Under the authority of California Proposition 215, a statewide initiative which passed with a 56% majority in November, 1996, and under the guidelines set out in California's SB 420, which went into effect on January 1, 2004, registered "medical marijuana" patients may possess up to eight ounces of marijuana for their personal use in treating the effects of various serious illnesses.

Click on the link to learn in detail about the Marin County medical marijuana program.

Santa Cruz County recently decided to increase to three pounds the maximum allowable amount of marijuana that can normally be possessed by a medical marijuana patient. Larger amounts are also legal under California and Santa Cruz County law under certain circumstances.

You can listen to an interview with Santa Cruz County Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt about this decision by her county by clicking here.

You can learn how the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration feels about the marijuana laws in California by clicking here.

In other pharmaceutical news, President Bush, during the final Presidential debate with Senator Kerry, on October 13, 2004, got most of the facts regarding the current flu vaccine shortage wrong, while also hypocritically saying "We're working with Canada to - hopefully they'll produce a - help us realize the vaccine necessary to make sure our citizens have got flu vaccinations during this upcoming season."

The "Canada" referred to by the President, upon which he says he intends to rely for the provision of flu shots necessary to protect the health of the American people, is the same "Canada" from which his administration has worked assiduously to prevent the "re-importation" of other drugs that, due to the Canadian system of health care and drug pricing, cost considerably less there than their exact duplicates do when purchased within the United States, because of pricing policies maintained by the major pharmaceutical companies, with the help of the Bush Administration.

You can read more about the President's errors of fact and his shameless insincerity by clicking here.

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