Important:

Smoking is not allowed in moving vehicles - which includes cars and boats.  If you need to transport the medical cannabis, do so by putting it in the trunk or away from the driver in the very back of the car if there is no trunk.  Smoking while driving is dangerous.

Join Norml

and ASA(Americans for Safe Access) to help support the changes that California has made in the law regarding medical cannabis use.  This law, or issues surrounding it, are constantly being challenged. Without these agencies and many others like them, there would not be any effort to help maintain the functionality of the law.

Because federal law specifically prohibits anyone from “aiding and abetting in the obtaining of cannabis”, we can not discuss the locations of dispensaries or how to obtain cannabis.  Likewise, my staff can not discuss this subject with you.  We apologize for these limitations but I am sure that you can understand our position.

Because accurate information is vital to health and patients should always have access to accurate information, I make available a list of resources other than dispensaries through which they can learn more. These include (see or the links under “Links” on this website):

California NORML's website: www.canorml.org   

Or:  Americans for Safe Access (510-486-8083)

We also cannot sign any caregiver forms.  The decision to have a caregiver is between the patient and the caregiver it is not a medical decision. We also cannot sign any forms from dispensaries, and cannot sign caregiver forms. The designation of a caregiver is not a medical decision, but is determined by agreement between the patient and the caregiver, in accordance with California law.

THE LAW AS IT APPLIES TO DOCTORS

In 1997, Conant v. McCaffrey, a class-action lawsuit, was filed on behalf of physicians and seriously ill patients against Barry McCaffrey and other top federal officials who threatened to revoke prescription licenses or criminally prosecute physicians who recommend medical marijuana. In 2002, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously decided to uphold the right of doctors to recommend marijuana to their patients and of patients to receive that recommendation. Their decision is largely based on First Amendment rights of the doctor to discuss with patient all of the medical options available and to note their opinion in the medical record.

Currently the medical board has strict guidelines for conditions which need to be met for the doctors to issue the medical marijuana recommendations.  These guidelines are also reviewed under the CMA guidelines (document 1315) with comments issued by their legal counsel.