Medical marijuana in california: is it legally safe?
362389
Yes, it's okay.  I had a prescription and was caught with it...  The county I was in tried to prosecute me and failed (I even used a court appointed attny.)  If you've got a prescription from a doctor, you're good to go.  You have to know people who know people, usually others who have prescriptions will know where you can by it.  In Northern Cali, shops are widespread.  Medical is given to nearly everyone there (up north)  the further south you go, the more strict the laws get.  Each county sets up it's own rules so, check it out before hand.  Personally, I've seen people get prescriptions for nearly everything.
134083
Nope, besides you need a perscription...Only place in the usa where pot is somewhat legal is denver county, CO
352254
its legal but only for like less than an ounce. its a medical law. you also have to be on private property to consume it
1177670
It should never have been made illegal in the first place. For info on WHY it was made illegal, I recommend the book "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" by Jack Herer. Of course, you can also just google "marijuana prohibition" too.\n\nYes, it is a drug, but so is caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, sugar, etc...\n\nLaws prohibiting certain substances should be based on facts and the inherent danger to the individual of the substance in question, not ideology or narrow-minded morality.\n\n-Pot is non-toxic, i.e. it is IMPOSSIBLE to overdose.\n-Pot does NOT cause cancer. The active psychotropic chemical in it, THC, has been shown in studies to inhibit the growth of tumors and to destroy existing tumors by cutting off the blood supply to them.\n-Pot is not physiologically addictive. It can be psychologically addictive, but so can sex, chocolate, sugar, etc.... There are just a certain percentage of people who take EVERYTHING to the extreme and have addictive personalities which lead them to overuse/abuse pot.\n-Pot does not lead to the use of harder drugs inasmuch as there is a causal relationship between its use and the use of harder drugs. Very few people (less than 10%) of people who use marijuana go on to use harder drugs. The gateway theory has been thoroughly discredited in recent years but many still cling to it as a pillar of anti-drug rhetoric.\n-Pot makes people more mellow and relaxed, whereas a legal drug like alcohol typically causes irrational, aggressive and even violent behavior in certain people.\n-The negative health effects of smoking pot can be negated by using a device known as a vaporizer which heats the herb to the point of vaporizing its active components without combustion. It can also be cooked into certain foods or made into a beverage.\n-Studies show little or no long-term damage in the brains of even heavy long-term users. The negative effects (short-term memory loss, motor impairment, etc.) are temporary and only last as long as the high itself.\n-It brings creativity, insight, relaxation, pain relief, sleep for insomniacs and a whole host of other positive effects to its users. Can the same be said for alcohol or tobacco?\n-It has been shown to induce a process known as neurogenesis in the brain. Literally, the creation of new neurons and a strengthening of connections between exisiting neurons which may account for the profound insights and philosophical thoughts it brings to many users.\n\nTo sum up, pot is perhaps one of the safest psychotropic substances known to man and the laws prohibiting its use are based on lies, fabrications, misunderstanding and stereotypes which are still far too common in this country as a result of its demonization by the powers that be for the last 70 years.\n\nLegalize it! Regulate and tax it! Stop treating pot smokers like criminals! Support organizations working to end pot prohibiton like NORML, Marijuana Policy Project, Drug Policy Alliance, et al.
101655
Legalizing it for medical purposes would be ok.  Look at the side effects from some of the other drugs you see commercials for.  I mean what is the harm in prescription marijuana compared to percocet, methadone etc...
1169855
I have always thought it should be legal.  A lot less people would be messing up their livers with prescription meds, if they could just smoke a joint - for the many ailments it is helpful with.\n\nBesides cancer, AIDS, arthritis, etc. canibus helps with migraines, PMS, menstrual cramps, anxiety, aggression - even carpal tunnel syndrome, and any type of pain.\n\nYes, my son owns almost all rapper CDs, and it does seem that each is quite one-dimensional.
