The Marijuana Recommendation Blog

California doctors who recommend cannabis under Proposition 215 (the Californian medical marijuana law) say they have become the next target of opponents of the medical use of cannabis. These doctors were issuing medical marijuana recommendations mostly to HIV afflicted patients.
Police, sheriffs, and prosecutors throughout California have brought complaints against at least nine doctors, who are being investigated by the state Medical Board for issuing medical marijuana recommendations According to the doctors, not one of the investigations has been triggered by a complaint brought by a patient, a patient’s family, or health care professionals. The Medical Board is actively investigating complaints against doctors David Bearman, Frank Lucido, and Marian Fry for issuing medical marijuana recommendations. Their conclusion: it seems that the potential dangers presented by the medical use of marijuana may actually contribute to the dangers of the diseases which it would be used to combat.
Investigations also involving doctors Tod Mikuriya and William Eidelman are pending with the state Attorney General’s Office for issuing also medical marijuana recommendation. Complaints against doctors Stephen Ellis and Mike Alcalay have been dismissed. And two others, Robert Newport and Stephen Banister, are on probation.
A survey of the San Mateo Medical Center in California found that more HIV patients who were issued medical marijuana recommendation to smoked marijuana for mental rather than physical reasons. 252 HIV patients were surveyed, of whom 58 patients admitted to use cannabis in the last four weeks. When asked for the main reasons they used the drug, most cited several reasons. 57 percent say they smoked it to relieve anxiety or depression, 52 percent against nausea and loss of appetite, 28 percent to alleviate pain.
Smoking marijuana has become a popular treatment for weight loss associated with HIV. Claims about its effectiveness are based largely on individual experience rather than data from studies. A synthetic form of the most active ingredient in marijuana, called dronabinol (Marinol), is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It is available by prescription for treating HIV-related weight loss (anorexia), as well as treating nausea for people undergoing chemotherapy.
The most potent argument against the use of marijuana to treat medical disorders is that marijuana may cause the acceleration or aggravation of the very disorders it is being used to treat.
Smoking marijuana regularly (a joint a day) can damage the cells in the bronchial passages which protect the body against inhaled microorganisms and decrease the ability of the immune cells in the lungs to fight off fungi, bacteria, and tumor cells. For patients with already weakened immune systems, this means an increase in the possibility of dangerous pulmonary infections, including pneumonia, which often proves fatal in AIDS patients.
Studies further suggest that marijuana is a general “immunosuppressant” whose degenerative influence extends beyond the respiratory system. Regular smoking has been shown to materially affect the overall ability of the smokers body to defend itself against infection by weakening various natural immune mechanisms, including macrophages (a.k.a. “killer cells”) and the all-important T-cells. Obviously, this suggests the conclusion, which is well-supported by scientific studies, that the use of marijuana as a medical therapy can and does have a very serious negative effect on patients with pre-existing immune deficits resulting from AIDS, organ transplantation, or cancer chemotherapy, the very conditions for which marijuana has most often been touted and suggested as a treatment. It has also been shown that marijuana use can accelerate the progression of HIV to full-blown AIDS and increase the occurrence of infections and Kaposis sarcoma. In addition, patients with weak immune systems will be even less able to defend themselves against the various respiratory cancers and conditions to which consistent marijuana use has been linked, and which are discussed briefly under “Respiratory Illnesses.”

2009 herald a newly elected president of the United States of America, President Barack Obama. During the campaign trail, Mr Obama has promised to stop the raid conducted by the DEA against medical marijuana dispensaries who accommodate patients with Medical marijuana recommendations. These patients with medical marijuana recommendations tend to use the services of these dispensaries to be able to smoke marijuana legally under state laws.
The view of the previous administration regarding this issue is totally the opposite of Mr. Obama’s. DEA raids dispensaries even if these dispensaries cater to the patients only with valid Medical Marijuana recommendation. The DEA still views marijuana as illegal and contraband inspite of the state laws declaring it as a medical drug.
To understand why Marijuana was classified as an illegal drug by all of the countries n the world, one must be able to understand marijuana.
Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. Cannabis is a term that refers to marijuana and other drugs made from the same plant. Strong forms of cannabis include sinse-milla (sin-seh-me-yah), hashish (”hash” for short), and hash oil. All forms of cannabis are mind-altering (psychoactive) drugs. They all contain THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main active chemical in marijuana. They also contain more than 400 other chemicals.

