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grows. Some of these robberies have resulted in shootings. There has also been an arson of a dispensary which the police department believes was the result of a dispute with a customer. (Source) Det. Guzman Ukiah P.D. Ukiah Daily News (Excerpts from the Article) An arson fire burned the Ukiah Cannabis Club Saturday morning, causing extensive damage and blackening neighboring structures as well. A man who told The Daily Journal he was upset with the Ukiah Cannabis Club, claiming club members owed him money for the crop of marijuana he grew for them, was arrested at the scene….. 31 The man in the back of the store, later identified as William Howard Ryan, 51, of Willits, telephoned UPD dispatch, saying he was armed and that he would shoot anyone coming to get him. Officers and firefighters heard muffled shots from the interior of the store….. Ryan was arrested on charges of arson, burglary and possession of hashish. He was interviewed by The Daily Journal just days ago when he claimed he was going to sue the Ukiah Cannabis Club for the money he says he is owed. Some witnesses said they saw Ryan enter the building with what looked like grenades strapped to his body. There were also reports the suspect carried a weapon, though that was not corroborated by police. A spokesperson for the Forest Club said the bar would be closed for a short time only. (Source http://www.hempevolution.org/media/ukiah_daily_news/udn020527.htm) VENTURA Two subjects were arrested Sept 28, 2001 for cultivating for the LACRC. Forfeiture filed against their property, including home they built for themselves, in July 02. Raided again and arrested for personal use garden of 35 plants in Aug 02; charged with cultivation. Pled guilty Sep 03. Ninth Circuit denied appeal March 2006. (Source) http://www.canorml.org/news/fedMedical Marijuanacases.html CALIFORNIA NARCOTIC OFFICERS ASSOCIATION Agents have conducted sting operations on web sites such as “Craigslist” and recently conducted an investigation which resulted in the arrest of a subject for the sale of three pounds of marijuana as well as possession of an additional four pounds. This subject was an employee of a local Medical Marijuana Dispensary. In all of these communities, law enforcement leaders were concerned with the impacts to the public health, safety and welfare by the commercial marijuana dispensing enterprise. All wished that they did not exist in their community. The trouble seems to occur when a large number of marijuana users, legal (under State law) and illegal gather at one location making them easy targets for illegal drug dealers; those freelance freelance illegal drug dealers who are trying to recruit individuals with a doctors recommendation to legitimize (under State law) their sales and possession; and those who wish to prey upon the ill to steal their marijuana. This is compounded by the vast amounts of cash and little or no oversight of the processes of prescription, procurement and sales of Medical Marijuana. All of these impacts are avoidable if the commercial marijuana dispensing business were not allowed to locate in our community. Medical Marijuana Doctor’s Another area of contention is the apparent lack of oversight regarding who receives a physician’s recommendation for Medical Marijuana and the process in doing so. One doctor who is touted as a “Medical Marijuana Doctor” is a practitioner in the City of El Cerrito. It is reported that our local doctor has issued over ten thousand recommendations for Medical Marijuana in the ten years since Prop. 215 was enacted in 1996. Research on the internet has revealed that the cost to patients to to receive their initial recommendation ranges from $125.00 to $250.00. 32 If these figures are accurate, this one doctor has made $1,250,000 to 2,500,000 over the past ten years just in issuing Medical Marijuana recommendations. These recommendations have to be renewed every one to two years at the cost of $50.00 to $100.00. This same doctor has repeatedly been the target of investigations regarding his practices related to Medical Marijuana and is currently on probation with the Medical Board of California as a result of investigations into 47 complaints, all of which were referred by law enforcement or district attorneys. This Doctor’s Website offers the following explanation; Medical Board of California v Tod H. Mikuriya, M.D. Since 1993, the Medical Board of California have had various ongoing investigations into Dr. Mikuriya's use of cannabinoids in his medical practice. Beginning in 1993 with rural county probation officers turning him in to the medical board for prescribing Marinol to probationers. The initial investigation resulted in a letter in Dr. Mikuriya's file. With the