Rose was arrested in October and accused of illegal drug trafficking — charges he denies. According to court papers, an investigation turned up records showing $2.3 million was deposited in a New Remedies bank account over eight months starting in December 2005, and Rose wrote himself weekly checks of $9,600.

California was the first of 12 states to allow the sale of marijuana for medicinal purposes, mainly used for pain control and is legal only in a limited number of territories, including Canada, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, Israel, Finland, and some U.S. states which include Michigan and California (regarded as having the loosest regulations). This usage generally requires a prescription, and distribution is usually done within a framework defined by local laws.

The DEA has taken a particularly strong stance on enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act on persons and organizations acting within State Laws that allow Medical Marijuana cultivation and distribution, making an especially strong effort to silence many of the most vocal opponents of the DEA’s war on patients. In 2002 Federal Drug Agents raided the (WAMM) Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana a medical marijuana clinic in Santa Cruz, CA. WAMM is a model collective growing medical cannabis with the full cooperation, permission, and knowledge of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff and Board of Supervisors.

“The people of California and the County of Santa Cruz have overwhelmingly supported the provision of medical marijuana for people who have serious illnesses,” county Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt told the San Francisco Gate. “These people (blocking the road) are people with AIDS and cancer and other grave illnesses. To attack these people, who work collectively and have never taken money for their work, is outrageous.

Despite the fact that the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana has never bought or sold marijuana, the DEA still raided the collective of terminally ill patients.

As a result, the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana, with the City and County of Santa Cruz, has sued the DEA, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, and the ONDCP. The most recent court decision rejected the government’s motion to dismiss, which allows discovery to move forward. The ACLU hailed the decision as “a first-of-its-kind ruling.”

More recently, the DEA has escalated its enforcement efforts on the recently-proliferated Los Angeles area medical marijuana clinics. Since Fall of 2006, the DEA has raided more than 21 locations in 32 different actions against legal medical marijuana clinics in the LA area. Hundreds of landlords were also threatened with arrest and Federal Asset Forfeiture for knowingly leasing properties to medical marijuana clinic operators and owners. Many of these actions (both raids and landlord threats) have focused on medical marijuana clinics associated with the area’s most vocal advocates for Safe Access to medical marijuana.

On July 25, 2007, the DEA raided two medical marijuana clinics, namely: California Patients Group and Hollywood Compassionate Collective in Hollywood, CA. Earlier that day, the operators of those collectives participated in a press conference with LA City Councilmembers announcing the City’s intention to regulate the medical marijuana clinics and asking the DEA to halt raids on the medical marijuana clinics while the city drafted regulations. Directly after the Los Angeles City Council called for an end to raids, the DEA retaliated by raiding California Patients Group and Hollywood Compassionate Collective among a total of 10 Hollywood medical marijuana clinics that day.

Cannabis is known to have been used in Taiwan for fiber starting about 10,000 years ago. The Chinese has been using cannabis also for medicinal purposes for approximately 4,000 years. And in the early 3rd century AD, Hua Tuo was the first known person in China to use cannabis as an anesthetic. He reduced the plant to powder and mixed it with wine for administration. Cannabis was prescribed to treat vomiting, plus infectious and parasitic hemorrhaging.

The medical marijuana clinics of the ancient Egyptians even used hemp (cannabis) in suppositories for relieving the pain of hemorrhoids.

The Egyptologist Lise Manniche notes the reference to “plant medical marijuana” in several Egyptian texts, one of which dates back to the eighteenth century B.C.

Surviving texts from ancient India confirm that cannabis’ psychoactive properties were recognized, and medical marijuana clinic of the ancient Indian doctors used it for a variety of illnesses and ailments. These included insomnia, headaches, a whole host of gastrointestinal disorders, and pain: cannabis was frequently used to relieve the pain of childbirth.

The Ancient Greeks used cannabis not only for human medicine, but also for veterinary medicine. The Greeks used cannabis to dress wounds and sores on their horses. In humans, dried leaves of cannabis were used to treat nose bleeds, and cannabis seeds were used to expel tapeworms. The most frequently described use of cannabis in humans was to steep green seeds of cannabis in either water or wine, later taking the seeds out and using the warm extract to treat inflammation and pain resulting from obstruction of the ear. In the 5th century BC Herotodus, a Greek historian, described how the Scythians of the Middle East used cannabis in steam baths.