952007
Yes. They give you precriptions for it and it's legal if you have the papers to posess and smoke it anywhere. It is legal to posess up to 8 pounds on a interstate. It really don't matter if you have the papers or not it's pretty much legal all around there anyways. I lived in San Diego for a while and I had it on me all the time and smoked it wherever I wanted and cops just smiled and waved like it was normal
413386
I am not for it except in very rare cases. Since CA passed the "medical marijuana" law, who gets prescribed it is a complete joke. 20 year old males who have no real health problems have a "recommendation" from a doctor because they say they have "back pain". Even though they have no trouble breaking into houses and running from the cops. I have even run into a 15 year old who had his doctor's "recommendation" for marijuana to help his asthma!! \n\nIt is widely known that there are certain doctors who will, for a fee, just give you a prescription. They then tell you about a shop in town that sells "medical marijuana". It also happens to be the doctor's shop. It is a complete and total farce.\n\nThe other problem that came from that law is the belief that it entitles people to now sell marijuana. There was no provision in the law that allows this at all. \n\nAdditionally, the people who have the prescriptions think that it OK to drive after they have smoked the marijuana, which is another huge problem.\n\nIn short, in my years of law enforcement, I have seen very few cases where someone legitimately needed marijuana.
1013069
Im 18\nmarijuana is the most commonly uses illegal substance in the United States. it is used by many people, most of which aren't your stereotypical "druggie", with no life agead of them. Many of them hapen to be very successful, good people. Think about it almost if not every person who reads this paper will know (even if they don't realize it) at least one if not several regular users of marijuana. Its often made out to be much more harmful htan it really is, unfortunatly not every one realizes this. \n\nWhat many people don't realize is marijuana is much less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. Yet it's the one of the three that gets a bad rap and is illegal. Marijuana isn't even physicaly addicting. You certanly don't see meetings for marijuana like you do with alcohol and AA. Unfortunatly due to American culture the less harmful of the three is illegal.\n\nThe most common reason why marijuana can be harmful is that people can often come across laced marijuana without realizing it. Marijuana can easily be mixed with other more harmful drugs with out the buyer realizing it, until they have already used it. This is a dangerous thing that causes many people to do more harmful, hard core drugs without realizing it. If it were to be legalized the government could provide guide lines, like it does with alchol  to insure that people knew what they were putting into their bodies.\n\nMarijuana actually has many helpful benefits toward diseases / sicknesses. Marijuana can reduce nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite caused by AIDS. It can Reduce interlobular pressure, which alleviates the pain and slowing and sometimes even stopping the progress of glaucoma. Common side effects of chemotherapy are nausea, loss of appetite, and vomiting, all of which marijuana would help. It can limit muscle pain and relieve tremor nad unsteadiness of gait for multiple sclerosis patients. Marijuana can help prevent epileptic seizures in some patients. It can also alleviate chronic, often debilitating pain caused by myriad disorders and injuries. Each one of these applications have been deemed legitimate by at least one United States court, legislature, and/or government agency.\n\nDue to these reasons and many others many people are going to jail/prison on a daily basis due to simply smoking a little pot These aren't dangerous criminals that would kill or rape someone. Many of them are teachers, lawyers and respected members of their communities. But yet we still pay thousands of dollars of tax payers money to lock up non dangerous "criminals" yearly even though most aren't going to stop after they get out of jail. Don't you think the money spent here is a waste? Couldn't it be going to more useful things such as hospitals, disease research, or better schools? These are the things that would benifit the people of this country. Certanily you would rather benefit the people more than throwing a non violent pot head in jail who was only trying to smoke a joint and relax after a long days work in jail. There is up to forty million regular (note thats just the regular not occasional users) drug users in the United states. If we were to throw all of them in jail it would cost $500,000 per million people, plus the cost and space of building many more prisons. Couldm't that money be spent on building hospitals? There's already about 1.5 million people tax payers are paying to keep in jail over drugs. From 1990 to 2003, nearly 5.9 million people had been arrested for smoking marijuana. Thats a greater number than the entire population of Alaska, Delaware, The District of Columbia, Montania, North and South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming combined. This country simply can't afford to put 40 million more in jail.\n\nMarijuana should be legalized. It has many uses such as helping sick patients. People are going to smoke it no matter what the government sais, and with out govenment guidelines thi
12320
As usual with legal-related questions on Yahoo! Answers, too little information has been provided to answer the question adequately.  No legal search I can perform reveals that it is illegal in California.  Without a citation to the law or an exact phrase from the law, I cannot verify that the law exists, and I cannot explain the legislative theory behind the law without the text of the statute.  So far as I can tell, this law does not exist and is merely an urban legend.
