Ditz

Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: Outside the Bubble

Media Credit: Linni Kral On Colorado Boulevard, this is a sign many pass by without a second glance.

Medical Marijuana

Any stoner could have told you it was too good to be true. Sure, the state of California has had legislation permitting marijuana use for medical purposes for over a decade, but that doesn't mean it's legal. Medical communities and progressive voters who rejoiced over the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996 and Senate Bill 420 in 2004 overlooked one colossal obstacle that even Slater of Dazed and Confused would've foreseen. You can write it into law, get the doctors in on it, even present overwhelming research in its defense - in the end, any person looking to toke up, whether they've got AIDS or the munchies, will have to answer to marijuana's eternal sworn enemy: the Man.

The Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has had a chokehold on national drug policy since 1970, when it passed the Controlled Substances Act. This extensive document explicitly prohibits the use of various drugs, including marijuana, under any circumstances. Armed with the nearly 40-year-old legislation, the DEA has essentially initiated a battle between state and federal governments, choosing to ignore the laws of all twelve legalized states. Many judges have declared a violation of the Constitution. But still the attacks on state rights continue, and California is the biggest target.

After California voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996, doctors and advocacy groups began crafting a large network of clinics and dispensaries to accommodate patients throughout the state. While contradictory language in the original law had to be clarified through Senate Bill 420 and slightly slowed the process, today California boasts hundreds of doctors licensed to evaluate patients to see if they qualify. The following excerpt from SB420 dictates which conditions merit medical marijuana recommendation:

(1) Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
(2) Anorexia
(3) Arthritis
(4) Cachexia (loss of weight and appetite, indicates more serious conditions like cancer and AIDS)
(5) Cancer
(6) Chronic pain
(7) Glaucoma
(8) Migraine
(9) Persistent muscle spasms, including, but not limited to,
spasms associated with Multiple Sclerosis
(10) Seizures, including, but not limited to, seizures associated
with epilepsy
(11) Severe nausea
(12) Any other chronic or persistent medical symptom that either:
(a) Substantially limits the ability of the person to conduct one
or more major life activities as defined in the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-336).
(b) If not alleviated, may cause serious harm to the patient's
safety or physical or mental health.

An Oxy student referred me to her cousin Quintin Smith, whose story is evidence of the relevance of weed in medical treatment. Smith, who currently lives in Hawaii (another state that has passed laws legalizing medical marijuana use), agreed to answer some of my questions about his experience. The twenty-five year-old suffers from epilepsy, and says that marijuana is the only thing that has helped him with his condition. "I have gone through the works finding the right medication and always have had bad reactions to seizure medications - rash, stoned feeling all day." He started using medical cannabis when he was fourteen, and last month harvested his own crop for the first time. In his opinion, "marijuana should be legalized as much as cigarettes."

The same kind of treatment availability that Smith enjoys should technically be available to California residents as well. Individuals who suffer from the symptoms listed above can be evaluated by one of the many in-state doctors - the online California chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws lists 188 available clinics in the Los Angeles area alone. The entire process, in theory, isn't too complex. As a first step, most clinics have websites where potential patients can do a pre-screening to see if they qualify, and if so they can come in for evaluation.

However, the complications arise upon the initial visit. Because of the dangers of federal law enforcement, there are many parts of California's own legislation that cannot actually take effect. Doctors are still able to recommend marijuana as treatment for their patients, a right that they had to fight for in a 1997 court battle over physicians' rights that were called into question in the context of medical marijuana. But should the patient want to know where to pick up their prescription, they are on their own. This is the first emergence of complications in the process due to federal intervention. As Santa Monica clinic CannAdvise tells their patients, "The Federal government specifically forbids us from assisting you in finding where to obtain cannabis." This is despite the fact that marijuana sources are advertised publicly in California, from billboards to newspaper ads. Unfortunately, the gag order on doctors is only the beginning of the federal government's questionable attempts to thwart the will of California voters.

Another instance of intervention is reflected in the ID card system - or lack thereof. Doctors are only allowed to issue a letter of recommendation, which expires within a year, upon which the patient must be re-evaluated. The permanent ID card system has been contested by feds, and although SB420 includes provisions that permit them, they have yet to be produced.
The raids on dispensaries are the most blatant measure that the federal government has taken to prioritize their own policy preferences over the public opinion trend towards accepting marijuana as a legitimate medical treatment. Dispensaries, or distribution centers where patients could obtain up to eight ounces of dried cannabis, are legal under California law. The legislation voters passed includes many detailed restrictions that limit the rights and powers of dispensaries, including a section that forbids selling for profit, charging no more than enough to cover growing and processing. For the most part, dispensary owners have been very cooperative in following the law. In spite of this, however, the DEA has been raiding dispensaries, confiscating marijuana, and making arrests for years, more frequently in California than in other legal states because of its higher profile dispensary centers.

For example, a federal raid on dealer Luke Scarmazzo's Modesto dispensary in 2007 called into question the ethics of larger medical marijuana distribution centers. According to Rone Tempest's article in the Los Angeles Times, Scarmazzo produced a rap video "that showed him counting stacks of hundred dollar bills, blowing billows of smoke at the camera and flipping off federal agents," which prompted suspicions that he was abusing the freedoms granted by California law. While these flashier owners do exist, "medical marijuana advocates contend it is unfair of the DEA to cite examples like…Scarmazzo to represent the typical dispensary operators." The article confirms that the majority of dispensaries' sole objective is to provide treatment for patients.

Corrupt or not, the fiercest conflict remains between state and federal powers. Most recently, the DEA raided 10 Los Angeles clinics in July 2007. The New York Times reported that the raids took place "the same day the Los Angeles City Council introduced an interim ordinance calling on federal authorities to stop singling out marijuana clinics allowed under state law." On this particular occasion, the DEA made five arrests and confiscated large amounts of marijuana and cash. The Times also published several stories on similar incidents throughout California, covering a Santa Cruz district court case in which Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled that "federal prosecutions of medical marijuana users [are] unconstitutional if the marijuana was not sold, transported across state lines or used for nonmedicinal purposes."

While the federal government may come off as the bad guy, there are other elements contributing to the heightened difficulty of the medical legalization struggle. One of them is in fact stoner culture itself. Due to the way marijuana has been portrayed and popularized in the media, through the music of icons like Bob Marley and Snoop Dogg and popular movies like Knocked Up and Fast Times At Ridgemont High, pot has come to epitomize irresponsibility, instability, and stupidity. While the conservative set is repelled, the younger, more progressive population tends to adopt a "fuck you" attitude towards authority of any kind. This effect widens the gap between the public and the federal government, reducing the political process to an eternal, fruitless tug-of-war between two extremes.

Whichever side of the rope you pull, the bottom line is that, in some cases, pot may be the best medicine. From controlling the side effects of chemotherapy to easing chronic pain, it's hard to argue with the fact that marijuana is often more effective than any other methods of treatment. The only question left is whether the Man will ever acknowledge the truth about the dreaded dope. The way things have been going, legalization may still be a pipe dream.

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