L.A. City Council Passed Ordinance Restricting Dispensaries

The day of reckoning is upon the Los Angeles, California medical marijuana dispensaries. The L.A. City Council, after four years, has voted on and passed an ordinance mainly restricting the number of dispensaries in the area as well as requiring them to be located in industrial areas. "The ordinance caps the number of dispensaries at 70, but makes an exception for those that registered with the city clerk in 2007 and remain in their original locations or moved just once after their landlords were threatened with federal prosecution. City officials believe there are about 150 such dispensaries", according to the LA Times. Every action, as we know, has a reaction and that is exactly what advocates of medical marijuana had. The new ordinance will mark the beginning of years of lawsuits and red tape; which will inevitably turn into more chaos than before. People feel as though their rights are being violated and they're are being restricted from getting their "medicine".

The City Council has also placed restrictions that will end L.A.'s late-night pot scene. Dispensaries will now be required to close their doors at 8 p.m., no more consumption of marijuana will be allowed inside the "pot shops". One other interesting change will be where patients can acquire their "medicine", now patients will be designated to one collective; you will no longer be able to go to any dispensary you want. City Council hopes that the new controls will prevent dispensaries from making a profit. People in Los Angeles are concerned about the crime that dispensaries could potentially bring to their neighborhood. It is interesting that pharmacies, like Rite Aid and CVS, who have much stronger narcotics and are robbed regularly, are not restricted to industrial zones only. But, not much of anything related to medical marijuana makes much sense, perhaps it never will.

The next six months in Los Angeles County will be nothing short of a free-for-all. Dispensary owners will be scrambling to move their shops to designated safe zones, while other owners who will be forced to close their doors will be forced underground. The new ordinance may backfire on the city, when it finds that many people go back to selling marijuana illegally with no restrictions at all - like it was before the medical marijuana debate ever existed. We will certainly be following this story closely as the debate progresses - or digresses.

Here is an interesting video with Kevin Pereira interviews the Executive Director of Harborside Health Center regarding medical marijuana dispensaries and the Los Angeles City Council's new regulations.

A South Dakota Woman Who had a Blood-Alcohol Level Almost Nine Times the Legal Limit - BAC .708

There are many reasons for people to seek out drug and alcohol addiction treatment. The hope is that every addict that enters recovery never forgets how bad it was out there - that they remember where they came from and the despair they lived in. It would be great if every person joining the recovery community ended up there on their own accord but that is simply not the case; there is a larger percentage who are ordered to attend twelve-step meetings by courts dealing with drug and alcohol related offenders. There is nothing that says that cannot be the beginning of your journey on the road to recovery, people with over 5 DUI's have been ordered to Alcoholics Anonymous and it changed their life forever. Clearly, if a judge is making decisions for you, your life has become unmanageable.

Two weeks ago we posted about a Mainer receiving seven years in jail after receiving his tenth DUI. In similar news, a South Dakota woman had a blood-alcohol level almost nine times the legal driving limit, after blowing a .708 blood alcohol level. The legal limit in South Dakota is the "normal" .08; you might be wondering how Marguerite Engle (45) could still be alive? The answer is that Engle suffers from the disease of alcoholism; what would send the normal human body into toxic shock, keeps an alcoholic from the DT's (delirium tremens). Authorities said on Dec.1 Engle was found passed out behind the wheel of a stolen delivery van along Interstate 90 and was arrested. Officials have said Engle's blood alcohol level likely is a record for the state. Engle, not surprisingly was arrested again in late December, with a BAC 3 1/2 times higher than the legal limit.

Engle has pleaded guilty to two drunken driving charges and faces up to two years in jail when she is sentenced on Feb. 23. "In exchange for her guilty pleas, prosecutors have agreed not to pursue other charges, including receiving stolen property and drug possession", reports the AP. Just like Stephen Faulcon, Engle while serving her time would do herself a great favor by attending a 12-step meeting. Recovery is available to all who desire a change for the better in their life. It's never too late to enter a program of recovery whether it is at a drug treatment facility or in prison, the fellowship transcends prison bars. The message can be heard just about anywhere!