Marijuana’s effect on the user depends on the strength or potency of the THC it contains. Most ordinary marijuana has an average of 3 percent THC. Sinsemilla (made from just the buds and flowering tops of female plants) has an average of 7.5 percent THC, with a range as high as 24 percent. Hashish (the sticky resin from the female plant flowers) has an average of 3.6 percent, with a range as high as 28 percent. Hash oil, a tar-like liquid distilled from hashish, has an average of 16 percent, with a range as high as 43 percent.
Long-term marijuana abuse can lead to addiction; that is, compulsive drug seeking and abuse despite its known harmful effects upon social functioning in the context of family, school, work, and recreational activities. Long-term marijuana abusers trying to quit report irritability, sleeplessness, decreased appetite, anxiety, and drug craving, all of which make it difficult to quit. These withdrawal symptoms begin within about 1 day following abstinence, peak at 2–3 days, and subside within 1 or 2 weeks following drug cessation.
Scientists have learned a great deal about how THC acts in the brain to produce its many effects. When someone smokes marijuana, THC rapidly passes from the lungs into the bloodstream, which carries the chemical to the brain and other organs throughout the body.
THC acts upon specific sites in the brain, called cannabinoid receptors, kicking off a series of cellular reactions that ultimately lead to the “high” that users experience when they smoke marijuana. Some brain areas have many cannabinoid receptors; others have few or none. The highest density of cannabinoid receptors are found in parts of the brain that influence pleasure, memory, thoughts, concentration, sensory and time perception, and coordinated movement.1
Not surprisingly, marijuana intoxication can cause distorted perceptions, impaired coordination, difficulty in thinking and problem solving, and problems with learning and memory. Research has shown that marijuana’s adverse impact on learning and memory can last for days or weeks after the acute effects of the drug wear off. As a result, someone who smokes marijuana every day may be functioning at a suboptimal intellectual level all of the time.
It is therefore with these medical reasons that doctors have shied away from issuing Medical Marijuana recommendations. The psychotic effect of marijuana may lead a patient who is soliciting a medical marijuana recommendation to help alleviate pain but eventually suffer brain dysfunction.

An article written at NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Pot should be legal. We could use the money. But that’s getting ignored in the wake of this week’s Supreme Court decision. As written by Allen Wastler on his commentary column dated June 7, 2005: 1:14 PM EDT. Mr. Wastler is the Managing Editor of CNN/Money
“That decision, if you missed it, essentially said that federal law trumps state law and since the Feds say no pot, then no pot. It’s a frightening decision on a constitutional level. I’ve never been a fan of the idea that people in places like California and Mississippi should have a say in how I choose to pursue happiness in New Jersey. And if my state says I can smoke a doobie — okay, smoke one if a doctor says I need to smoke one — what gives people in an entirely different state, through our federal system, the right to say I can’t? Thomas Jefferson would tell me to fire up.
But the Supreme Court said no, based on the interstate commerce clause. You see, the feds can regulate a local activity, like growing pot in your backyard, if it can conceivably affect an interstate market, like the $10.5 billion market for marijuana. Hey, the argument is as honest as the pothead contingent arguing that this case was only about using marijuana to ease the pain and suffering of disease-stricken people. Once doctors can write prescriptions for pot, the market is de facto legalized.

“The medical argument was kind of a Trojan Horse,” says Jeffrey Miron, an economics professor at Harvard University. “It would have been nice to keep the argument a straightforward discussion about marijuana use.”
And that, conservatively, is about a $14 billion discussion, the professor argues in a study released this month.
According to his calculations, the government would save $7.7 billion a year if it didn’t have to spend money policing and prosecuting marijuana activity. Then, if the feds taxed marijuana at a rate comparable to cigarettes and booze, another $6.2 billion would come rolling in.
Lots of that money — both the cost savings and the tax money — would go to the states … states that right now are facing budget crunches because of a slowdown in federal funds. And of course the remainder would go to the federal government, which has deficits of its own. Hence the cutback in state funds.
The professor’s analysis is pretty conservative. And Milton Friedman and 499 other economists cited it in an open letter calling for legalization. And the study doesn’t even take into account ancillary economic effects, like jobs created or the growth of related industries (you know, bong makers).

“Unfortunately the economic arguments seem to be turning less relevant right now,” said Miron. “… There are those who argue that marijuana should be given treatment comparable to tobacco and alcohol. That they should have the same weight. But people generally still see these substances in different camps.”
Obviously there are still important arguments beyond money. One is that pot leads to stronger drugs — a debate that can easily be transferred to liquor sales. The second is health. You can’t tell me pot smoke is any better than tobacco smoke … and I still get irate about some of my hefty health-care premiums going to pay for somebody who couldn’t muster the willpower to quit smoking.