passage of the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, outlying Sheriff Deputies and District Attorneys began flooding the Medical Board with bogus complaints. Nearly 50 complaints were filed, none came from patients, health care professionals or patient families--none alleged any harm to patients. The medical board initiated multiple investigations. In 2003 Dr. Mikuriya had a hearing in front of an Administrative Law Judge which resulted in the worst of the allegations being dismissed. (Dismissed charges included unprofessional conduct and incompetence.) However, Dr. Mikuriya was convicted for negligence and failing to keep adequate records. In April of 2004 he was placed on probation which includes a practice monitor, cost recovery ($70,000), and various other indecencies. Appeals of all charges are pending and continue. This page and the associated links contain all of the legal documents in this matter, as well as interpretations of why it occurred and the politics that surround it by Dr. Mikuriya. All of of these materials are being made available to the public and any interested party as a means for Dr. Tod to show that this entire production was--and remains--a political action and has nothing to do with patient care and/or harm. (Source: http://www.mikuriya.com/) Another interesting concept is that even the doctors involved in this industry appear to do a “cash only” business. This is from Dr’s Ellis’ site; http://www.potdoc.com/ProfilePage.html Occasionally the office will be closed due to Dr. Ellis' outside schedule. You must call to schedule an appointment to see Dr. R. Stephen Ellis, MD (CA License # G-40749). We are not a referral service for Medical Marijuana doctors in your area. We are a medical clinic with one medical doctor located in San Francisco, California. We can see patients living anywhere in the State of California in our medical clinic located in San Francisco. A Prop. 215 recommendation written from our office is good anywhere in the State of California. We will ultimately require confirmation of your diagnosis from your MD (or DC, DPM, or DDS as appropriate). We work with our patients to develop appropriate case documentation as per the routine standards of medicine – the only acceptable standard of valid legal protection a `Prop 215’ recommendation can provide. 33 Please bring an official picture ID for proof of ID and age. ALL patients (and any caregivers) MUST be at least 18 years of age and no longer attending high school. Exceptions in extreme cases can be made, so please feel free to call and discuss your situation. The Initial New Patient Physical Exam and Evaluation with Dr. Ellis is $250.00 total if you qualify and a recommendation is issued. There is an initial interview with Dr. Ellis to see if you qualify and the cost is included in the $250.00 new patient total fee. All patients that we will be able to assist then continue to undergo a physician performed medical history and physical exam as part of the initial visit. Those patients that we will not be able to help are immediately refunded all but $25 (for pre-screening assessment) of the total $250 new patient fee. The $250 new patient fee includes all follow-up visits needed as well as associated administrative services for the entire initial 6 month period. New Patients are covered for up to six months with their initial letter of recommendation. Once you are an established patient (six months after your initial visit), expired letters can be re-issued if the condition is still valid. You must see Dr. Ellis at a scheduled appointment in person in order to have an expired letter reissued. Unfortunately, recommendations /physician statements can not be issued by telephone or mail at this practice. Any available updates to your medical records from your doctors confirming that your diagnosis is still valid are expected (and MAY be necessary) to complete the renewal process. The office visit and exam fee for established patients is currently $125.00 and any includes and all follow-up visits needed as well as associated administrative services for entire 1 year period. Established patients recommendations can be issued for up to one year duration as indicated. Due to potential patient privacy issues, all fees are due and payable in full in CASH ONLY at the time of your visit. Patients are to bring the entire $250 payment at their initial visit. Multiple banks and ATMs are in the immediate vicinity. The San Francisco Clinic is very conveniently located in downtown San Francisco in the 450 Sutter St. Medical Building (Suite # 1415), between Stockton and Powell Streets, just one block North of Union Square. We are a short walk from Powell Street Station for convenient BART /MUNI (and hence SFO, OAK, & Cal Train) access from