In the medieval Islamic world, Arabic physicians made use of the diuretic, antiemetic, antiepileptic, anti-inflammatory, pain killing and antipyretic properties of Cannabis sativa, and used it extensively as medication from the 8th to 18th centuries.

Research into the benefits of medical marijuana by modern scientists began in the 1800’s and William Brooke O’Shaughnessy of the Medical College in Calcutta is credited with the first research and introduction of the healing properties of marijuana to the Western medical community. For the remainder of the 19th Century, the plant was widely used in Western countries as a medicine for pain relief, muscle spasms, and stomach cramps. During this time it was effective in relieving many symptoms of chronic illness. Even though research continued to show the medicinal benefits of using the plant, new laws were beginning to be enacted in many countries that focused on the use of illegal drugs. Marijuana became one of the drugs encompassed by these new rules and regulations and as a result the ability to use it for medical purposes was taken away by governments that wanted to curb the use of illegal drugs by its citizens.

By eliminating the right to use marijuana legally, it became a black market product. Even though it was a key to the relief of many debilitating symptoms of chronic and terminal illnesses, these laws made it illegal to use, grow, or store the plant even for personal use. Even possession of the plant was illegal. This then spurred the activity of private parties and soon hippies of the 60’s and 70’s were smoking pot wherever the police could not see them, In lieu of the privacy of a supervised medical marijuana clinic. Such was the result of the criminalization of marijuana.

Stories like that of Sparky Rose are but of one among many that the DEA is closely watching among other medical marijuana clinic owners.

Medical marijuana clinics that operate for-profit likely violate California law, according to guidelines that may encourage local police to join a federal crackdown against the enterprises.

State Attorney General Jerry Brown said that formal cooperatives (medical marijuana clinics) registered under the state’s Food and Agricultural Code or organized as less formal “collectives” (medical marijuana clinics) are legal under the law.

But he said anyone running a for-profit storefront (medical marijuana clinics) not operating as either a registered cooperative or collective (medical marijuana clinics) may be arrested and prosecuted by local authorities.

About 300 so-called “storefront” dispensaries (medical marijuana clinics) exist in various business guises, but there is little agreement on how many of those operate for-profit.

If medical marijuana clinics are prosecuted, they must prove they are true nonprofits to operate under the state law, said Bruce Margolin, a West Hollywood criminal defense attorney who specializes in medical marijuana cases and who is the director of Los Angeles NORML.

Brown also suggested that all patients receiving doctors’ recommendations to use marijuana obtain identity cards that each county is required to issue.

The nonbinding guidelines aimed to clarify California’s medical marijuana law, which has caused varied and confused responses from local law enforcement but has led to an aggressive federal crackdown on the medical marijuana clinics.

Federal law makes marijuana illegal in all circumstances, and the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled the state law doesn’t shield anyone from federal prosecution.

Northern California’s chief federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello, said federal officials are targeting commercial traffickers rather than caregivers. He also said he believes 90 percent of the medical marijuana clinics run afoul of Brown’s guidelines.

Brown advised that each legitimate medical marijuana clinics can grow six mature or 12 immature plants per qualified patient, each of whom need a doctor’s recommendation to smoke marijuana to ease health ills. Each medical marijuana clinics can also have a half-pound of dried marijuana for each qualified patient.

According to the State law of California, the medical marijuana clinics should operate for non profit. Owners can get a “reasonable compensation”. The marijuana should be either grown by the dispensary or donated by patients who can grow it themselves or through a “primary caregiver” who can grow the plants in behalf of the patient in either the patient’s residence or through the “Primary Caregiver’s” residence under strict conditions. Dispensaries are not allowed to procure marijuana through any markets nor are they allowed to sell their excess produce to other dispensaries. These safety measures were set up in order to discourage the trafficking of marijuana to non patients.

“The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind,” White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.

Medical use of marijuana is legal under the law in California and a dozen other states, but the federal government under President Bush, bolstered by a 2005 Supreme Court ruling, argued that federal interests trumped state law.

