Medical Pot Will Reach Loma Linda Despite Ban, Supporters Say

Regardless of bans or moratoriums, proponents of the medical marijuana industry say the much maligned weed will still filter into Loma Linda, Redlands, Colton and the rest of the county.

And it should for the sake of hundreds, if not thousands, of ill patients who rely on the cannabis for relief, supporters said.

On March 22, the pro-medicinal marijuana group suffered another setback, as San Bernardino County became the latest jurisdiction to ban marijuana dispensaries. No permits for the cooperatives will be issued in unincorporated areas.

The vote came after two hours of testimony from those opposed and in favor of the ban.

“Most of the testimony that came before the board was about patients’ rights,” said David Wert, county spokesman. “Unfortunately that was not the issue before the county. What was going before the county was land use.”

The board decided allowing dispensaries was not an appropriate use of land, Wert said.

RUNNING OUT OF ROOM

The decision puts the squeeze on medicinal marijuana cooperatives such as G3 Holistics Inc. The dispensary is located on Washington Street in a tiny and non-descript shopping center no more than five minutes from Loma Linda’s city limits.

Loma Linda has a moratorium on dispensaries, said Konrad Bolowich, director of information systems with the city. G3 does have several clients in Loma Linda said Keith Sandusky who helps to run the facility with brother Aaron Sandusky, president of the cooperative.

The need is in every town. The brothers say the vote is disappointing on several fronts.

First of all, the bans invite lawsuits because it undermines the will of the voters who legalized medical marijuana, Aaron Sandusky said. Second, they hurt some of the most vulnerable members of society, the sick and terminally ill, he said.

“It’s very difficult to sit in front of these city council meetings and express to them what is happening to these people,” Aaron Sandusky said. “Isn’t making one person suffer one too many? And doing it over something that they just haven’t even reached out to try and understand.”

“I absolutely understand their concerns,” he said. “I have the same concerns. How do we keep it out of the hands of the people who don’t really need it? How do we keep it away from those who want it for recreational use? We have to consider this, as operators, because those are the challenges that we face that could cause us to close down. But we can’t work on that unless we are able to operate and work together and come up with a reasonable plan to address those concerns.”

Sandusky’s cooperative is embroiled in a legal battle with Colton and Upland, where they also have a location. They have been hit with injunctions and threatened with forced closure. While the cooperative battles in court, at least one cancer patient who Sandusky said relied on a pot-laced pudding for relief has died.

NOT A HARMLESS DRUG

But Dr. Ricardo J. Whyte, MD, Medical Director Loma Linda University Behavioral Medicine, said the issue is not that black and white.

“I have patients who are coming in who get this card for very frivolous reasons,” he said. “They say, 'Well I feel anxious,' or 'I have the occasional headache,' or 'I suffer from depression.' It almost appears to me that you can say you have just about any diagnosis and you’ll get the card. It seems to me more appropriate to use traditional therapeutic intervention that have been shown by studies to actually help the condition.”

Marijuana is not a completely harmless drug, he said. It drastically reduces the interest in life and stress is not perceived at the same level of intensity, he said. Some take the drug for anxiety, but the drug has been known to cause paranoia and anxiety, inducing the very condition they are trying to alleviate, he said.

“One of the major concerns that we have with marijuana today is the fact that we see it inducing psychotic states,” Whyte said. “By psychotic states I mean states by which a person feels very paranoid. They can feel very anxious and they can have trouble distinguishing between what is real and is not real. ”

There are more appropriate, proven safe drugs people can use, he said. The fact that most people choose to smoke marijuana concerns him as well, he said. Those not terminally ill need to know that it will take a toll on the lungs, he said.

A CITY DECIDES

As the debate continues, counties and municipalities sort through the issue. In three or four months, Loma Linda will have to decide if the moratorium should be renewed, Bolowich said.

“The city doesn’t allow smoking tobacco,” Bolowich said. Welcoming a dispensary is unlikely at this point, he said “The council is opposed to all smoking. It doesn’t matter what they smoke. ”