all of California. Multiple non-validated parking options on-site and very nearby. Call for simplified directions. Practice Profile page updated on February 27, 2006 This is what one reporter has to say about Dr. Ellis; Doctor's orders: Get high (Excerpts from the Article) A trip into the Medical Marijuana demimonde smokes out America's confusion about drugs, pleasure and morality. By Chris Colin Jan. 31, 2001 | SAN FRANCISCO --To get pot, you can stand on 16th and Mission and wait for someone to approach you, and wonder if he's a cop, and wonder if he's going to rob you, and wonder if his pot pot is laced with strychnine. Or you can have a dull pain in your right ear. 34 In a green box on the back page of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Dr. R. Stephen Ellis advertises Medical Marijuana physician evaluations for just about anyone. The ad contains no explicit offers or promises, just a list of symptoms that presumably qualify one for legal pot: "Anorexia ... chronic pain ... arthritis ... migraine, or ANY other condition for which marijuana provides relief." This is from California Health & Safety Code 11362.5, implemented after California passed Proposition 215, also known as the Medical Marijuana/Compassionate Use Act, in 1996. At the bottom, boldfaced, underlined, in caps, we're reassured: "It's THE LAW!" My ear hurts, I tell the assistant over the phone. He tells me to bring $200 cash. No check or credit card? I ask. Cash, he says. To my left are the ill; three men between 35 and 50 sink into their chairs and stare at things in the floor that I can't see. Their eyes are glassy, and two of their heads are chemo-bald. To my right are three young men, none over 22 surely. surely. They slump too, but with attitude, not sickness. They have baggy jeans and each has acne. The young camp looks at its shoes. The man directly to my left says he has glaucoma. He's grumpy about waiting. The man to his left says he's new to medicinal marijuana and is shaking and giddy. The man to his left sells sports tickets for a living, and is doing so on a cell phone, apparently unfazed by his circumstances. To my right are frauds. "I hurt my back playing football," the big one next to me says. He grins conspiratorially, as if he's never touched a football in his stoner life. Across from us a raver taps his toes. He grins, too, when I make eye contact. The surfer next to him grins too. "I better get this before my man Nate's party Friday," he says to no one in particular. "How long does it take to get the prescription filled?" I ask. "My other friend got some from a San Francisco dispensary two days after his evaluation," he says. I wonder how many scammers it would take to undermine the Medical Marijuana cause. Not that fakers are taking pot from the legitimately ill --there's plenty to go around. Ellis joins me in the bare room, slight, friendly and rushed. He seems breakable. He also has the air of celebrity, probably because he's the only man many people know who can legalize pot, albeit one smoker at a time. He talks fast, like someone who either has been in an E.R. for years or has a line of patients out the door, each with a wad of cash. He takes my money and puts it in his pants pocket. "My ear hurts," I say, and I explain the pain. My honed explication of the problem doesn't seem to interest him. He interrupts after a minute, telling me to take my shirt off so he can use his stethoscope. The checkup is rudimentary, There's a brief, touching moment where he pats my arm, not weirdly, and then he's signing his recommendation. For the next 12 months, I'll be a legal Medical Marijuana smoker. The police, depending on the county, generally don't arrest smokers who have a prescription, except when they do. Courts often drop cases, depending on the judge, or how a jury might respond. Getting a physician's recommendation from Ellis may have been easy, but getting him on the phone for an interview is another story. It isn't until a month after my visit that he agrees to talk. "What were you doing before this?" I ask. "I was at emergency rooms," he says. "Which ones?" "Various emergency rooms in the Bay Area," he says. He won't say how many patients he's seen since opening the office in July --"let's say several hundred," he finally tells me. Nor will he say how many are ultimately granted recommendations. I get the impression most walk away satisfied. "What about fakers?" I want to know. Ellis assures me that fakers don't make it to the examination room. "They realize it's a legitimate medical setting and go home," he says. "They can't get in without supporting documentation." 