Medical marijuana business opens to steady customers

Tiffany Tuell

(Updated: Thursday, July 09, 2009, 6:20 PM)

For the nearly two months since Holistic Healing Products opened its doors it has had a steady stream of loyal customers. Its prescription bottles hold the "highest quality medication" -- marijuana.

California voters approved Proposition 215 in November 1996, giving patients and their caregivers freedom from criminal liability for using marijuana for medical reasons. It also paved the way for HHP to open in Oakhurst May 17.

HHP is a nonprofit organization created by Drew Workman and Doreen Boucher, cancer survivors who felt compelled to open a medicinal marijuana shop to help other people suffering from medical conditions.

Boucher said they believe in their cause immensely and that many patients have thanked them for providing this medical service.

It isn't without its critics, though.

The United States Department of Justice reports that marijuana use for any reason can have both short- and long-term health consequences. Short-term effects include memory loss, distorted perception, trouble with thinking and problem solving, loss of motor skills, decrease in muscle strength, increased heart rate and anxiety.

The National Institutes of Health reports that someone who smokes five marijuana cigarettes per week may be taking in as many cancer-causing chemicals as someone who smokes a full pack of cigarettes every day. Additionally, the DOJ reports that marijuana contains more than 400 chemicals, including most of the harmful substances found in tobacco smoke. Smoking one marijuana cigarette, it says, deposits about four times more tar into the lungs than a filtered tobacco cigarette.

The DOJ also contends that other medicines are available to treat many of the ailments medical marijuana advocates claim can only be helped with marijuana.

"All people have the right to decide what is best for their health and how to manage their diseases," said Workman. "If you haven't tried it, don't be skeptical."

Workman said most of their patients come from Oakhurst and the northern outlying areas. He said before HHP opened, the closest medical marijuana shop was in Visalia. Los Angeles has nearly 1,000 medical marijuana shops.

Workman and Boucher both said the community has been supportive of their dispensary, which is located across from Judy's Donuts, next to Tattoo and Body Piercing. Bob Shagy Jewelers is in the same complex. The Sierra Star contacted business owners in the complex. None would comment on the record.

Sheriff John Anderson also could not be reached for comment on Holistic Healing Products.

When clients visit HHP, they are required to have a medical marijuana card, a recommendation from their doctor and their medical records.

Clients cannot go past the front counter of HHP unless they have a recommendation for marijuana. If they do have a recommendation and a state-issued medical marijuana card, they can then go past the front counter into the back room where products are sold.

The California Department of Public Health Web site states, "The Medical Marijuana Program, within the CDPH, is administered through a patient's county of residence. Upon obtaining a recommendation from their physician for use of medicinal marijuana, patients and their primary caregivers may apply for and be issued, a Medical Marijuana Identification Card.

The Web-based registry system allows law enforcement and the public authorization to possess, grow, transport and/or use medical marijuana in California."

Dr. Daniel Brubaker, owner of a private medical practice in Fresno, gives recommendations for medical marijuana.

"There is a lot of skepticism and ignorance by medical professionals," he said, "and a lot of fear because of the federal government."

Brubaker said he provides recommendations that allow patients to use marijuana. First, however, he looks at their medical history and gives them a physical examination.

He likes to specifically have records for psychiatric problems. Brubaker said he does not qualify everyone for medical marijuana.

Brubaker said marijuana is an exit drug, not a gateway drug.

"A lot of patients may have done illicit drugs in the past but this is a way to get off those drugs and stay off them. It is also an exit for people to get off narcotics and opioids. It's a way for poor people without health insurance to take care of their pain and suffering. They can deal with it better because they can grow their own plants," said Brubaker.

"There is a state law allowing physicians to delegate a number of plants according to use. Many patients eat it (the plants) instead of smoking it because eating it doesn't have much effect on the nervous system."

However, Workman said the top three ways to take medical marijuana are joints, water pipes and vaporizers.

Clients are also able to get medicinal marijuana in baked goods such as brownies and cookies and also in lollypop form.

Brubaker said marijuana is excellent for chronic pain, insomnia, glaucoma, bipolar disorder, depression, cancer, Tourette's syndrome and anorexia nervosa.