Recently, the city of Los Angeles has wrongfully written a majority of the legal cannabis collectives letters saying they are not eligible to be dispensaries. The city is using ridiculous reasons to try to push out the few remaining collectives that we have left. Please support Americans for Safe Access in their fight against this!!

A letter from ASA follows:

Stop Bans in California!

ASA is telling all California cities and counties to lift bans on medical cannabis dispensing collectives.  In a letter sent to all 143 California localities that have bans in place, ASA Chief Council Joe Elford, demands that bans be replaced with reasonable regulations that protect patient access.

For the first time, a California Court of Appeal has ruled that state-compliant distribution of medical marijuana is not preempted by federal law.  This means that local officials can no longer hide behind federal law when prohibiting dispensaries in their communities.  It also affirms the validity of existing state law and cites the Attorney General’s guidelines in bolstering the legality of dispensing collectives.

Take action now! If you city or county has a ban, tell your elected officials that:
1. Continuing the ban is a legally risky policy
2. Establishing effective regulation of medical cannabis dispensing collectives is the right thing to do for patients and for the community

The court did not rule on whether localities could lawfully ban such activity and sent the case back to the trial court for further factual development. Still, this decision clearly undermines the justification for local bans.

We need your support to continue the fight for the right of patients to access medical cannabis through local dispensing collectives. Please become an ASA member, or renew your membership now.

Thanks,

Steph Sherer                        Don Duncan
ASA Executive Director        ASA California Director

Under L.A. Ordinance 181069 more than 400 dispensaries in the Los Angeles area have been ordered to close. The process started on Monday, June 7^th.  The 186 dispensaries that opened before the 2007 Medical Marijuana Interim Control Ordinance (around 130 still in existence) have been allowed to stay open, but they must file a Medical Marijuana Dispensary Notice of Intent to Register. They will then be put on a priority list and will be under strict zoning regulations as follows:

1. All cannabis dispensaries must be at least 1,000 feet away from schools, public parks, public libraries, religious institutions, and other cannabis dispensaries.
2. Dispensaries must not be sitting ‘on a lot abutting, across the street or alley from, or having a common corner with a residentially zoned lot or a lot improved with residential use.’
3. When two or more dispensaries exist within the 1,000 feet limit, the priority list will be used to determine which one can remain in operation.

This link is a map of the legal dispensaries that are allowed to stay open. Please be advised that we have not verified these! We cannot guarantee that each of these dispensaries are still in business or have not moved.

CCW offers discounted evaluation fees!

New Patients: $100

Renewals: $80

We also offer picture ID cards!

CCW has two locations – Los Angeles and Long Beach!! Please give us a call at 877-229-4201 to set up an appointment for a medical cannabis evaluation.

One hundred medical cannabis workers in Oakland have recently voted to become part of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, Local 5! This is the first time workers in the medical cannabis industry have been represented by organized labor, and this is looking like a significant step toward the legitimization of the drug and the ending of federal restrictions.

Oaksterdam University employs around 60 workers in its dispensary, gift shop, and nursery who are newly unionized. University founder Richard Lee called this an “…important milestone in the battle to bring marijuana more into the mainstream”, according to an article recently published in the New York Times. Including these workers in the union shows an increase in public support for medical cannabis.

With 26,000 other members who work mainly in groceries and the meat industry, retail is the primary focus of San Jose based Local 5. Ron Lind, the president of Local 5’s says that the move is natural for them, and said that their new members are ‘great workers’. He also mentioned the potential to create thousands of new jobs if the Tax Cannabis 2010 Initiative passes in November.  If the initiative passes, it would legalize possession of and tax marijuana in California for those over 21 and “create good union jobs with middle-class incomes,” according to Lind.

Congratulations to all the hard workers in Oakland!

CCW offers discounted rates for dispensary employees! Call us at 877-229-4201 to set up your appointment.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/05/28/Union-signing-up-marijuana-workers/UPI-10651275061956/

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/us/29pot.html

Consulting and Care for Wellness (CCW) has been in business for five years. Our patient fee includes a medical cannabis evaluation provided by a licensed physician. If approved, a year of 24 hour verification and a free consultation with a medical marijuana lawyer is also included. CCW operates legally under Proposition 215 and SB420. With a medical cannabis recommendation from CCW, a patient is protected under California law. CCW also offers massage, acupuncture, and a retail store!!

Investigators in Los Angeles and Orange County have discovered medical marijuana clinics selling fake doctor recommendations. The identities of doctors unrelated to the medical cannabis industry have been stolen and their signatures forged in order to create what looks like a legal document. These fake physician statements are not verifiable by law enforcement or by dispensaries. CCW has been renewing many recommendations for patients who have been deceived by these “doctors”. Please remember that you are getting what you pay for. Don’t put yourself at risk!

