Results tagged “medicine”

As Los Angeles prepares to dive into their own pot law, Long Beach is already taking it head on. Last night they voted to make some changes to a proposed medical marijuana ordinance, loosening some restrictions, before finalizing the law. "The changes included, among others, allowing collectives in mixed-use areas; removing prohibitions against having collectives within 1,000 feet of libraries and parks; improving patient privacy issues so as to not identify every member of a collective; giving a grace period for existing collectives to comply once the law goes into effect; and allowing collective patients to grow marijuana in their homes," reports the Press Telegram.

As Los Angeles fumbles around with the latest proposed medical marijuana ordinance, the Long Beach City Council is set to examine its own tomorrow. If passed, the law would limit where dispensaries may be located, hours of operation, how it can be distributed and records of every member, according to the Long Beach Press Telegram.

When Orange County's independent TV station KDOC dumped Cannabis Planet, it wasn't too hard for executive producer Brad Lane to find a willing provider. As of August 13th, the half-hour show has been airing twice weekly on another local indie station, KJLA, which reaches around five million SoCal households, according to the New York Times in a profile of the show.

It's safe to say that weed shops are more common than Pinkberry and Starbucks. Thanks to the LA Times, we know that there's about five "collectives" within a five-minute walk of us (how about you?). And look, the people in the Valley can't complain that their not getting their fair share. In fact, one neighborhood prosecutor told the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council earlier this summer that the LAPD's Van Nuys Division had the most dispensaries than any other in the city. Here are some other interesting facts, via the Times:

A motion from back when Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was a City Councilmember became reality today when he announced LA Rx, a discount prescription drug program for not just city residents, but L.A. County ones, too.

A collective of enforcement agencies including the FBI, DEA, local police departments and the IRS raided at least two dispensaries on the Westside for unknown reasons this afternoon. Warrants were also served on the private homes of the owners. Organica Collective on Washington Blvd. in Culver City was raided followed by the Overland Gardens Collective in West Los Angeles were raided around 11 a.m. and authorities were still searching for unknown things hours later. A dog believed to be a pit bull was shot at one of the locations.

It's about time, no? After weeks of rejecting bogus medical marijuana dispensaries, three LA City Councilmembers brought forth a motion to explore a tax on legal medical marijuana sales in the city. “In this current economic crisis, we need to get creative about how we raise funds. A tax on medical marijuana could enable the city to continue providing services we might otherwise have to cut,” said Councilwoman Janice Hahn. Retired LAPD officer and West Valley Councilman Dennis Zine said "Part of becoming a legitimate business in the City of Los Angeles means supporting local government by paying a fair share of municipal taxes.” Councilman Bill Rosendahl also brought forth the measure. A motion for a resolution in support of H.R. 2835, the Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, which allows for state law to prevail with regard to medical marijuana use, was also introduced.

A motion to fill a loophole in Los Angeles' moratorium on new medical marijuana dispensaries was approved by a City Council committee today. In 2007 when the ban was set, routine ordinance language provided dispensaries a chance to apply for "hardship exemptions," demonstrating why they should not be included in the ban, even if they had not fulfilled basic requirements like showing proof of insurance, a business tax license and other documents. Around 500 applications have been submitted, according to the city's Council File Management System (search "marijuana") and none of have acted upon, but dispensaries continue to open around the city. The moratorium will expire in September. A copy of today's motion, which should move to the full City Council soon, is below:

A group has sued the federal government for disseminating inaccurate information about medical marijuana. The LA Times points out that although the Obama administration has stated "that science should be guiding government judgments in controversial matters of medicine and technology, not the prevailing political mood," a federal lawyer told the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday that marijuana "has no currently accepted medical use." By law, the government is not allowed to publish false information.

Having and raising a child can be a joyous thing, but it can also cost a small fortune. And in this unstable economy, many families are opting to do a bit more planning when it comes to prospective parenthood. "In Southern California, Planned Parenthood says that compared with last year’s first quarter, requests for vasectomies were up more than 30 percent in the first three months of this year at its clinics in San Diego and Riverside Counties, where 64 of the procedures were done," today's New York Times reports.

"While I fully support [marijuana's] use for medicinal purposes, why don't we regulate it like we do Lipitor or Viagra," Bratton said today at a media event unrelated to urging city council to expedite the new dispensary laws. "You can't buy those two without getting it through a legitimate pharmacy. If this drug is so important and so helpful, why is it not regulated like every other drug?" In September 2007, the city placed a year-long moratorium on new dispensaries while the city drafted new regulations on them. Twice, the city has extended the moratorium, which is still in effect. Clearly frustrated at the state law passed thirteen years ago by voters, Bratton exclaimed, "they pass a law, then they have no regulations as to how to enforce the darn thing and, as a result, we have hundreds of these locations selling drugs to every Tom, Dick and Harry."

LA City Beat has a great article today about post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), which can be 81 percent effective against the HIV virus after exposure. Problem is, while it's widely available for healthcare workers who accidently are exposed to blood and gay rape victims, it's pretty hard to find otherwise. PEP is actually a 30-day mix of pills that doctors fear would do much more harm to the spread of the virus than stopping it because those with PEP prescriptions might be encouraged to have less safe sex. “There’s a stigma when it comes to gay men,” Anthony Gutierrez of the LA Gay & Lesbian Center said. The Los Angeles Free Clinic didn't want to comment on the drug and another clinic only spoke to the weekly if they could remain anonymous.

After giving birth to octuplets last week at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center, Angelenos, and people all over the country, wanted to know more about the babies' parents. 33-year-old Nadya Suleman tried to keep her identity a secret, but when it was revealed that the woman had six other children already, controversy began to swirl around the remarkable event.

Airborne has agreed to pay $7 million, change their marketing and will change their formula after an agreement with 33 states who charged the "cold buster" for making false claims.

In the largest ever multi-state consumer protection-based pharmaceutical settlement, California will receive $5.6 million--the largest share of the $62 Million, 32 state settlement--from medicine maker Eli Lilly and Company, the makers of antipsychotic drug Zyprexa. “Eli Lilly put profits ahead of patients when it marketed Zyprexa for a use that had not been properly tested or approved, in many cases, putting young women at risk for weight gain, hypoglycemia and even diabetes,” Attorney General Brown said a statement released today. Eli Lilly was accused of engaging "in unfair and deceptive practices when it marketed Zyprexa for off-label uses and [failing] to adequately disclose the drug’s potential side effects to healthcare providers."

Just like a certain marijuana ATM that was introduced to the world via Los Angeles last month, USC began their medicinal vending machine program this week in the dorms. No, it won't have any smokable green, but it will carry over-the-counter drugs and condoms. While most students quoted in a Daily Trojan article about the new service are excited about the program, they found someone unhappy with one aspect of it.

I was a bit skeptical at first, I knew nothing about chiropractics. But I kept having this pain in my neck that no amount of massage or yoga could take away. I was at a loss and then I met Dr. Robin Hawkey who explained, for the first time in my life, what exactly chiropractics was without any strings attached at a dinner party we both attended. So I decided to try it. My...