Dogged by marijuana advocates throughout the campaign, President Obama repeatedly said he was opposed to using the federal government to raid medical marijuana clinics, particularly because it was an infringement on states’ decisions.

“I’m not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue,” Mr. Obama told the Mail Tribune newspaper in Oregon in March of 2008, during the Democratic primary campaign.

He told the newspaper the “basic concept of using medical marijuana for the same purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors, I think that’s entirely appropriate.”

Special Agent Sarah Pullen of the DEA’s Los Angeles office said agents raided four medical marijuana clinics on the 1st week of February 2009. Two were in Venice and one each was in Marina Del Rey and Playa Del Ray — all in the Los Angeles area.

A man who answered the phone at Marina Caregivers in Marina Del Rey said his shop was the target of a raid but declined to elaborate, saying the medical marijuana clinic was just trying to get back to operating.

Agent Pullen said the four raids seized $10,000 in cash and 224 kilograms of marijuana and marijuana-laced food, such as cookies. No one was arrested, she said, but the raid is part of an ongoing investigation seeking to trace the marijuana back to its suppliers or source. She said agents have conducted 30 or 40 similar raids on various medical marijuana clinics in the past several years, many of which resulted in prosecutions.

California allows patients whose doctors prescribe marijuana to use the drug. The state has set up a registry to allow patients to obtain cards allowing them to possess, grow, transport and use marijuana.

Kris Hermes of Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group in California, called the raids an attempt to undermine state law and said they were apparently conducted without the knowledge of Los Angeles city or police officials. He said the DEA has raided five medical marijuana clinics in the state since President Obama was inaugurated and that the first took place on Jan. 22 in South Lake Tahoe.

One year later in July, Canada became the first country in the world to legalize the use of marijuana by people suffering from terminal illnesses and chronic conditions. Canada also became the first country to adopt a system regulating the medicinal use of marijuana. At the same time, Health Canada approved the Cannabis Medical Access Project, launching the country’s first legal marijuana growing facility. A deep abandoned mine shaft beneath a northern Manitoba lake, larger than three football fields, is chosen as for the high-security operation. But the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations, which went into effect July 31, 2002. The Supreme Court of Canada said in a decision on Dec. 23, 2003, that Canada’s laws against possessing small amounts of marijuana do not violate the Charter of Right and Freedoms and its protection of life, liberty and security of person.

After a year of passing the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations Act, medical marijuana clinics can procure their medicinal marijuana form the government. This was a direct contrast with what’s happening in the U.S. medical marijuana clinics. Dispensaries in the U.S. are constantly being raided by DEA and the efforts for the private medical marijuana clinics operators to generate a supply turned to the black market.

However, new problems arise. Since there are multiple variations of the compound generated by the cannabis derivatives that applies to different types of ailments, the government contracted planting facility could not provide more than 3 derivatives of marijuana. Medical marijuana clinics were forced to import variations in manufactured form from other sources. This increased the cost of the treatment and against the principle of the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations in providing cheaper and affordable option against expensive medication and pain killers.

In an unprecedented move to address to the issue brought forth by the patients, Canadian legislator Libby Davies has taken the initiative to demand a review for the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations Act in order to support the needs for medical marijuana patients. On June 19, 2008, MP Libby Davies wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister of Canada regarding Canada’s Medical Marijuana Program That Needs Reform. This move is the total opposite of the U.S. Federal Government where the state is even the lead party in going after and closing down medical marijuana clinics.

The Canadian Medical Association estimates that 1.5 million Canadians smoke marijuana recreationally. In November 2004, the Canadian Addiction Survey reported that 14 per cent of Canadians said they had used cannabis in the past year, about double the number from 1994.

But what is the importance of these medical marijuana clinics for the ordinary people with needs to alleviate pain? How does one justify the compassion against the possibility of abuse of a controlled substance? How can medical marijuana clinics help persons with chronic pain?

According to Harvey W. Feldman, PhD and R. Jerry Mandel, PhD as stated in their article titled “Providing Medical Marijuana: The Importance of Cannabis Clubs,” published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs Apr.-June 1998:

“The concept of a cannabis club is the invention of Dennis Peron, a San Francisco marijuana dealer since 1973 who became converted to the cause of medical use of cannabis when his gay lover, a young man with AIDS, found relief from symptoms with regular marijuana use.

