Retail Market Is $1.5 Billion To $4.5 Billion Per Year
There are now more than 750,000 medical marijuana patients in California, representing two percent of the population according to the most recent data, estimates California NORML. At the high end, an estimate of more than 1,125,000 patients, or three percent of the population, is consistent with the data.
This represents a substantial increase from Cal NORML‘s earlier estimates of 300,000 in 2007, 150,000 in 2005, and 75,000 in 2004, but is in line with registration rates in other comparable states that enjoy similar wide access to medical cannabis clinics and dispensaries.
The exact number of patients in California is uncertain, because patients aren’t required to register in the Golden State. Under Prop 215,
California’s medical marijuana law, patients need only a physician’s recommendation to be legal.
Just a tiny fraction of the California’s medical marijuana population is enlisted in the state’s voluntary ID card program, which issued just 12,659 cards in 2009-2010. Therefore, California’s patient numbers must be estimated from other sources.
Among the most salient sources of data are medical marijuana registries in Colorado and Montana, which report patient rates of 2.5 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively.
Because California’s law is older and has more liberal inclusion criteria than in other states, usage there is likely to be higher, according to Cal NORML.
Dale Gieringer, Cal NORML: “The data show that medical marijuana users are becoming an increasingly important constituency”
Despite this, there is no evidence that liberal access to medical marijuana has spurred overall marijuana use in California. According to U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) data, the total number of cannabis users in the state, including non-medical ones, amounts to 6.7 percent of the population (2.5 million) within the past month, or 11.3 percent (4.1 million) within the past year.
This places California only slightly above the national average in marijuana use (6.0 percent monthly and 10.4 percent yearly), and below several states with tougher marijuana laws.
Use of cannabis by California school youth has declined since Proposition 215 passed, according to data from the Attorney General’s Survey of Student Drug Use in California. The increase in medical marijuana use therefore appears to reflect a tendency for existing users to “go medical,” rather than the enlistment of new users.
The total retail value of medical marijuana consumed in California can be estimated at between $1.5 billion and $4.5 billion per year, assuming a market of 2 percent to 3 percent of the population, with average use of 0.5 to 1 gram per day, and an average cost of $320 per ounce.
“Marijuana’s popularity can be explained by its low toxicity, pleasant effects, and remarkably wide range of therapeutic uses, over 250 of which have been reported,” Cal NORML said in a press release.
By far the leading application is chronic pain, which accounts for the majority of all recommendations. Studies by California’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research have shown that marijuana is particularly effective for neuropathic pain, an otherwise difficult to treat condition that afflicts up to 7 to 8 percent of the population.
Patients who use marijuana for pain commonly report significant reductions in their use of other medications, in particular prescription opiates.
“The data show that medical marijuana users are becoming an increasingly important constituency,” said California NORML Director Dale Gieringer. “It is time for the federal government to stop ignoring the facts and recognize their right to medicine.”
NOTICE: IF ATTENDING THIS BE CAREFUL. SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY RECENTLY PASSED SOME OF THE TOUGHEST ANTI-MARIJUANA LAWS IN THE STATE OF CALIFONRIA.
THE COUNTY HAS PLACED A BANNED ON ALL COLLECTIVES/DISPENSARIES ON MARCH 22, 2011 & IF 4+ INDIVIDUALS ARE TOGETHER MEDICATING YOU CAN BE CONSIDERED A COLLECTIVE.
A judge on Thursday ordered the California Highway Patrol to return two pounds of marijuana seized during an arrest in August 2010.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge John Spaunor ordered the police to return the personal property of Kevin Smith (not the famous movie director) of Sacramento after the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office dismissed DUI and marijuana possession charges against him, reports Tom DuHain of KCRA.
Charges were dismissed in March after experts agreed that Smith did not have sufficient THC in his bloodstream to cause impairment, according to defense attorney Alex Veylupek.
Smith has a rare medical condition that caused him to black out behind the wheel as he was driving on Fair Oaks Boulevard last year, according to Veylupek. Smith also has a doctor’s authorization for up to three pounds of medical marijuana, the attorney said.
In court on Thursday morning, the judge asked members of the D.A.’s staff if they had an opinion about returning the marijuana. Veylupek said he objected to them being asked, rightly pointing out that the D.A. no longer had standing in the case, since charges were dropped.