Two articles follow:

Doctor’s name illegally used in OC pot scam

Eileen Frere

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

http://abclocal. go.com/kabc/ story?section= news/local/ orange_county&id=7281267&rss=rss-kabc- article-7281267

Watch video story (2:55) – http://abclocal. go.com/kabc/ video?id= 7281262

ORANGE, Calif. (KABC) — Orange County investigators are trying to unravel an alleged medical marijuana scam.

Police served a search warrant at a building in Orange Monday night and were at the location all day Tuesday. They’re focusing on an office called Medical Marijuana Evaluations Now, essentially a very small room with a few chairs and a desk.

“This is a fake license they sold me,” said medical marijuana patient Mario Chavez. Chavez paid $25, thinking the certificate would approve him for medical marijuana when presented at a dispensary.

“They didn’t let me get my medicine because it was a fake license,” said Chavez.

Chavez returned to the office in Orange that gave him the false paperwork. Its Web site is MedicalMarijuanaEvaluationsNow. com.

“I feel like I got burned,” said Chavez.

Orange Police officers also showed up after getting a complaint from Dr. Francois Phong Bui. He’s listed as the doctor recommending marijuana for patients. The problem: He has nothing to do with the company.

“Somebody has forged my signature and with my license and my name on the certificate,” said Bui, who is filing a lawsuit.

Bui is an OB-GYN in Westminster. He does prescribe medical marijuana but only for chronic conditions or terminally ill people.

Bui learned the company was using his name only after being contacted by marijuana dispensaries that were verifying what they thought were his patients. In fact Bui had never met them.

Eyewitness News was not been able to contact anyone with the company. According to its Web site, it charges between $75 for an evaluation and $25 for a renewal.

Orange Resident Jay Selig wanted to get his mother’s marijuana prescription renewed.

“That’s what the marijuana is for, her cancer,” said Selig.

“Twenty-five dollars is a good deal to get it renewed. You can’t beat it,” said Selig.

Until he was told more about the company.

“I’m upset at them that they’re scamming a lot of people that really, legitimately need this,” said Selig.

Police are investigating. They took two people in for questioning. They were later released.

Chavez did get his money refunded.

Dr. Bui plans to sue to stop the company from using his name.

“This is quite dangerous and so I just want to make sure everybody is aware of this,” said Bui.

Officials said that Tina Goods, a woman who works in the office, has not been seen since Monday night when police arrived to talk to her.

http://abclocal. go.com/kabc/ story?section= news/local/ orange_county&id=7281267&rss=rss-kabc- article-7281267

Marijuana Cards Being Sold Without Doctors’ ‘OK’

Reporting David Goldstein

Mar 1, 2010 11:05 pm US/Pacific

http://cbs2.com/local/Medical.Marijuana.Doctor.2.1529594.html

Watch story video (6:03) -
http://www.cbs2.com/video/?id=128911@kcbs.dayport.com

LOS ANGELES (CBS): A CBS 2 undercover investigation found medical marijuana
clinics selling doctor-recommended medical marijuana certificates without
doctors present.

Los Angeles is about to implement some of the toughest restrictions in the
state on medical marijuana dispensaries. But in an exclusive CBS 2 News
hidden-camera investigation, we went undercover into medical clinics and
found that recommendations for medical marijuana are being sold without ever
seeing a doctor.

We found a man, who answers to the name of Dr. Scott, when he provides
patients with what amounts to a prescription for medical marijuana. We don’t
know if he was smoking some of his own medicine or tobacco, when we caught
him smoking a pipe in his car outside the clinic. But we do know he is not a
doctor.

David Goldstein: “How do you do that? Only a doctor can give out
recommendations?”

Dr. Scott: “I don’t have to talk to you, dude.”

Undercover producer: “I’m confused. Is this a doctor’s office?”

“Yes it is.”

At another location across town, a place bills itself as a doctor’s office,
but when we were there, there was no doctor, just prescriptions for sale and
medical marijuana.

We found it over and over — obtaining certificates to buy medical marijuana
without ever seeing a doctor.

With one of these cards or certificates, small amounts of pot become legal
in California! With one you can buy marijuana at hundreds of dispensaries,
like one we found in the L.A. area.

The law says in order to get a certificate, you have to be recommended by a
doctor, but that is not what we found.

Undercover producer: “Can I get my card here?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I do it legal?”

“Yeah go ahead.”

We sent an undercover producer with a hidden camera to a clinic in the
Garmet District.