Still, money talks. Or tokes.”
Mr. Wastler has made a strong point. Though this column was published in 2005, it is now a significant issue not be missed at. California state government estimates that in 2005, there were more than 100,000 marijuana medical recommendations that were issued to patients with debilitating pain. On the assumption that each Medical Marijuana recommendation can be charged an average of $100 each, the total soft projection of revenue from Medical Marijuana recommendations alone can reach to about $10 million. This is aside from the fact that Medical Marijuana recommendations are strictly being issued by licensed physicians and dispensed only by the Medical Marijuana dispensaries by caregivers. There you can see the full revenue impact of a single medical marijuana recommendation to the economy of California.

Moves are underway by the California state congress to start taxing marijuana and its use. While attempts at reviewing the number of Medical marijuana recommendations issued by licensed physicians are physically impossible because there is no monitoring of these Medical Marijuana recommendations and with no requirement to get a state or county marijuana card, there is no way to know how many recommendations have actually been issued.
It will cost about $100-$200 for your visit to the marijuana doctor. Current estimates now have up to 350,000 marijuana users in California with physician issuing Medical Marijuana recommendations, up from only 100,000 in 2005. Using simple math, that’s at least $100 million dollars in revenue added to the income of the marijuana doctor and that’s only on the personal income tax of the doctors alone!
Proponents of taxing marijuana say that as much as $14 billion dollars can be generated by this proposition. The same sentiments are also being aired by concerned marijuana supporters. Regulations and taxation is a much better way of resolving the increasing use of marijuana that are not with any medically serious illness.
Supporters also claims the fact the state government also saves on the operating cost of correctional facilities currently overcrowded with criminals being convicted off crimes that maybe addressed by just rehabilitating rather than incarceration.
From 1980 to 2000 California saw its inmate population increase 554% adding 137,391 newly convicted inmates for a total of 160,655 at the beginning of 2000. In twenty years California added 21 new facilities costing the state taxpayers billions in construction cost and billions in operations cost. Today the California Department of Corrections has an operating annual budget of 5.7 Billion dollars and a per inmate cost of $30,929. California now operates the third largest penal system in the world, second only to Chinas national correctional system and the United States national correctional system.

What fueled this massive increase in the inmate population is ten fold. California in the 1980’s and 1990’s created some of the harshest sentencing laws in the nation for virtually every offense imaginable. Invoking determinate sentencing guidelines and a new anti drug crusade California has the highest rate of drug offender incarcerations in the nation 134-per 100,000 people in the state. Today in the California Department of Corrections approximately 23,000 inmates are incarcerated solely for drug possession. This is the same amount of total inmates housed in California Prisons in the year 1980. With the passing of the 3 strikes law in the mid 1990’s California now has the largest number of inmates sentenced to life in prison of any state in the union.
By just taxing the medical marijuana recommendations to a minimum of $100 as state fee and using the reported number of only 100,000 medical marijuana recommendations issued for 2005, that will be equivalent to about $10 million in revenues which could be used to support over a 900,000 inmates at the various correctional facilities in the state of California.

A medical marijuana recommendation is a written aprroval of a doctor that deems the use of marijuana approporiate to lessen the suffering of patients from debilitating illnesses, such as pain brought by chemotherapy to cancer patients, migraines, vomiting and unintentional weight loss and lack of appetite to name a few. However marijuana is known for its side effects, such as causing paranoia, inducing hallucinations and psychomotor disorders. Issuance of a marijuana recommendation must deemed applicable to the patient, the benefits overcome the possible side effects of using the drug.

The Compassionate Use Act of 1996 puts in effect the protection of any doctor, their rights and privileges, who would issue a medical marijuana recommendation from federal authorities. However, these doctors are somehow confused on what and how the standards should be on the cannabis recommendation. Confusion writing a legal recommendation – the liability on issuance of a recommendation of a drug that the Food and Drug Administation have branded as illegal and of no medical value. Also, the assurance of a consistent drug dosage, the purity of its contents and the effectiveness of marijuana itself.

The court had ruled over the doctor-patient privacy rights on the topic of issuance and the use of cannabis recommendations are defined as protected free speech. The confidentiality context of the law protects both the marijuana patients and the doctors who have recommended the use. There has yet to be a published list of doctors and physicians, proving that the law is in effect and that the privacy of the doctors are respected. Doctors will not loose their license to practice medicine by writing a medical marijuana recommendation.