Peron’s concept was to provide not only a cafeteria of cannabis products - including marijuana of varying potencies, cannabis pastries, and smoking paraphernalia - but to create a lifespace where persons with life-threatening or seriously debilitating diseases could gather, relax, and consume their medications in an accepting, friendly, and colorful surrounding.

Some critics referred to Dennis’ place as a ‘circus,’ but considering that it was both staffed and utilized by sick and dying people, more sensitive observers might conclude that he had created a therapeutic atmosphere that encouraged relaxation, friendly interaction, laughter and healing. It was lively without being unnecessarily noisy, and had attractive furniture arranged to facilitate small group conversation and discussion.

With this as a model, other clubs modified one feature or another - e.g., the Oakland club’s rental agreement did not permit smoking on the premises, and Flower Therapy gave more emphasis to research and structured intervention - but the essential concept of having a place where members could select from a range of cannabis products and gather to socialize was Peron’s original creation.

As a new social institution, the cannabis club provides a setting that is a combination of a community center and settlement house (better known in eastern and midwest cities), a hospice, a friendly cafe, and - given the illegal nature of it prior to Proposition 215 - a kind of speakeasy which had the approval and public support of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, Mayors Frank Jordan and Willie Brown, its Department of Public Health, its District Attorney’s Office, and the administration of the San Francisco Police Department.”

In summary, Proposition 215 was meant to make medical marijuana clinics a place where persons with debilitating disease can get relief from physical pain and social acceptance that is the true essence of compassion for our fellow man.

“Federal drug laws prohibit the cultivation and sale of marijuana. Anyone who breaks these laws to run a lucrative drug trade, buy fancy cars, boost their bank accounts, and exploit vulnerable citizens is not compassionate, they’re criminal,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Javier F. Peña when interviewed by CBS 5. “Make no mistake – these defendants were in the business of dealing drugs, and DEA is in the business of arresting drug dealers.”

DEA has even employed the strategy of threatening land owners of prosecution and asset forfeiture. Even the U.S. Attorney has joined the DEA is this kind of tactic curbing the number of openings of new and shutting down existing medical marijuana clinic operators since the US Attorney General has the authority to press charges or file for forfeiture. Landlords and property owners was in an untenable position as most would not even dare challenge the combined actions of US Attorney’s office and the DEA in fear of being prosecuted and losing their property. This has resulted in partial success as several medical marijuana clinic operators have now held back in opening new clinics or even going back into opening again.

As Federal raids on medical marijuana distributors continued at least into the second week of Barack Obama’s presidency, when federal agents shut down at least two dispensaries in California on Feb. 3.

Dispensary (Medical Marijuana Clinic) owners however has found a relief from the constant raids conducted by DEA with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the nation’s largest organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. ASA’s unique technique in employing strategies that have never been tried in the field of medical cannabis enjoys unprecedented access to elected officials and a special credibility with stakeholders due to its exclusive focus on medical cannabis. ASA is working to change federal policy to meet the immediate needs of patients as well as create long-term strategies for safe access and programs that encourage research.

The success of the concerted effort of ASA has finally paid off with the swearing in of the new President of the U.S., Barack Obama. The U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s confirmation of President Obama’s campaign promise to end the Drug Enforcement Administrations’ raids on state-approved marijuana dispensaries has been accepted as a victory of the dispensary (Medical Marijuana Clinic) owners.

Holder was asked about those raids in Santa Ana, Calif., at a news conference that was called to announce the arrests of 755 people in a nationwide crackdown on the U.S. operations of Mexican drug cartels. He said such operations would no longer be conducted.

It’s just another day at a dispensary (medical marijuana clinic), as they call them, in San Francisco. There, with a note from a doctor, you can buy marijuana for anything you claim ails you, in just about any form, including cookies, pies and chocolate milk.

