Spring 2006
O'Shaughnessy's
Journal of the California Cannabis Research Medical
Group
|
Cloning Made Simple
By Andrew Glazier
A horticulturist with a special interest in cacti, Glazier teaches
a class on how to grow cannabis at an East Bay dispensary.
I always tell beginners looking for info, “It’s not a drug,
it’s a plant,” and “We don’t grow the plant,
the plant grows itself.”
The plant comes first, then the flowers. It’s good to remember
this as you learn to garden. I was lucky enough to grow up in a house
with a mother who
actively gardened. When I opened a bag of herb one day and I saw seeds I knew
what to do.
For many years, I would sprout seeds and wait for the inevitable male plants
to crash the party. I would kill them and even after the males were gone, the
remaining “females” would often throw off a few male parts. The Crying
Game indeed. After hermaphrodites were removed, the remaining plants were pure
females.
By the late ’80s, I was taking early flowering females and I would suspend
their branches in a fish tank, which had chicken wire on top. The warm oxygenated
water would provide a nice home for the individual branches to sprout roots.
What were once branches of the same plant were now by definition, individual
plants.
Some I would move out in the yard to continue growing and others would be placed
under lights for 18 hours of light per day and would become “mother” plants
which would then bear more branches and the cycle would repeat itself. Theft
from neighbors was never a problem as I was sure to give them a few clones so
they would be too busy guarding their own crop to think about stealing mine.
Today in California, medical patients can buy pure female clones. By learning
how to make more clones, we lessen our dependence on others
for our medicine. Never before have we had so much of the work done
for us. When I talk to older growers, they are amazed how far we have
come.
First we purchase a clone from our dispensary. We place it in a two-gallon
pot. We buy organic soil from the local garden store. Tell the people
you want the best soil for tomatoes. If you think about how expensive
medical cannabis is, at $20/gram, a $12 bag of soil is a good investment.
The better the soil, the better the results. This is not something
to be skimpy about.
The plant is placed under a grow light, which is left on 18 hours a day. A
timer is used to accurately control the settings. After a few weeks we are
ready to take some clones.
A six-inch branch tip is cut from the plant and placed in water with rooting
hormones added. I prefer Dip ‘n Grow brand because you can add it to
water and do a lot or a few clones.
After soaking for a few minutes, the clone is re-cut using a single sided razor
blade. It is then quickly added to rock wool, which is a sterile medium for
rooting plants. Floral foam will work just as well.
The clone is placed in a tray with a plastic lid and placed on a heat mat with
a thermostat set at 85 degrees. The lid is raised once or twice a day for fresh
air. It is quickly replaced to keep humidity high. A cardboard box and cellophane
will work well, also.
After seven to ten days, the clone will grow roots. It is now ready to be repotted.
Clones without roots can be left and will root in a few days. By learning how
to grow, we can reproduce —exactly— plants that exert the medicinal
effect we seek.
The author can be contacted at
http://growlove.blogspot.com
Urziceanu Ruling Protects Sales, Distribution
By Pebbles Trippet
Voters passed Prop 215 in 1996, establishing the explicit right to
grow or obtain medical cannabis with a doctor’s authorization —but
not to sell or distribute it. SB 420 expanded the protections to
include sales and distribution by means of “collective cooperative
cultivation projects.” This is the gist of a unanimous ruling
in September 2005 by the 3rd District California Court of Appeals
in People v. Urziceanu (132-CalApp4th747).
Michael Urziceanu (Ur-zi-see-on-oo), a qualified patient (and former
corrections officer), was the founder of FloraCare, a dispensary in
Citrus Heights, near Sacramento. He and partner Susan Rodger enlisted
several hundred medical-cannabis users in what they defined as a cooperative.
Urziceanu and staff grew cannabis and occasionally bought pounds from
other growers to meet members’ demand. Members reimbursed FloraCare
by making “suggested donations.”
FloraCare was first raided Sept. 18, 2001. It reopened and was raided again.
A jury trial in Sacramento Superior court in Fall 2003 resulted in acquittal
for Urziceanu on marijuana cultivation and sales charges but a conviction for
conspiracy to sell. He received a three-year sentence.
The Appeals Court reversed and remanded for a new trial on improper jury instructions
on conspiracy and mistake of law, as well as search and seizure procedures. The
ruling stated (page 49):
“This new law (SB420) represents a dramatic change in the prohibitions
on the use, distribution and cultivation of marijuana for persons who are qualified
patients or primary caregivers. Its specific itemization of the marijuana sales
law indicates it contemplates the formation and operation of medicinal marijuana
cooperatives that would receive reimbursement for marijuana and their services
provided in conjunction with the provision of that marijuana.
“
Contrary to the People’s argument, this law (SB420) did abrogate the limits
expressed in (previous) cases... which took a restrictive view of the activities
allowed by the Compassionate Use Act.”
The Urziceanu court negated its own “restrictive views of the activities
allowed” under Prop 215. It clarified the meaning of “primary caregiver” for
qualified patients.And it laid out a detailed legal alternative to the club model
of medical access, based on “collective cooperative cultivation projects” (as
per SB420) rather than profit.
SB420 provides no definition of “collective,” or “cooperative,” but
legal cooperatives have financial disclosure requirements that collectives do
not.
The court lists seven statutory exemptions, not just the two stated in Prop 215
(possession and cultivation) and a series of principles and protections for primary
caregivers who form voluntary associations using a state ID in compliance with
SB420.
The Medical Marijuana Program Act (SB 420) contains section 11362.775, which
states, “Qualified patients... and the designated primary caregivers of
qualified patients... who associate within California in order to collectively
or cooperatively cultivate marijuana for medical purposes, shall not solely on
that basis be subject to state criminal sanctions under sections 11357, 511358,
11359, 11360, 13366, 11366.5, or 11570...