The number of patients who are in line for a marijuana recommendation far outnumbers the doctors who are willing to issue a recommendation. Doctors are likely to prescribe a different solution to the patient’s condition or would not consider the use of marijuana at all. Getting a second opinion would be the adivisable for those who belive that they are in need of the drug treatment. Bringing a medical history record will reflect the patient’s condition, and obtaining a cannabis recommendation is possible. There is also another way to get a marijuana recommendation. Medical marijuana clinics can review a patient’s medical history far more effectively and issue a recommendation. Since marijuana had been legalized, these clinics have increased in number.

Doctors and physicians are considered as the moral boundary that keep patients from using marijuana. A qualified patient who wishes to use the drug as a way to alleviate the pain that is brought by their sickness, must first possess a marijuana recommendation, but others are finding difficult, so they turn to what they consider is an easier way to obtain the drug. No recommendations, no lining up, no hassle. But if these patients would purchase from the illegal drug dealers, they are not only putting their legal safety on the line, but their placing their health at risk of obtaining poor quality of marijuana as well.

A number of states are now into legalizing the use of marijuana. This resulted in the number of marijuana patients increasing. Studies and research that had shown postive results about marijuana possessing medical properties, such as treatinf pain from cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and people who losing weight from suffering anorexia. Other studies on its effectiveness, like the patients, are increasing, and so is the demand for marijuana recommendation.

A medical marijuana recommendation is a written approval by a doctor, allowing the patient to use marijuana to alleviating chronic illnesses and conditions that he or she may be diagnosed of. The chronic illnesses of the patient must be deemed appropriate and treatable by the drug. This had been a debate in many states and level. The illnesses and conditions that the treatment of marijuana is deemed applicable differs from state to state. Take for example the condition of anxiety. California marijuana law permits the treatment of anxiety with marijuana. But the state of Oregon find the use of the drug for anxiety not applicable, thus preventing people with anxiety disorders to look for another way to treat it. A person applying for a cannabis recommendation must therefore check his or her state law for a list of conditions that permits the use of the drug.

A doctor may suggest something else to the patient for treatment of their illness or disagree to the marijuana use and wil not write down a marijuana recommendation. In this event, asking for a second opinion from another doctor may be an option. Bringing necessary documents, such as medical history records and identification, could certify the patient’s condition and would find them qualified for a cannabis recommendation. There is also the option of medical marijuana clinics. These clinics employ doctors with experiences with the treatment of marijuana. Clinics like this usually have the terms “holistic”, “wellness” or “alternative medicine” in their title. One can call these establishments if there are any doctors that specializes in marijuana treatments.

There had been reports about patients dismissed by their physicians for asking a marijuana recommendation. These medical practitioners still have fear of the federal law, believing that they should only give such approval until the government issues an official rule regarding the issuance of cannabis recommendation.

Possessing a marijuana recommendation will allow the patient to use, possess and cutivate their own marijuana. Although, issues about the validity of the recommendation and the verification of the doctor who wrote the medical marijuana recommendation had been sited. California had created a medicinal marijuana program that would pose as an extra protection for the patients. The program distributes a card through a database registration that would make the patients legal to possess and use marijuana without questioning from the law.

This is what the medical marijuana recommendation, and it is enough for people who are suffering from such chronic illnesses to go ask their doctors for a marijuana recommendation. Though it has been a challenge to obtain the recommendation, finding a doctor who is willing to write one further decreases the probability of acquiring it.

After the state-wide voluntary votation by citizens of the state of Calfornia, the use of marijuana for medical purposes was legalized. The state conducted a vote on whether to legitimize the use of marijuana, specifically for medical treatments. But to obtain the drug, a patient must obtain a marijuana recommendation from their doctors.

For a doctor to grant a patient with legal use of marijuana is what the medical marijuana recommendation, as stated by the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, also known as the California Proposition 215. Marijuana had been the debate of drug advocates and those opposed due to studies and research that the drug possesses medicinal properties. The marijuana recommendation must be considered only by qualifying diagnosis or medical conditions that marijuana is known to alleviate, such as premenstrual syndrome, nausea, anorexia, spasticity and psychomotor disorders among others. But marijuana is known for its side effects, such as causing hallucinations, disorientation, increase of lung infections and causing drug dependency among others. A doctor must issue a marijuana recommendation only if the benefits of the drug use will outweigh the side effects the drug could bring.