Los Angeles City Council Voted Tuesday To Close Roughly 800 Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Los Angeles has been at the forefront of the medical marijuana movement, with more dispensaries in one area than any other city or even state. People have become outraged by the plethora of dispensaries that have over taken their neighborhoods, popping up not far from where children are playing. California has been associated with having the most relaxed laws and being the easiest state to acquire a medical marijuana card - one only need say they require it and Voilà! The so-called "wild west" days of medical marijuana may be coming to an end here real shortly, the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to close roughly 800 medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the city by passing the first reading of an ordinance which would force 75% of remaining dispensaries to relocate. There will be another vote on Tuesday because this week's vote was 11-3, which fell short of the 12-0 result that an ordinance needs to pass on the first reading.

"The ordinance sets new rules for dispensaries that council members hope will curtail the anything-goes environment that made Los Angeles the vivid epicenter of the money-fueled Green Rush that erupted when the Obama administration announced last year that it would no longer prosecute dispensaries adhering to California's medical marijuana laws", according to the LA Times. Not only will there be fewer dispensaries in LA, but, there will be much stricter laws regarding medical marijuana all together. The new law will put a stop to the late-night pot club scene and will require the dispensaries to close their doors at 8pm. No more smoking or consuming marijuana based products inside the dispensaries. On top of the new rules, dispensary owners will have to keep extensive records on their operations and are not allowed to make a profit; special police units will be put into place to force compliance.

The ordinance will limit the number of dispensaries to only 70. Exceptions will be made but there will surely be many dispensary owners who will try and fight back for their investment. Any dispensary registered under the moratorium and is still in business will be allowed to keep their doors open. It will be interesting to see the battle that ensues in the coming weeks regarding LA's dispensaries, after all, so goes Los Angeles so goes the nation with this debate - or so it seems.

"Substance Abuser" or "Substance Use Disorder"

The labels society place on people or groups could directly affect one's life. At times, the perception peers place upon people greatly impacts one's decision making process, sometimes dissuading them from seeking help. The words we use to name and help us describe everything in life can bring negative connotations along with them, changing how we perceive and react. When I say that someone is clever it is one thing, but, to say someone is a con is completely another. The same idea applies to labeling someone an alcoholic as opposed to labeling them a drunk, naturally the latter has a more negative stigma attached to it. How we choose to describe those suffering from addiction can have an effect on one's willingness to enter treatment. John F. Kelly of Massachusetts General Hospital, the leader of a new study, noticed that health professionals' answers to survey questions about a hypothetical patient varied depending on the patient being described as a "substance abuser" or as "having a substance use disorder". The UPI reported, "only 10 percent of those who misuse alcohol and other drugs seek treatment. The stigma against addiction problems is often cited as a major reason for not seeking treatment".

"We found that referring to someone with the 'abuser' terminology evokes more punitive attitudes than does describing that person's situation in exactly the same words except for using 'disorder' terminology. Reducing the use of such stigmatizing terms could help diminish the shame, guilt and embarrassment that act as barriers, keeping people from seeking help", stated Kelly. This study is making public that which many in recovery and the treatment industry have known for a long time; how addicts are described or termed changes societies' view of them, thus keeping them trapped in a class of people that are less-than.

The study which is scheduled to be published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, distributed surveys to more than 700 mental health professionals who were at two mental health conferences last year. The study participants that were given the paragraph that labeled the individual as a "substance abuser" were, as you might have guessed, much more likely to agree that the individual should be punished for not following their treatment plan. "Our results imply that these punitive attitudes may be evoked by use of the 'abuser' term, whether individuals are conscious of it or not", said Kelly.

How society views alcoholics has come a long way with the advancements in mental health and our understanding that addiction is a disease that needs to be treated - not punished. Kelly's new study has shown us that we still have a long way to go, people still have very negative views of addicts and in a lot of ways view them as criminals. That modality has to be smashed!

