1S, Asthma, etc." When I visited California Natural Pain Relief, the folks there directed me to a doctor at another office. Since I experience occasional but painfizl attacks of gout, a form of arthritis, as well as other foot and knee pain, I brought a load of medical records and a vial full of Vioxx that I had been too scared to take. The doctor gave me a brief physical. exam. and a blood pressure test, discussed how marijuana could alleviate the pain and inflammation and wrote and signed an official-looking, green-trimmed recommendation. This included the doctor's signature, a photocopy of my driver's license and a key phrase: "approve of the use of cannabis for my patient." I paid $150 cash. Armed with my license to chill, l drove back to Ventura Boulevard, smiled at the beefy bodyguard, strolled inside and handed the recommendation to the dispensary operator. There was a faintly agricultural scent in the air. Under a glass countertop were vials labeled Master Kush, Cotton Candy and OG Kush; also on display were variants of cannabis strains known as chronic and ganga. I forked. over $50 for an eighth of an ounce and received a small pipe as anew-patient gift..... ($SO.for 118`x' equals $6,400 per pound).......With edibles, I never knew how much THC I was actually putting into my system. One evening I ate half a brownie after dinner and couldn't get to sleep until 2 a.m. 1 felt anxious and dizzy. I got lost in the darkness, spinning in the corridor between the bedroom and the bathroom. At fhe movies I downed a My Kushbar (a concoction of dark. chocolate, blueberries and crisp rice), and my wife had to poke me as 1 sat catatonically watching "Dreamgirls." I shook my head and handed her the car keys......Marijuana did help calm my foot-pain problems. Also, my appreciation of everyday beauty was enhanced. At Balboa Park, the end-of-summer foliage and the grass, sky and late-afternoon. pollution around the sun appeared in Technicolor sharpness. At the swine time, I was anxious and confused. I hadn't taken so much poi in years. For six months (in the spirit of scientific inquiry) I consumed maybe one gram every two weeks; my previous marijuana purchases had been on the order of aquarter-ounce every two or three years through the usual. friend-of-a-friend channels. 27 75A-122