The cannabis recommendation must be given by a doctor or physician who has a permit to practice medicine. Though all doctors could issue a marijuana recommendation to qualified patients, most of them will not. These doctors worry about issuing a medical marijuana recommendation and the patients using marijuana, a drug that the Food and Drug Administration doesnot approve of. Also, the concerns regarding the consistent dosage, the purity of the drug
’s contents and the effectiveness of the marijuana can actually apply to the treatment.

Locating a doctor that is willing to issue a medical marijuana recommendation is getting harder. However, providing enough proof, such as documents and records that diagnose a chronic condition of the patient. Obtaining these records is a matter of personal business and you should not use it to obtain a cannabis recommendation. In the event that the doctor doesnot issue a recommendation, asking a second opinion is adivisable and it’s not illegal. When getting an appointment with a different doctor, bring a medical history that will prove that the patient is diagnosed with the condition, and the possibility of obtaining a marijuana recommendation is increased. If not, there are still chances of getting a marijuana recommendation from marijuana clinic that has doctors who expert in these fields. Since the legalization of marijuana, these clinics are now rampant in the states.

After the marijuana recommendation has been issued, the patient may apply for a cannabis card. This card serves as identification for patients undergoing the marijuana program and for the authorities to differentiate the marijuana patients from abusers.

With all the benefits of medicinal marijuana and having a marijuana recommendation, fact still remains: medicinal or not, marijuana is still illegal. The law is still in effect, even with the exemptions. Discipline, self-control and a presence of the law is what patients need to have possess these recommendation to avoid any run-ins with the law.

The use of marijuana in medical field has been an age-old debate. In 1996, a proposed law was passed to legalize the use marijuana. Ever since then, patients from different states had demanded the cannabis recommendations and the identification cards.

A medical marijuana recommendation is a written consent by a patient’d doctor, allowing the patient, to use marijuana as a mean of alleviating chronic illnesses and conditions that the patient may be diagnosed of. The chronic illnesses of the patient must be considered treatable by the drug. This had been a discussion. The illnesses and conditions that the use of the drug is deemed applicable differs from every state. Consider a patient suffering from anxiety. The state of California permits the use of marijuana to treat anxiety attacks. The state of Oregon, on the other hand, find the use of the drug for anxiety irrelevant. A person applying for a marijuana recommendation must check his or her local law for a list of conditions that permits the use of marijuana.

The doctors willing to issue a cannabis recommendation are alarmed and overwhelmed with the increasing number of patients applying for the marijuana recommendation. At most, doctors will prescribe other medicine as solution to a patient’s condition, or disagree in the use of marijuana. The law, on the other hand, doesnot limit the patient to one doctor’s opinion. Patients could have an appointment with another doctor to have a second opinion, and hopefully, they would be issued a cannabis recommendation. The patient must bring their medical history that would qualify them for the use of marijuana. There are also medicinal marijuana clinics that employ doctors who specialize in this field. Since the legalization of marijuana, such clinics are established overnight and continues to increase in number.

The Compassionate Use Act of 1996 states that any doctors who issues a cannabis recommendation will not be subject to arrest and their license, rights and/or privilege taken from them. However, some doctors still fear the liability that they would have if they did give out a marijuana recommendation to patients. This is not the case. If they were to prescribe, then that would be in violation of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, but the law states that if the doctor “recommends” the use, then there is no offense what so ever. They also worry about issuing a marijuana recommendation, an approval to use a drug that is not sanctioned by the Food and Drug Administration.

Once approved, with supplementary documents such identifications, and medical history, a patient will receive the marijauna recommendation that would allow the use, possession and transport among others of the drug throughout any states that implemented the law regarding the legality of marijuana. Some states had created a program that would serve as an additional protection for marijuana patients. After obtaining a marijuana recommendation, patients can now register for a cannabis card. This card is an identification for patients undergoing the marijuana treatment and for the law enforcers to differentiate the patients from drug abusers.

To obtain a medical marijuana recommendation, there are certain condition that a patient must follow. The marijuana recommendation is needed for a patient to legally use marijuana for medicinal purposes. Studies and research have shown that marijuana, well-known for its side effects such as inducing euphoria and being drug dependent, have medicinal properties that could, to name a few, alleviate vomiting, help AIDS patients to gain weight following a weight-loss and nausea for people undergoing chemotherapy.