Bolivia Coca Leaf Soft Drink "Coca Colla"

There was a time when Coca Cola contained the drug cocaine as one of the two main ingredients. Invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton it was sold as a medicine before it was a soft drink. When launched, Coca-Cola's two key ingredients were cocaine (benzoylmethyl ecgonine) and caffeine. The cocaine was derived from the coca leaf and the caffeine from kola nut, leading to the name Coca-Cola (the "K" in Kola was replaced with a "C" for marketing purposes). Pemberton made the claim that his creation cured many diseases, including morphine addiction, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headache, and impotence; the original recipe called for five ounces of coca leaf per gallon of syrup. In 1903 coca leaves containing cocaine were removed from the ingredients, but, interestingly enough in order to retain the flavor cocaine-free coca leaves are used.

The days of soft drinks with cocaine in them are not gone yet, in Bolivia plans to release a coca leaf soft drink called "Coca Colla" is under way and will have a can that resembles the classic Coca Cola logo. With the first indigenous president in office, Evo Morales (known for chewing coca leaves at UN meetings), coca growers from the Morales stronghold of Chapare in central Bolivia submitted a plan to the government last week to boost coca production with the soft drink. La Paz wants to expand Cocaine production, a market which rose 6% in 2008 and no doubt climbed even higher last year; achieving this goal will not be hard considering the strong support of high officials. The Independent reports that Bolivia, "the world's third largest producer after Colombia and Peru, yielded a coca crop of some 30,500 hectares (75,370 acres) in 2008, an increase of six percent over the previous year, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime".

Right now, Bolivian law permits the use of up to 12,000 hectares (29,650 acres) to grow coca in the Yungas stretch of forest in the Andes Mountains "only" for traditional uses such as tea, chewing and religious rituals by the Aymara ethnic group. No matter what, a large portion of what is being grown is trafficked and sold, never seeing the inside of a toothpaste tube or a tea bag. If the drugs are not being grown for the international drug market, then why would the The Morales government kick out DEA agents in 2008? Cocaine is extremely addictive, it has the power to destroy lives; 10 million people in the Andes chew raw coca leaves daily to get through the abusively long work days. In this country and around the world the same leaves that people are chewing are also being used to produce cocaine.

Mainer Gets Seven Years After Tenth DUI

What happens to a person who cannot keep from driving while they are intoxicated? The answer is they get a DUI and have to pay several fines and attend alcohol information classes which require a certain amount of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Unfortunately, sometimes that is not a big enough deterrent and people drive drunk again; the second DUI and third DUI are not as fun, usually requiring jail time, loss of license and very expensive fines. Sadly, people still continue to risk their life and the lives of others and are not concerned about their DUI history. A man from the State of Maine was sentenced to seven years in prison for driving drunk for the 10th time, operating after the revocation of his driver's license for the 11th time and for violating his probation. Stephen F. Faulcon, 51, "told Superior Court Justice William Anderson that he needed long-term in-patient treatment for alcoholism and counseling, not more time in prison. He asked to be released to Derek House, a faith-based, in-patient treatment center associated with Manna Inc. in Bangor after he serves his prison term. He also asked that his probation be continued", according to the Bangor Daily. Faulcon is clearly an alcoholic that needed help a long time ago for his addiction, treatment would be the right place for him but he cannot get out of his sentence.

Faulcon will have to serve at least five years before being released to a treatment center could even be considered. The State of Maine passed a law in 2006 named after Tina Turcotte, who died in an accident caused by a driver who had 63 prior driving convictions and had been in a fatal accident before he killed Tina. The Tina Turcotte Law is a great law and definitely helps keep the streets safe from repeat offenders. Faulcon had three DUI's in the last ten years which is completely unacceptable and hopefully seven years in prison will change his behavior in the future. The hope is that he finds a 12 step program in prison that will help him change his life for the better.

Becky DeKeuster of Berkeley Patients Group

On December 17th, our post dealt with the State of Maine setting up their medical marijuana program. A few days later we received a comment on our post via Live Journal from Becky DeKeuster of Berkeley Patients Group. We shared Becky DeKeuster's comments with you on December 31, 2009, and we promised to respond to Ms. DeKeuster. Please see below our comments.