In many dispensaries (medical marijuana clinic) up and down the state, there’s a tasting corner, where you can sample the wares, and where you’ll find any number of satisfied customers. There are hundreds of such stores (medical marijuana clinic) in the state, and as many as 400 in southern California alone. The people who run them are members of the state’s latest entrepreneurial class, calling themselves “caregivers.” The feds call them something else. Case in point is a young man of many faces named Luke Scarmazzo. He has been described as a businessman, a hip hop artist, and, by the government, as a drug dealer. Many businesses calling themselves dispensaries (medical marijuana clinic) or cannabis clubs advertise in alternative papers, as do doctors around the state who will give you a quick once-over and, for a price, a permit to buy.

There are a growing number of local laws limiting the number of dispensary (medical marijuana clinic) in a given area and the hours they operate. But American ingenuity will always find a way.

Kevin Reed was forced to shut down his San Francisco medical marijuana clinic because of complaints from neighbors. So he simply went into the delivery business. Reed is up every morning, turning out a new batch of cookies laced with pot, part of a delivery menu that includes marijuana strains for every taste. His couriers fan out across the city, delivering their wares.

In theory, all the medical marijuana sold in California is grown by the patients themselves. But ” Most of these cannabis centers (medical marijuana clinics) are buying their marijuana off the black market. They’re dumping millions of dollars into the criminal black market.” says Scott Imler, a minister in the United Methodist Church who has long been active in promoting medical marijuana.

“What happened when we were writing it was, as you can imagine, every patient group in the state and they all have their lobbies. You know, the kidney patients and the heart patient. Every patient group wanted to be included in the list,” Imler recalls. “And so we didn’t wanna get in the position of deciding what it could be used for and what it couldn’t be used for. We weren’t doctors. We weren’t scientists. We weren’t researchers. We were just patients with a problem.”

Imler says they were forced to make the proposition vague.

So the law voters passed mentioned not only cancer and AIDS but “…any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.” A decade later, if you’ve got a note from a doctor, you can buy medical pot for just about any imaginable condition.

“There’s bound to be abuse in the system. You know, our pharmacies are abused by people who want to abuse prescription drugs. And so it’s reasonable to assume that our medical cannabis facilities are abused as well. What we really need right now are regulations that address those issues,” Duncan says. Don Duncan is something of an elder statesman in the world of medical marijuana, running three California dispensaries (medical marijuana clinics), including one in Hollywood. He concedes that compliant doctors are a problem.

“We just wanna serve our patients and be discreet. Obviously federal law is still a challenge for us. Because until federal law changes, we’re at risk from the DEA raiding our facility, confiscating our medicine, even arresting people,” Duncan says.

Duncan acknowledges they, the Feds, know where he is and that they could on a whim bust him.

They could, and they did. Not long after this interview, the DEA raided one of Duncan’s dispensaries (medical marijuana clinics), arresting no one but confiscating the marijuana. Don Duncan got there in time to watch with pro-pot protesters outside.

The Supreme Court has upheld the DEA’s right to go after dispensaries, no matter what state law might say. With this clear ruling, Federal officials have stepped up the crack down on medical marijuana clinics in California in recent years. There are currently more than 100 people facing federal charges in medical marijuana cases and the DEA conducted more than 50 raids in 2007 on various medical marijuana clinics.

However, as the new US Attorney for Northern California hinted when he met with reporters on Jan. 31 to introduce himself and discuss his priorities, there may be fewer raids on medical marijuana clinics Joseph Russoniello is against the use of cannabis for medical purposes, doubts it can help sick or dying patients, and opposed Prop 215, but he said the government resources may be better spent elsewhere. “We could spend a lifetime closing dispensaries and doing other kinds of things and enforcement actions, bringing cases and prosecuting people, shoveling against the tide, it would be terribly unproductive and probably not an efficient use of precious federal resources.”

The new US Attorney for Northern California Joseph Russoniello might be referring to an already ballooning budget deficit of the State of California. In Fact, a state legislator is even proposing to legalize marijuana as a way of raising money for cash-strapped state and local governments. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, introduced a bill Monday (POSTED at http://www.kcra.com/politics/18778420/detail.html 1:48 pm PST February 23, 2009) that if approved by the California Legislature would put marijuana on the same legal footing as alcohol. Adults over the age of 21 would be allowed to buy it, and driving under the influence of marijuana would be prohibited. Under Ammiano’s proposal, which has been endorsed by some law enforcement officials, Marijuana would be taxed at a rate of $50 per ounce and bring an estimated $1 billion into state coffers.