35 I tell Ellis that I was not asked for supporting documentation. He says he has since changed that policy, though I sense that he did so reluctantly. "We don't [require supporting documentation] in the E.R.," he says. "People come in complaining of a headache, we go over to an open cabinet and they leave with a shot of Demerol in their butt." "And that's unfair?" I ask. "Marijuana is much more benign than conventional narcotics," he says. We talk about his history. Ellis graduated from the University of Illinois medical school at Chicago in 1978, he says. His work as an emergency physician exposed him to "a real need" for better pain management strategies. A few seminars on Medical Marijuana persuaded him to look into alternative treatments. If Ellis was uneasy at the beginning of our conversation, he's in a gallop by the end. I ask why so few California doctors are recommending marijuana for pain four years after the passage of 215. "They're afraid," he says. "They're afraid of the [California] Medical Board, and of their peers, and possibly of potential legal ramifications ... even though they're clearly protected by the law." It's the California Medical Board that gets Ellis fired up. "They've been officially silent [on Medical Marijuana], but behind closed doors they've been harassing physicians," he says. "That's the bottleneck on 215. Patients can't get their docs to prescribe medicinal marijuana, even though the law allows for this. In California, you might find 1 in 1,000 doctors" who would. Ron Joseph, the board's executive director, calls Ellis' charges ridiculous. "It's a nice fallback," Joseph says, "but I defy him to cite one case where the board has harassed a single doctor." As Joseph tells it, it's not the board's policy to have an official position on Medical Marijuana --it would just as soon have a position on X-rays. "We don't say whether it's good or bad, appropriate or inappropriate," he says. "We simply ask, 'Has the physician applied good judgment?'" Because the board's procedure is simply to investigate a "physician's actions as they're brought to our attention [by a patient]," he says, it has no incentive to bother doctors who are prescribing marijuana. So why aren't more doctors prescribing marijuana? Joseph blames the government. "The chilling effect has come from federal [agencies]," he says. "Doctors might be afraid of losing their DEA permit" (which allows them to prescribe controlled substances). As for Ellis' objection to the liberal distribution of Demerol in the E.R., compared with the paucity of marijuana prescriptions in the doctor's office, Joseph says an E.R. deserves its own standards. "It's a much different situation," he says. "There's little time to make the diagnosis [in the E.R.]. This is not the case in an office visit where the patient has the opportunity to explain his medical history." If a patient is able to obtain a physician's recommendation, he or she must next join a buyer's club. The Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Club is a mile from my house, so I swing by on a Saturday. Like Ellis' office, the OCBC is also low-rent, but it makes up for it in atmosphere. If Ellis' operation was film noir, the "Co-op" is Cheech & Chong plus "Beaches." The store mixes earnest compassion for the ill with a healthy appreciation for fat, leafy weed. Inside, past the pipes and bongs and vaguely pornographic poster of a luscious green bud, a woman at a counter sorts membership files. (The club has roughly 4,000 members, executive director Jeffrey Jones tells me later, but it's hard to count. Why? I ask. "We don't know how many are dead," he replies.) The woman at the counter gives me paperwork and takes my physician recommendation, a copy of which I'd already faxed in for approval. I do the paperwork and pose for my photo and pay the fee. My $21.95 entitles me to a list of active dispensaries, support in the event of police trouble, free massages and regular cultivation seminars. Cultivation? I ask. 36 I can grow up to 48 plants, they say --beyond that it's risky. My new member I.D. is my "shield." If a cop stops me for possession, I need only flash the card. If that doesn't work, the officer is to call the 24-hour phone number on the back, and the club will vouch for me. "But this is legal, right?" I ask. "Well," they reply, "yes. But call if there's a problem." I'm out in 10 minutes, but still without pot. This is because an injunction keeps the club from selling it. The unmarked dispensary two blocks away is to pharmacy as Bates Motel is to Ritz-Carlton. Metal gratings cover the windows of the old building, which begs for a paint job or some dynamite work. The next room is un-American. It's how Amsterdam is described among teenagers, a perversely legal assortment of illegal things: pot plants, pot brownies, pot cookies, pot seeds and, of course, pot. Half a mile from the Oakland Police Department, two glass counters