Dear Ms. DeKeuster,
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my post and for so eloquently sharing important information. I understand that you needed to correct my statement: "The same people who are helping Maine set up a medical marijuana program are also trying to have full on legalization voted on in the next year in California." I will agree with you this statement is rather broad. Without enough research, I implied, based on an assumption from the news articles that the Berkeley Patients Group would be in favor of full legalization. I did not mean to imply that you have or would take an official stand on legal or recreational use of cannabis. After all, as far as legal use, medicinal legal use was passed in California in 1996 and Berkeley Patients Group was founded in 1999. I understand now that recreational legalization is not part of BPG's agenda.

I have now visited your web site and read your mission statement. I have also taken the time to read the PDF "Declare Saturday, October 31 2009, 'Berkeley Patients Group Day' In the City Of Berkeley." This declaration was very informative, providing a historical review of Proposition 215 and Berkeley Patients Group activities over the past 13 years.

I appreciate your clarification and your wish for a "do-over" regarding the wild-west metaphor. I, too, have been following this topic for a number of years and I recognize that each state finds they must individually navigate these waters very carefully and diligently. I am frequently amazed at the obvious differences in how medicinal marijuana dispensaries are managed in northern California towns and cities, as compared to what I see and read about in Southern California.

I don't think we are too far apart regarding the pharmacology issues. I did not mean to imply that I believe that marijuana should only be available in pharmacies distributed in THC pill form. What I wanted to assure is that it be regulated and, therefore, look forward to it not only in a synthesized formula, but also the natural herbal form being distributed by pharmacies. I do understand that patients indicate that the delivery format of the herbal form appears to be more efficient for pain relief, not unlike, I would think, the surgical patient receiving a morphine drip, as opposed to a Vicodin tablet.

The bigger question remains, should marijuana be approved for recreational sale and use, like alcohol? And if it is, how will it be managed, controlled, sold, distributed? We know addiction is a disease. Many people use marijuana, but like alcohol drinkers not all are abusers. Addiction affects minimally 25% of the population. Managing medicinal marijuana use will be perhaps left to our health care providers, who will need to decide if herbal marijuana is the correct course for each individual patient.

Going forward we will continue our work to educate and assist those seeking recovery and sobriety.

NYC Funded a Guidebook for Heroin Users

New York City funded a guidebook for heroin users that gives detailed instructions on how to prepare drugs for injection and how to limit risks of infection. The guidebook has the DEA all up in arms about the "Take Charge Take Care" guide; the DEA special agent-in-charge John Gilbride commented on the handbook to the Associated Press, claiming the handout was a "step-by-step instruction on how to inject a poison". This revolutionary guidebook will certainly set precedence for any other state health agencies to get approval for similar handbooks. The DEA must think that giving instruction on safe injections will further addiction, ultimately leading people down a worse road than they were already on.

However, the NYC guidebook "Take Charge Take Care" will help facilitate in the battle of infectious diseases. Not to mention the amount of taxpayers' dollars that will be saved by helping avoid infection, thus keeping addicts away from emergency rooms. The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene printed about 70,000 copies of the controversial guidebook with the hope saving lives. The combination of needle exchanges and the new guidebook will certainly show positive results. Assistant Commissioner Daliah Heller said to the AP, instructions on how to perform injections were included because there's "a less harmful way to inject." Education is the greatest weapon against drug addiction despite how contrary it may seem at times.

Addicts caught in the depths of despair often feel like there is no option available and that they will die at the hands of their addiction. Providing addicts the opportunity to acquire clean needles, instruction on injecting, and free HIV tests will help facilitate many addicts in finding treatment. That is the ultimate goal of the creators of the new guidebook - help people help themselves!

I encourage you to watch the short video below. The video echoes some of the common misconceptions about heroin users. The fact is that many heroin users do not know how to correctly inject drugs which causes terrible health issues both short and long term. There are a lot of people damning Mayor Bloomberg's decision to approve the guidebook; but, in the end this guidebook will do more good than harm.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy