Fresno marijuana physician could lose his license over allegations involving prescription drugs

 Marijuana News
Aug 182010
 

One of Fresno’s most prominent advocates for medical marijuana could lose his physician’s license amid a flurry of allegations that include prescribing a painkiller in exchange for sex. Osteopathic physician Daniel Brubaker, 62, is a former medical director of the Central California Blood Center who has been recognized for his research. More recently, as an orthopedic and pain-management specialist, he has made a name for himself by recommending marijuana for his patients. His Muscular Skeletal Medical Associates office on First Street in east central Fresno is one of three San Joaquin Valley medical offices commonly [...]

Santa Cruz doctor stresses medicine in cannabis evaluations

 Marijuana News, Medical marijuana
Aug 112010
 
Santa Cruz doctor stresses medicine in cannabis evaluations

Not many people who lined up at competing booths for discount pot recommendations at last weekend’s Hempcon 2010 Medical Marijuana Show in San Jose were drawn by the bona fides of any doctor. So Deborah Malka, a Santa Cruz family medical practitioner and “mental and physical wellness” counselor, didn’t attract much attention for her MD from the University of New Mexico or her PhD in molecular biology from Columbia University or even her herbal and holistic training from the Santa Fe University of Natural Medicine. She couldn’t compete with the activity elsewhere, Peter Hecht writes [...]

No bull: Thousands toke up legally at International Cannabis and Hemp Expo

 Advocates, Business, Legalization, Medical marijuana
Apr 192010
 
No bull: Thousands toke up legally at International Cannabis and Hemp Expo

DALY CITY — People have been toking up in the Cow Palace parking lot for more than 50 years. This was the first time it was legal, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The International Cannabis and Hemp Expo, the first trade show in the United States to allow on-site pot smoking, attracted an estimated 15,000 enthusiasts to Daly City over the weekend. They talked bud, sold products ranging from a $500 water bong to a $19,500 mobile grow house, and discussed how efforts to legalize marijuana would impact their livelihoods. “We’re exercising our rights as [...]

Sacramento pot doc nears trial on drug charges in Mississippi

 Advocates, Courts, Medical marijuana, Video
Mar 192010
 

One of last times Dr. David Allen was seen in Sacramento, he had a packed waiting room of patients. They were paying $150 each to see the former Mississippi heart surgeon for medical marijuana recommendations, Peter Hecht reports in his “Weed Wars” blog. To anyone listening, Allen extolled the virtues of a “miracle drug” he said he started using at 17. He also told a reporter he was currently treating himself with pot for decades of accumulated stress as an cardiothoracic surgeon – and for more recent anxiety over his million dollar Mississippi ranch getting [...]

Cancer patient, activist Shuman keeps fighting for medical cannabis

 Advocates, Media, Medical marijuana
Mar 172010
 

Gotta love Weed Wars, written by prolific Sacramento Bee reporter Peter Hecht. Here’s a nice profile on Cheryl Shuman, who heads the Beverly Hills chapter of NORML. ===================== In Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, Cheryl Shuman was known as the optician to the stars – as the woman who got Tom Cruise to wear those dark sunglasses in “Risky Business.” She also was a renowned marketing, public relations and product placement executive known for schmoozing with Jay Leno, Tom Hanks or Julia Roberts. These days, Shuman lives two distinctly different lives. In Southern California, she [...]

Quality control is Job One at Sacramento dispensary

 Business, Dispensaries, Medical marijuana, Pot-pourri
Mar 082010
 

At the Canna Care medical marijuana dispensary in Sacramento, the incoming product must get past Don Davies and his microscope. Davies, 23, who is closing in on a degree in biochemistry from UC Santa Cruz, inspects the weed Canna Care purchases from its patient growers, Sacramento Bee reporter Peter Hecht writes in his informative “Weed Wars” blog. Davies scans each plant variety – be it a “purple urkle” indica, a “cotton candy” sativa or a “golden kush” hybrid. He puts buds under his microscope and views a blown-up image on a computer screen, looking for [...]

Student editorial urges Iowa to take lead on MM

 Government, Medical marijuana, Opinion
Feb 212010
 

Once again we look outside the state’s borders for insight, this time in the form of a student editorial from the University of Iowa’s Daily Iowan. (If nothing else, scroll down to the California reference; many of our top cops think the same way.) It’s encouraging to see good student writing these days; maybe there’s a future for journalism after all. ================ The Iowa Board of Pharmacy’s recommendation on Wednesday to simultaneously reclassify marijuana and create a body to oversee the possible legalization of the plant for medical use is commendable and realistic. Iowa legislators [...]

Nevada County man: ‘I’d probably be dead’ without cannabis

 Medical marijuana, Pot-pourri
Jan 272010
 
Nevada County man: 'I'd probably be dead' without cannabis

At night, James Hernandez used to set his alarm for 2 a.m. because he was afraid of dying from all of the pain medications he was taking, The Union reports in this feature article. (Headline: “How marijuana rescued his life.”) But life is better now that the Nevada County resident uses marijuana to ease the pain and extend the effectiveness of the few meds he still needs, writes reporter Kyle Magin. Medical marijuana has absorbed western county governments, with Nevada City’s council voting down an ordinance that would have allowed dispensaries to open and Nevada [...]

Research suggests anti-cancer role for cannabinoids

 Medical marijuana
Jan 122010
 

From Business Week comes this HealthDay story about research suggesting cannabinoids have potential as anti-cancer drugs. HealthDay is an online health news service. =============== Preliminary research suggests that a combination of compounds in marijuana could help fight off a particularly deadly form of brain cancer. But the findings shouldn’t send patients rushing to buy pot: the levels used in the research appear to be too high to obtain through smoking. And there’s no sign yet that the approach works in laboratory animals, let alone people. Still, the finding does suggest that more than one compound [...]

Column: Marijuana the wrong ‘medicine’ for depressed youth

 Initiatives, Medical marijuana, Opinion
Jan 022010
 

Dr. Lynn Ponton, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco, offers a medical perspective in this excerpt from a guest column published by the San Francisco Chronicle. “It’s my medicine, Doc,” said 18-year-old Jonathan, when I asked him why he was smoking marijuana every day. Surprised that any physician would prescribe marijuana for the anxious, depressed and disorganized adolescent sitting in my psychiatric office, I asked him where he had obtained the prescription. “A doc just like you. I heard about her from a friend. Anyone over 18 can get [...]

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