full of dope and a promising back room await anyone with an OCBC card and some cash. cash. There is no catch. I experience the brief heartbreak of poorly timed access --this kind of opportunity would've been great back when I liked pot --but mainly I'm glad people who need it can get it. I buy an eighth of an ounce of the good stuff, not the great stuff. It's $45. The guy behind the counter is nice like a nurse. The place isn't a neighborhood drugstore --no matter how medicinal your marijuana, it's still pot, and pot culture is irrepressible --but there's no Pink Floyd or opium-den decadence. Ellis, like many Medical Marijuana advocates, is breathless on the subject. Finally, what will happen to a doctor in a tiny office who flouts federal law on the back page of the San Francisco Bay Guardian? Is he in danger? "I don't know," Jones from the OCBC had said. "Is a bug that flies into the light in danger?" Because he's working with other information, or because he's blinded by the light, Ellis himself isn't scared. "They'd be crazy if they bothered me," he'd told me, before getting off the phone to see another patient. (Source http://drugandhealthinfo.org/page02.php?ID=6) Another Doctor found through Internet research; your Appointment There are four things you should bring with you: 1) Any paperwork regarding your condition, including doctor reports, treatment notes, and paperwork with your diagnosis. The doctor is here to give you a second opinion. Any health history paperwork helps the doctor understand what your primary diagnosis is. Our doctors are here to provide you with a second opinion, therefore you must have seen a physician recently for the condition you use marijuana to treat in order to be evaluated. We are happy to refer you to a low cost medical clinic so that you may receive a check up. Please call and ask our office staff for the number to one of these locations. 2) Any medications or prescriptions (you may bring the bottles with their prescription labels), any supplements or over-the-counter herbs, vitamins, etc. We are interested in knowing what you regularly use to alleviate your condition. 37 3) California Driver's License or California I.D. Card. You must be able to prove California residency. This is a California law. We must see a photo I.D. proving residency here in the state of California. 4) Please bring the appropriate fees to pay for your visit. At this time, our office is not accepting checks or credit cards. If payment is an issue, please speak with our office staff. http://www.howardstreethealthoptions.com This is Dr. Milan Hopkins in Upper Lake; Fees and Requirements Are you concerned about your health and looking for an old-fashioned doctor who will take the time to listen? One who is up-to-the-minute on new medical developments and understands your needs? You'll find a caring non-judgmental doctor accepting Medi-Cal, Medi-Care, Tribal Healthcare & other types of insurance. Also included on site is Leah, a certified massage and bodywork therapist. Please call to get affordable fees (Fees based on a sliding scale). Cannabis Fees and Requirements Due to the legalities surrounding a a medical recommendation for cannabis, patients are required to provide Dr. Hopkins with the following documentation: Primary Physician Information: If you have a primary care physician, we request that you discuss with him/her your desire for a cannabis recommendation. We require the name, telephone number, and mailing address of your physician. If possible please bring any medical records you may have that would support your medical conditions. The California State Medical Board has decreed that the physician issuing a recommendation for medical cannabis must either assume responsibility for all aspects of the patient's care, or must consult with the patient's primary physician prior to issuing the recommendation. Identification: Please bring with you some form of pictured identification. Fee: The initial consultation and recommendation fee for medical cannabis is $175.00 to be paid at the time of service. (We do not except checks or bank card payments) Six Month Check-Up: The doctor requests that his patients return ever 6 months, the fee for this visit is $60.00 to be paid at time of service. It is require by the California State Medical Board that cannabis patients be under the continual care of the prescribing doctor. Annual Renewal: Your recommendation will need to be renewed every year for $125.00 with a 6 month check-up. If you missed your 6 month check-up it will be $175.00. http://www.dochop.com/ 38 10News Exposes 'Marijuana Doctors' (Excerpts from the Article) POSTED: 4:39 pm PDT July 6, 2006, UPDATED: 12:41 pm PDT July 7, 2006 SAN DIEGO --Doctors Offer Legal Pot Proposition 215 --the Medical Marijuana