“This section extends the protections of the Compassionate Use Act tothe
additional crimes related to marijuana: possession for sale (11359), transportation
or furnishing marijuana (11360), maintaining a location for unlawfully selling,
giving away or using controlled substances (11366), managing a location for the
storage or distribution of any controlled substance for sale (11366.5) and the
provisions declaring a building used for reselling, storing, manufacturing and
distributing a controlled substance to be a nuisance (11570).”
Senate Bill 420, as unanimously interpreted by the Urziceanu judges, went beyond
the right of Prop 215 patients to a defense at trial —a minimalist approach.
It applies to the medical access process as a whole and acknowledges that that
SB420 allows for expenses, provision of medicine and related services, including
salaries:
“
This section thus allows a primary caregiver to receive compensation for actual
expenses and reasonable compensation for services rendered to an eligible qualified
patient, i.e., conduct that would constitute sale under other circumstances...
“
The Medical Marijuana Program Act (420) expressly expands the scope of the Compassionate
Use Act (215) beyond the qualified defense to cultivation and possession of marijuana...
“
This section extends the protections of the Compassionate Use Act to additional
crimes related to marijuana: possession for sale, transportation, furnishing,
maintaining a location for selling... managing a location for distribution.”
There is no limit on the total number of patients who can authorize a primary
caregiver to cultivate for them and provide their medicine, as long as there
are sufficient physician recommendations to cover the quantity and as long as
the medicine-providing processes are collectively or cooperatively organized.
Since it is generally estimated that 90-95 % of cannabis patients are unable
to grow for themselves, primary caregivers are the key to true medical access
in the future.
The California courts are leading the way, building bridges to safe, affordable
medicine, delivering what the voters intended —that marijuana for medical
purposes not be a crime but rather a health matter between doctor and patient
and a statutory “right” under state law.
The California Supreme Court ruled in Mower (2002) that people who use marijuana
for medical purpose are “no more criminal than” (exactly equal to)
people who use prescription medicines. The Urziceanu Appeals Court (2005) applied
the Mower principle and medicalized the entire production and distribution process —from
cultivating, trimming and transporting to selling, distributing and managing
a warehouse for storage and distribution.
If properly used and if not overturned, the Urziceanu ruling fulfills the rights
of cannabis patients and caregivers to due process and medical access. A rational
future is now visible, with protections for cannabis patients that were largely
unthinkable 10 years ago and are now the law of the state.
A new group, Healing Alternatives Association (HAA), consisting of cannabis patients
and caregivers organized collectively or cooperatively, has formed. If you would
like to get more information, including the by-laws, contact HAA, po box 2555,
Mendocino CA 95460, or call the Medical Marijuana Patients Union at 707-964-YESS.
The Urziceanu ruling protects primary caregivers
as follows:
1) Two or more people (patients and/or caregivers)
2) Can engage in “collective cooperative cultivation” of
marijuana for medical purposes and not for profit.
3) State law allows “reimbursement” for expenses and services
related to provision of medicine (including reasonable salaries).
4) If the primary caregiver is providing for more than one patient
(there is no limit to the number of patients a caregiver may provide
for), the number of doctor approvals has to be sufficient to authorize
the quantity being grown or otherwise provided.
5) The collective or cooperative or their representative registers
the garden with the California Medical Marijuana Program Act, which
issues ID cards through county health departments, thus extending SB420
protections to that patient or primary caregiver.
Advantanges of Orally Ingested Cannabis
By Mollie Fry, MD
As I have monitored my patients’ cannabis use over the last seven
years, it has become apparent that there are two fundamentally different
groups. The first group is in the minority, representing approximately
15%. Patients in this group require immediate and short-term relief
from the drug. They are medicating to treat primarily psychiatric issues:
depression, panic, anxiety, and anger.
The second, much larger group of patients, are primarily interested
in longterm relief of serious physiological problems. These patients
suffer from conditions such as chronic pain, glaucoma, and diabetes,
as well as autoimmune disorders — lupus, rheumatoid arthritis,
multiple sclerosis, and chronic fatigue syndrome. For these patients,
the oral route of administration —in which cannabis passes through
the digestive tract and is broken down by the liver— is of great
benefit.
One of THC’s metabolites (compounds to which it is transformed
in the liver), 11-hydroxy, is now known to be four times more potent
than THC itself, and has an effective half-life of approximately eight
hours. The longer duration of effect makes oral cannabis preferable
for those who are using it to treat sleep disorders.
Just as patients using smoked cannabis learn to inhale as needed to
achieve and maintain their desired effect, patients who use oral cannabis
can employ an analogous titration process. I advise figuring out what
amount of a given edible preparation — say, an olive-oil extract— will
bring on the desired effect without over-sedation. This is termed the “loading
dose.” By determining how long it takes for the effect to come
on and begin to wear off, patients can schedule a subsquent “maintenance
dose” to keep on an even keel.
The sedation that may be perceived as a negative side effect during
waking hours is precisely the effect that chronic pain patients and
others require for a good night’s sleep.
Given the appropriate strain and dosage, cannabanoids can exert their
effects for close to eight hours —adequate sleep for most patients— eliminating
the need for a maintenance dose in the middle of the night.
In summary: both higher levels of cannabinoids in the blood and longer-lasting,
more effective doses may be achieved by using oral marijuana in chronically
ill patients.
Prohibitionist policies have limited research by preventing growers
from developing strains in which cannabinoids other than THC predominate.
CBD (cannabidiol) is said to have more sedative properties.