[420 Girl]

Los Angeles medical marijuana patients have lots to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season, at least for now. Gratitude first is owed to the California voters, for passing in l996 Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, which legalized possession and use of marijuana for seriously ill Californians with a doctor's recommendation even though marijuana possession and cultivation is illegal under federal law. Blessings multiplied with the 2004 passage of Senate Bill 420, that codified the laws allowing patients to cooperatively cultivate marijuana as medicine on a non-profit basis. Within the City of Los Angeles, 186 marijuana dispensaries had registered with the city and were in operation by 2007.

That fact leads to the next reason for patients be grateful: medical marijuana dispensaries are now as ubiquitous in the city as the CVS pharmacy chain, making is just as convenenient for Angelenos to pick up medical marijuana in their neighborhoods as it is for them to pick up their condoms, shampoo and birth control pills at the pharmacy down the street. City officials estimate there are at least 800 dispensaries operating in the City. For this convenience, patients can partially thank Superior Court Judge James Chalfant, who ruled last October in a case involving the dispensary Westside Green Oasis, that the city's moratorium against additional dispensaries opening pending adoption of a permanent ordinance was illegal. This ruling allowed at least 500 dispensaries that had opened under a "hardship exemption" loophole in the moratorium to remain open pending resolution of their cases.

Don't forget the plethora of doctors that make it easy to obtain the recommendation necessary by law to cultivate, possess and ingest the marijuana. Often advertising their services in local alternate newspapers, for just $100 to $200 many doctors that have never treated a particular person will nonetheless issue their written recommendation that their "patient" would benefit from medicinal marijuana. Yet more for the bud beneficiaries to give thanks for.

Next, patients can be thankful that there are so many ways for them to consume their medication. There is smoking, of course, but for those who don't want the harmful ingredients that come in the smoke along with the helpful ones, there is vaporizing. And for those who do not want to vaporize, there are edibles- everything from cookies to fudge to lollipops. For those who do not want the inconsistency of dosage often found with edibles, there are tinctures.

All that gratitude may be short lived, as access to medical marijuana is about to be severely curtailed.

The Los Angeles City Council is on the verge of enacting an ordinance that could limit the number of dispensaries in the city to as few as 70. District Attorney Steve Cooley, has promised to prosecute dispensaries that accept cash for the drug, regardless of the type of ordinance that is ultimately passed,and the dispensary operators have promised to file yet another lawsuit against the city.

So, yes, California medical marijuana patients -- be grateful today, for tomorrow could be another story all together.

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