initiative approved by voters ten years ago, has been subverted, abused and misused say law enforcement agencies our I-Team has spoken with. Prop. 215 is supposed to provide seriously ill people access to marijuana to help relieve their pain but a 10News investigation discovered just about anyone can get pot legally if they want. 10 News became interested in Medical Marijuana after seeing a large number of advertisements for doctors prescribing pot. These pot docs’ ads appear every week in the San Diego Reader. Discussions with 10News sources both in and out of law enforcement seemed to confirm a disturbing pattern of increasing sales by the pot docs as well as an increase in the number of distributors for the Medical Marijuana. We used staff members to go into doctor's office and see how difficult it was to get a referral for pot. It was very easy. Too easy in fact, say law enforcement sources. It turned out both federal and local agencies are also looking into the process. The 10News I-Team was able to acquire some government surveillance tapes used to document how different doctors would discuss with patients the benefits of marijuana. One shows an undercover officer and a Dr. Robert Steiner, discussing pot. "I assure you Tylenol is more of a risk to you and a hazard than is cannabis," said Dr. Robert Steiner. Steiner was doing one of his "legitimate and affordable" Medical Marijuana evaluations as advertised in the Reader. "It's open drug dealing with legitimacy," said Deputy District Attorney Dana Greisen. Greisen said doctors are recommending marijuana to just about anyone who can afford a doctor's visit. "It's being recommended for insomnia, depression (and) anxiety," said Greisen. "The law is being abused in a massive scale," said Greisen. The people using the marijuana aren't suffering from cancer, AIDS or other serious illnesses, which Proposition 215 is supposed to address. Dr. Steiner claimed no downsides to using marijuana on the law enforcement video. "We have two convincing studies that cannabis does not cause lung cancer. Cannabis regenerates brain cells," said Steiner. The undercover agent then asked if he could also get pot for his dog. "He's got arthritis. He whines at night because of the pain," said the undercover agent. "Again, it is perfectly acceptable for pups," said Steiner. Dr. Alfonso Jimenez has a Web site --Medical Marijuana of San Diego --where patients can register for his services online. What happened when we sent our testers in? "He was just laid-back and friendly. (He) didn't really seem to worry about if he was giving me this for the right reasons or not," said tester number one. He went to Jimenez for back pain he doesn't have. He got his referral and could have purchased pot legally. "There's a line behind me coming out of the door," said tester number one. DDA Greisen said it's all about the money. "We had a doctor recently (who) testified he gave out about 2,000 recommendations in last year --that's what he testified to in court --at $230 approximately. You do the math --that's $500,000 in cash," said Greisen. Greisen said most office calls are paid for in cash. That's what another 10News employee had to do. He paid $125 to have Steiner recommend marijuana for his "sleeping problems." "They just let me in the office. (They) kind of started giving me all these facts about Medical Marijuana before they even knew what was wrong with me," said tester number two. 39 Tester two would get his marijuana if he went to another doctor first to document his condition. "He (Dr. Sterner) referred me to a doctor who would have me in and out real quickly. I could come right back, (and) he would be able to sign off on the recommendation. Once people get their recommendations, 10News discovered there's no limit or control as to how much marijuana they can buy from storefronts called dispensaries, and unlike a regular prescriptions, a patient can use the recommendations more than once. Dr. Jimenez has several offices and we talked to him by phone at his Hawaii location, he told 10News that he only provides a referral for patients with medical illnesses. Jimenez's operates a Web site MedicalMarijuanaOfSanDiego.com . When 10News visited Dr. Sterner, he explained he had to see patients and closed his office door. But there is another loophole in the system, called the primary care giver form. "Over the last year, we saw a proliferation of these recommendations," said Greisen. He says says just about anyone can get marijuana. And to make matters worse, he says, doctors hand out blank primary caregiver forms. These forms allow patients to list anyone they want to be a caregiver. It allows this person to purchase or grow marijuana for them. 10News Investigations sent in two staffers to check Greisen's