The ruling is good news for patients who need to transport their medical marijuana, according to Ryan Landers, a member of the Compassionate Coalition, a medical marijuana advocacy group in Sacramento.
“I’m glad the judge followed the law and applied it accordingly and that he took the time to look into the truth,” Landers said.
Lyndsey Harhay, 23, of Laguna Niguel is fighting leukemia and needs a bone-marrow transplant. A fundraising festival Saturday in San Clemente aims to recruit people for the National Bone Marrow Registry.
COURTESY PHOTO
Lyndsey Harhay is battling leukemia, needs a bone-marrow transplant and hopes to be the guest of honor Saturday at a public “Save Lyndsey!” cheek-swabbing festival in the parking lot outside the Rib Trader restaurant and Ralphs at 911 S. El Camino Real, San Clemente.
Whether she can be there will depend on the ups and downs of her health, her family says, but she has had a good week so far and plans to attend.
There will be live music, face painting, a dunk tank, prize drawings and more. Food and beverages will be available, along with a chance to register as a potential marrow donor.
“We are asking the community to come and get a simple cheek swab to see if they are that special, special person who will become a hero in our family and save our beloved Lyndsey,” said Harhay’s cousin Julia Boone. “We really hope this event brings attention to the importance of being registered in the National Bone Marrow Registry and the impact you (or) anyone can have on someone and their loved ones.”
Harhay, 23, of Laguna Niguel, is the daughter of Tom Harhay, a San Clemente businessman and former fire captain in San Clemente.
The event is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, with free snow cones and popcorn. A $2 donation is requested for hot dogs and hamburgers, $1 for soft drinks and bottled water and $5 for beer at a designated beer garden.
“As a result of that investigation, [officers] found thousands upon thousands of marijuana plants inside including growers, lights and fans,” Commanding Officer Matt Blake told the station [KTLA].
The KTLA story says that chemicals consistent with making crystal meth were also found, prompting the road closures in case of explosions. Quite a bold operation from the sound of things; growing a ton of weed and making meth in a warehouse just south of downtown L.A. But prohibition makes these dangerous operations so profitable that any risk is worth it.
In the end, that is all prohibition accomplishes: making products so profitable that people will run any risk – to themselves and to unsuspecting others – to get it to the black market. Just another example of the failure of The War on Drugs.
This is a question that most people think they know the answer too.
If you ask my grandpa he will say, “Potheads are those guys that hang out in front of the grocery store bumming cigarettes of everyone that walks by”
If you ask a middle aged school teacher they might say “Potheads are the delinquent students that hang out by the back of the school and always come late to class”
Pretty much if you ask anyone that only knows about marijuana from what they leaned in health class, ignorant religious people or any government sponsored commercial, there answer will almost always be something negative.
Potheads are a sub culture and the “sub” in sub culture is slowly fading away because our numbers are growing or because our numbers have always been big but just recently allot of people started coming out of the so called “grow closet”.
Ether way we are a culture and like all cultures we have our delinquents and people that make the rest of us look bad and that is the extent of it, nothing more.
Now my goal isn’t to tell you in detail about who we AREN’T, I’m here to tell you who we ARE.
We are your neighbors and friends.
We are your mail men and your bus drivers.
We have Christmas dinner with our family’s.
We give and receive love.
We are Kindergarten teachers and computer technicians
We go to PTA meetings and play chess at the park.
We are black,white,brown and speak every language on earth.
We care about others and can have our feelings hurt.
We like classical,country,punk,,oldies and any other kind of music.
We are the people that helped you change a flat tire on the freeway.
We are your doctors and nurses.
We are college teachers and college students
We are rich.
We are poor.
WE ARE NORMAL.
No matter who you are or were you live, you already know us, care about us and are involved in our lives, you just didn’t know we were potheads because we don’t fit your ignorant stereo type.
Stay blind if you want but your only making the ones you care about keep a needless secret, and if you are reading this shaking your head in disgust, stop for a Minuit and ask your self why is it so bad and then question your source of information.
On April 11, a Senate committee is slated to discuss HB1261, which would set impairment limits for driving under the influence of marijuana. The bill would allow up to 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood. Anything over that and a driver would be considered to be driving under the influence. To read more on this, go here: http://medicalmarijuana411.com/mmj411_v3/?p=8760.
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END OF STOCK SALE!! All 10*gs are now 8*! Both 8*gs are now 5*!! Don't forget about our edible specials & glass specials! Stop by before 10p 1 year ago