A medical marijuana recommendation is an written approval of a doctor that deems the use of marijuana useful as it contribute to alleviate suffering from chronic illnesses, such as pain brought by cancer patients in their chemotherapy, vomiting, premenstrual syndrome and asthma among others illnesses. Despite the fact that marijuana is also known for side effect such as causing the eye reddening, inducing euphoria and the possible drug dependency, issuing a cannabis recommendation must be appropriate fo rht patient, that the benefits overcome the probable side effects of the drug.

The Compassionate Use Act of 1996, also known as Proposition 215, specifies the protection of any doctor or physician, and their rights and privileges, who will issue a cannabis recommendation from commiting a federal offense. However, these professionals are confused on how to issue the marijuana recommendation. Confusion is brought about a legal recommendation, the liability they would have upon recommendation of a drug that the Food and Drug Administation doesnot allow. Also, the assurance of a consistent dosage, the purity of ingridients and the effectiveness of the drug.

Increasing concerns are brought about by the lack of willing medical practioners to compose a marijuana recommendation. The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 states that the prescription of a regulated drug, like marijuana, as an act of federal violation and would subject them to prosecution. These doctors fail to see that Proposition 215 serves as their protection, regarding the issuance of a cannabis recommendation. If the doctor doesn’t write the patient a cannabis recommendation, the patient can get his or her medical history and get a second opinion from another doctor. This action is allowed.

A doctor may prescribe something else or may disagree on using the drug. A doctor may write a marijuana recommendation, however, there are also marijuana clinics that have doctors who are expert in this line of practice. There is also the option of hearing out a second opinion from doctors other than their own. All the patient has to do is present their medical history that the doctor will site the use of marijuana for the treatment appropriate and will issue a medical marijauna recommendation.

If doctors continue with their false belief in regards to their safety when writing a marijuana recommendation. If this go on, patients who are qualified to use the drug would find themselves purchasing from sketchy characters such as drug dealers and from the black market. These people do not need any type of marijuana recommendation from a physician or a doctor. Doing this would not only place the patient in a more risky position from the law, but could possibly purchasing the drug with less quality, which is not only less than their money’s worth but also could endanger their health.

To legally use marijuana in a state that approves the use of drug, an individual must diagnosed with a debilitating condition that the drug can be used for alleviating pain from the illness. This diagnosis is used in the issuance of a medical marijuana recommendation by a licensed doctor or physician.

A medical marijauna recommendation is an approval in writing from a patient’s doctor or physician. The recommendation permits the patient the use of marijuana as a mean to lessen any chronic illnesses that the patient may be suffering from, such as premenstrual syndrome, neurogenic pain and glaucoma to name a few. But the patient must be thoroughly and properly diagnosed before issuing a marijuana recommendation. Even with the studies about the medical properties of the drug, there are still the known side effects to be considered, such as eye reddening, impairing of the psychomotor coordination and the probable drug dependency. This is why the marijuana recommendation must be deemed beneficial to the progress of the patient’s health, outweighing the impending side effects that the drug may cause.

The marijuana recommendation must be given by a physician or a doctor who is licensed and has a permit to practice their profession. Even if all doctors could give a cannabis recommendation to qualifying patients, most of them wouldn’t. These practitioners worry about issuing a medical marijuana recommendation and the patients using marijuana, a drug that is notably unapproved by the Food and Drug Administration. Add to that the concerns regarding the consistency of dosage, the purity of its contents and the effectiveness of the drug in treatment.

Growing concerns are also brought about by the lack of willing doctors to issue a marijuana recommendation. The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 states the prescription of any regulated drug, in this case, marijuana, as a direct violation of federal law and would subject the doctor or physician to prosecution. Finding a willing doctor to write marijuana recommendation is getting harder by the minute. However, providing sufficient proof, such as current documents that diagnose a chronic condition of the patient. Obtaining these records is a matter of private concern and a patient should not use it to obtain a marijuana recommendation. Doctors fail to see that the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, passed by the State of Calfornia, protects them, regarding the writing of a medical marijuana recommendation. If the doctor doesnot give the patient a marijuana recommendation, the patient can get his or her medical history and ask for a second opinion from another doctor. This action is legal. What these doctors fear is that their rights and privileges could be taken from them.

The medical marijuana recommendation is seen as the doctor approves of the use of the drug as it will benefit the patient’d progress in health. With this, there are no laws broken and no unnecessary detainment will be enforce. Such is the authority of the marijuana recommendation, and it’s reason enough for patients who are suffering from chronic illnesses to visit their doctors and ask for a cannabis recommendation.