NEWS: Medical marijuana debate increases

SACRAMENTO, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- The growing number of medical marijuana clinics opening in California has ratcheted up the debate about both their legitimacy and worthiness, observers say.

California's Compassionate Use Act passed in 1996 allowed patients holding a valid doctor's recommendation to possess and cultivate marijuana for personal medical use. Those in favor of the act touted medical marijuana's benefit in patients with AIDS, chronic pain and cancer, The Sacramento Bee reported. [read more]

Source: UPI.com

NEWS: Patients flock to California doctors practicing pot medicine

In Mississippi, where Dr. David Allen worked as a heart surgeon, authorities seized his home and ranch this year after finding $800 worth of marijuana and $1,000 in hashish. A grand jury is to consider a cultivation charge that could net him 30 years in prison under Mississippi's drug laws.

In Sacramento, where he now lives, Allen is a legal, licensed member of a community of physicians that enables hundreds of thousands of Californians to lawfully consume or grow marijuana for personal use. [read more]

Source: The Sacramento Bee

Gray areas in pot law help the ill, and those who are not

LAKE FOREST, CA - Michael Hawkins, a jolly looking man in loafers and a button down shirt, walks into King's Smoke Shop and asks for the cheapest pipe they've got.

Hawkins just came from one of five medical marijuana dispensaries that surround King's on the second-floor of a strip mall at Raymond Way and El Toro Road, and he's carrying a small paper bag containing cannabis called "OG Cush" – the type that he says stops his unbearable head aches and stimulates his appetite but doesn't make him feel high [read more]


Source: OC Register