Tobias: “My name is Tobias’

A man named Tobias said we could easily get a recommendation.

Tobias: “We’ve got to send your paperwork to get approved, so you have to
wait a second.”

He claimed to fax the paperwork to a doctor and minutes later’

Undercover producer: “How much was it?”

Tobias: “Sixty dollars.”

We got it. And he bragged about others who also come here.

“You know what’s funny. We get a lot of people from UPS.”

Undercover producer: “You get delivery boys?”

Tobias: “All the time. Another big market are LAUSD teachers.”

Undercover producer: “Stop it, LAUSD teachers?!”

Tobias: “Dead serious.”

Tobias then told us to go to another room where pot was for sale with our
new recommendation.

Undercover producer: “So what do you guys have? This is like Candyland.”

We walked out with the certificate signed by a Dr. Keith Wresch, who we
never saw.

Dr. Wresch admits he prescribes medical marijuana, but says he has nothing
to do with this clinic.

Dr. Wresch: “I mean it’s a forgery. It’s something they shouldn’t be doing.
No I’m not happy about them doing it.”

Tobias admits he has no medical training, but claims Dr. Wresch is involved.

David Goldstein: “Are you a doctor?”

Tobias: “No.”

David Goldstein: “Dr. Wresch says you’re just using his name here.”

Tobias: “No, I’m not using his name.”

David Goldstein: “That he has nothing to do with this?”

Tobias: “OK, you can believe what you want to believe, but that’s not the
truth.”

That’s not the only place we obtained certificates without ever seeing a
doctor.

Undercover producer: “Are you a doctor?”

One man said he worked under a doctor — whatever that meant. We got a
recommendation from him one day.

Undercover producer: “Hello.”

“Are you a new patient?”

Undercover producer: “Yeah.”

The next day we went there he was the receptionist.

And at another clinic, a man answered to the name of Dr. Scott. We caught
him smoking something in his car after he pulled up outside the clinic where
he works.

Dr Scott: “Nice to meet you. We’ll get you in there soon.”

Our undercover producer met with him. He asked her a few questions about her
ailment and immediately came up with a solution.

Dr Scott: “Have you ever tried marijuana?”

But when she asked about his qualifications…

Undercover producer: “I was just wondering…you say you’re a doctor right?”

Dr Scott: “P.A., yes.”

He admitted he was just a P.A. or physician’s assistant. But in less than
four minutes she was licensed to buy pot.

Dr Scott: “Are you taking any other medications?”

Undercover producer: “None.”

Dr Scott: “Let’s get you licensed then, OK?”

Undercover producer: “Great. It’ll be $60, huh?”

The recommendation was stamped with the signature of Dr. Jerome McCuin. He’s
an anesthesiologist who lives in Rancho Cucamonga, 50 miles away.

Doctor McCuin: “This is a forgery.”

Doctor McCuin also claims his name is being used.

Doctor McCuin: “This is not me. I mean I don’t know anything about it.”

The California medical board is trying to take away Dr. McCuin’s license for
an unrelated matter. He admits he worked briefly at the clinic a few months
ago. But says he never gave his permission to use his name.

Dr Scott: “You want to fill one of these out.”

We caught up with Scott at the hemp convention in downtown L.A. last week,
where he was issuing marijuana recommendations with a huge crowd waiting in
line.

David Goldstein: “You a doctor?

Dr Scott: “Physicians assistant.”

David Goldstein: “You giving our recommendations here?”

Dr Scott: “We’re doing recommendations at our booth, yes.”

David Goldstein: “How can you do that? Only a doctor can do
recommendations?”

Dr Scott: “I don’t have to talk with you, dude.”

David Goldstein: “But only doctors can do recommendations.”

Dr Scott: “Actually, if you look at the statutes of California, you know the
appropriate answer is yes, we can do it.”

But the Governing Board of Physicians Assistants says that while P.A.’s can
evaluate a patient, only a physician is authorized to recommend medical use
of marijuana.

In all we went to five clinics and got recommendations signed by five
different doctors.

“There you are. Your signature right there please.”

We never saw any of the physicians during the evaluations.

“They’re simply out there trying to make a buck.”

This undercover LAPD detective investigates the city’s growing medical
marijuana trade and says these clinics are popping up everywhere.

“Not a surprise there is a number of places that are set up as medical
marijuana recommendation mill that simply operate on a daily basis to churn
out as many recommendations for cash as they can,” the LAPD detective said.

Because of our report, police now say they will start investigating the
clinics after we found doctor-recommended medical marijuana without ever
seeing a doctor.

http://cbs2.com/local/Medical.Marijuana.Doctor.2.1529594.html

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