Hemp Evolution

Palm Springs Police Chief Agrees to Doctor Recommendation Guidelines

by Lanny Swerdlow

Palm Springs, CA - At a public meeting on Monday, May 12 at Toucan's Bar, Palm Springs Police Chief Gary Jeandron stated he would not arrest any medical marijuana patient who possessed no more marijuana than the amount recommended by their doctor. This is an interesting and unexpected development with a number of very interesting ramifications. Although I will discuss it further here, I urge everyone to attend the Sunday, June 1 meeting of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project where this will be one of the issues under discussion.

Allowing patients to possess whatever their doctor recommends could be the best guidelines of all. It corresponds in many ways to how medicine is normally prescribed. Doctor's usually don't just tell you to take some medicine and then let you take however much you want. They also don't expect you to go to the pharmacist everyday to obtain your medicine. They prescribe a specific number of pills of a specific dosage and allow you to possess a number of those pills in order for you to obtain the desired results. Why can't doctors do that with marijuana?

Right now, the only Doctor I know that specifies the quantity of marijuana that a person should smoke is Dr. Robert Sterner. A daily amount is specified on the recommendation form. Consequently, in order for a Palm Springs medical marijuana patient to comply with the guidelines being enforced by the Palm Springs Police, they would need a similar type of recommendation and would need to go back to the doctor who wrote them the recommendation and ask for a specific amount to be added to their recommendation. Some doctors may do this, some may not.

There are several advantages to doctor recommended patient guidelines. First off, you wouldn't need a Medical Marijuana Patient ID system any more than you need an ID system for obtaining a regular prescription. Your Driver's License or Non-driver's ID card would be sufficient to identify you and the Doctor's written recommendation would constitute the amount of marijuana you needed to use and would also specify the amount you could possess at one time.

In regards to cultivation, the doctor could utilize the services of a cultivation expert who could determine the number of plants needed to produce that amount of marijuana. This could be spelled out in different cultivation schemes, such as indoors vs. outdoors and the number of crops expected to be harvested a year. These numbers of plants then become the number of plants the patient could cultivate and would be specified by the doctor.

I am sure a number of you will have some very strong opinions on this idea, but this is what the Police Chief of Palm Springs has determined he can work with and I think it is worth an effort to try and accommodate him. The day following the Monday public meeting, I sent Chief Jeandron an email asking when he will speak to his officers about this new policy. I also asked how an officer would be able to identify a medical marijuana patient and how the officer will determine if the amount of marijuana the patient possesses exceeds the amount specified by the patient's doctor.

I have not received a reply yet, but I did receive an email stating that he will discuss these issues when I meet with him. I expect the meeting will be in about ten days. I would be very interested in hearing everyone's opinion on this and any suggestions you might have to offer. Just email me back with your thoughts - I am sincerely interested in everyone's perspective on this as nothing is cast in stone.

I would really encourage everyone also to mark their calendar and make the time to attend the Sunday, June 1 MAPP meeting. Ask anyone who has attended - they are very spirited with open discourse and very educational exchanges. The issue of doctor recommended guidelines will be one of the subjects of discussion. There will be others items including the most recent news on the Canadian government's plans to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana and what it portends for decriminalization efforts in the United States. I am also hoping to have a speaker as well, but as of this time, I have not been able to confirm one. You will receive an email in about a week with additional information about the Sunday, June 1 meeting, but make plans now to attend as this will definitely be a very interesting and stimulating meeting and your presence would be most welcome.

As usual the meeting will begin at 4 p.m. at the Cathedral City Library located at 33-520 Date Palm Drive, at the corner of Date Palm and Dave Kelly, one block north of Dinah Shore. For more info, email me back or call me at 760-799-2055.

Lanny