And the DEA might be forced to do the same “easing” against medical marijuana clinics. As the Federal Government reallocates resources to fund the unprecedented massive bailout of various failing financial institutions and trying to keep the economy from totally bottoming out, there might not be that much funds around for the DEA to continuing its aggressive stand against medical marijuana clinics. With the credit crisis already forcing a lot of Americans out of their jobs and homes, Federal Government spending is now the under the scrutiny of the Senate.

As the Washington Post reported on March 6, 2009 edition “The Senate stalled action on a $410 billion spending bill that would fund much of the federal government for the current fiscal year amid resistance over the legislation’s huge price tag and more than 8,500 pet projects.” With the failure of the Senate to approve the spending bill, a temporary extension of federal government funding would be necessary. Otherwise, the government would be forced to cease operating at midnight Friday.

The DEA maintains 21 domestic field divisions with 227 field offices and 86 foreign offices in 62 countries. With a budget exceeding $2.415 billion dollars, DEA employs over 10,800 people, including over 5,500 Special Agents. Who knows? Maybe the DEA might just reassess to use their federal budget to just go after hard drugs like cocaine than just medical marijuana clinics owners.

In the State of California, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, introduced a bill Monday (POSTED at http://www.kcra.com/politics/18778420/detail.html 1:48 pm PST February 23, 2009) that if approved by the California Legislature would put marijuana on the same legal footing as alcohol. Adults over the age of 21 would be allowed to buy it, and driving under the influence of marijuana would be prohibited. Under Ammiano’s proposal, which has been endorsed by some law enforcement officials, medical marijuana clinics dispensing marijuana would be taxed at a rate of $50 per ounce and bring an estimated $1 billion into state coffers.

The taxes also earned from the landowners and various support industries that provide services for the operations of the medical marijuana clinics can replace some of the jobs lost currently due to the credit crisis. Another are the plans of certain counties to charge as much as $175 annually per patient who wished to register for medical marijuana use can bring in an additional $26 million in permits fees. These are just some of the taxes the State Government of California stand to gain should the proposal of Assemblyman Tom Ammiano get passed.

Though it may not be revenue generating, the announcement of US Attorney for Northern California Joseph Russoniello and reinforced by U.S. Federal Attorney General Eric Holder lo ease off on the raids on the medical marijuana clinics and recognizing that allocating the funds instead to going after “Hard Drugs” still can save the State coffers in budget spending.

So what’s holding this bill back? The answer is ignorance. The opposition of certain groups contends that should the state allow the bill to pass, it is like legalizing drug trafficking.

The point of argument stems from the fact that since there will be new taxes that will be charged, patients need to find a way to cover up for these taxes by generating new income sources. This becomes totally against what the original proponent of Proposition 215 has presented to the public for voting which as termed “Compassionate Act of California”. The act no longer shows compassion but just another business proposition.

Another major criticism of cannabis use as medicine is the opposition to smoking as a method of consumption. Similar to tobacco, marijuana smoke contains toxins harmful to the respiratory system. Research has shown that regular marijuana smokers have increased rates of respiratory infections.

Therefore public health care cost for lung cancer or lung diseases would only defeat the income generated from these new taxes. Medical marijuana clinic owners however countered this by showing that there are other ways of safely smoking marijuana, this is through the use of a “Vaporizer”. The use of a vaporizer for cannabis administration delivers the active ingredients and their benefits very rapidly, without the health costs associated with smoking.

Marijuana vaporizers work by heating the cannabis to a temperature where active ingredients evaporate into a thin mist. Specifically, the cannabis heats to a temperature of 356 - 392 degrees Fahrenheit, below the point of combustion where smoke is produced. Without combustion, the amount of carcinogens, or toxins, decreases. Medical marijuana clinic operators, depending on the design of the vaporizer, uses the vapor as it is then captured in a glass and inhaled via a tube.

Both sides have presented their pros and con’s to the issue at hand but in the end, with the budget of the State of California spiraling out of control, the question remains, “Does it matter where the money will come from?”