1082738
Although SB 420 was enacted into law Jan. 1, 2004 some counties have failed to implement the Medical Marijuana ID Card Program. The following counties do not even have a time line for when they will have the program running: Alpine, Butte, El Dorado, Kings, Lassen, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Modoc, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Sacramento, Siskiyou, Solano, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba.
828049
I am guessing your doctor is suggesting marijuana for relief of your son's nausea, vomiting and headaches. It is prescribed for and does work to relieve those symptoms for chemo patients and is legal as a medical treatment in some states. Check www.norml.com for the laws in your state. If you are in California, there are clubs that sell marijuana, seeds, clones, etc. with a doctor's prescription. Grow your own with seeds ordered online from Amsterdam or the UK where seeds are legal.  Elsewhere, start asking around your friends and son's friends. More people smoke than you think - it's just not talked about due to it's legal status!
442178
The federal government has repeatedly forbidden any states to decriminalize the sale or use of marijuana, as in California a few years back when some folks decided it would be a good thing if people suffering from AIDS or cancer treatment drugs could legally take a few tokes so that they might not feel quite so miserable every minute of every day, but the Fed said "Hell no you don't" and that's still the general consensus to this day. I doubt that I will see the decriminalization of pot in this country in my lifetime.
15803
Yes...legalized for both. Marijuana is actually less dangerous for recreational use than alcohol--which is legal. Plus...the government could make a lot of money from legalization.
838135
im  not sure exactly about cali. i know its legal in at least some parts of cali. but i know in denver it is legal to posses a oz for personal use
688591
I'm sure the MJ is bad for your health, smoking anything is going to be unhealthy but I'm pretty sure tobacco is worse.  In fact there are a large number of scientist that believe that marijuana is by far the safest illegal drug and is safer then tobacco and alcohol.  Which leaves the question why is marijuana illegal while alcohol and tobacco are legal?  That would take some time to explain.\n\nI've heard that a joint has the same amount of tar as 8 cigerettes, but this is from an anti-marijuana ad which are known to lie or stretch the truth.  What they don't mention is the size of the joint.  They also don't take into account that joints are filterless as well as they are typically passed around in a group.  Cigerettes are typically not passed around and a person will smoke far more cigerettes in a day.\n\nBasically the largest risk of marijuana is accidents or mistakes made because of being high.  An inexperienced user may feel that they are dying but just calming the person down is the best treatment.\n\nIf stuff like this really interest you then I suggest a book for you to look at.\n\n"Buzzed," by Cynthia Kuhn,Ph.D., Scott Swartzwelder,Ph.D., and Wikie Wilson,Ph.D.\n\nit contains valuable information about almost every drug you could think of from Alcohol, Caffeine, marijuana, tobacco, etc.\n\nsorry for the long answer but people get the wrong impression of marijuana based solely on the fact that it is illegal
14446
Alot of people smoke pot. Lawyers, Doctors, teachers, maybe even the cashier at your local grocery. Im not saying that all of them do but there is no doubt a small percentage. Alot of bad propaganda has been forced on to pot. Its not for everyone and sure isn't for young teens. But lots of research show that the properties of marijuana can help prevent cancer cells and doesn't kill nearly half as much brains cells as alcohol. As for safety, there will unfortunatly always be risk involved when using an illegal drug because of legality and such. And since pot is the least addictive in the narcotic list, any other drug could surely pose a serious risk to your health and life.