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 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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 Medical marijuana users discuss controversy [CA] 
#5271426 - 02/06/06 08:21 PM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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Medical marijuana users discuss controversy
February 6, 2006 - tulareadvanceregister.com
They are patients trying to find ways to cope with pain, insomnia and nausea or trying to reduce their needs for medications that can be as be as hard on their bodies as some diseases.
But that's not how many people see them, because one of the medications they use is marijuana.
"If they smell it on you, you're automatically a dope dealer or a a drug dealer," said Michael Torres of Visalia.
A former forklift operator, Torres said he uses medical marijuana recommended by his doctor to cope with pain from carpal tunnel syndrome.
He gets disapproving looks from people who smell it on his clothes, and his wife called the police on him, he said, although he wasn't arrested once he showed the officer his doctor's recommendation.
"Here I'm alienated," and not just by strangers, Torres said.
Torres was among more than 40 people who gathered Saturday at the Visalia Convention Center to talk about issues facing medical marijuana users.
Those who attended the meeting put on by the Tulare County Chapter of Americans for Safe Access, asked questions about confusing laws and local ordinances surrounding the drug's use.
On Tuesday, medical marijuana users in Tulare County will face another ordinance that could affect them.
Supervisors are being asked to vote on an interim zoning ordinance to prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated parts of the county until a county ordinance regulating them can be passed.
But Rick Morse, president of the Tulare County chapter, said he's not so worried about the ordinance.
Strides have been made to make the use of medical marijuana less difficult, he said.
It has helped that the city councils for Visalia and the city of Tulare have passed ordinances that allow the two medical marijuana dispensaries in the county to operate in their cities, said Morse. Those dispensaries serve about 350 people each.
"You don't want them popping up without being regulated," he said.
On the other hand, he said, when the county does develop an ordinance he wants it to be less restrictive than those in Visalia and Tulare.
In particular, he said he would prefer the county not have a ban on "medicating" at the dispensaries ? by smoking the marijuana, or breathing in fumes through a vaporizer or eating it after it has been processed into edible forms.
Some patients' health problems make getting around and socializing difficult, so having time to be around people in similar situations "can be an uplifting experience," he said.
Where to medicate was among the biggest concerns for those attending the meeting.
"You can't medicate in public, but you can medicate in the privacy of your own home," Morse said.
Since 1996, California's medical marijuana law, the "Compassionate Use Act," has allowed people to purchase or grow the normally illegal drug if they have recommendations from their doctors.
But those at the meeting said one of the biggest problems they face is confusion surrounding the law. Police arrest some people with marijuana even when they have legitimate recommendations from doctors. Sometimes the marijuana is confiscated.
Some law enforcement agencies still aren't clear on how to deal with medical marijuana users, and Morse said his group wants to educate although it may be tough.
The stigma still is strong in Tulare County that medical marijuana users are just looking to get high, said Morse.
"The truth is that there are a number of conditions for which medical marijuana is a legitimate medical therapy," he said.
California's 1996 law cites some of the conditions. They include cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, glaucoma, arthritis and migraines.
F. Aaron Smith, a member of Safe Access Now, an advocacy group for medical marijuana use, said an identification card system for medical marijuana uses that California put into law in 2003 is helping to clear up confusion with law enforcement, but only 15 counties are issuing cards. Tulare County isn't among them.
That's because state lawmakers put the responsibility for running the program on counties without giving them time limits to begin implementation.
Smith urged people Saturday to call county supervisors to urge them to get the card program off the ground.
"If they don't get public pressure to do it, it's going to always be on the back burner," he said.
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