How much is too much?
In California, the SB 420 guidelines are what define legal amounts for medical cannabis. They allow the following: 6 mature plants/12 immature plants + 8 ounces
Recommendations and Legal Cultivation
Cities and counties can’t lower the limit but can raise it. Sometimes, doctors may recommend more depending on a specific patient’s needs. That patient can be exempted from the limits. Be careful, though – some doctors will recommend more just to enable a patient to cultivate more.
These are called “cultivation licenses.” When certain doctors only recommend more so a patient can cultivate amounts far beyond what they require for their personal, medical needs, it is unethical. Some doctors even charge more to recommend them! Under California law, this license does not exist. In truth, no doctor has the knowledge required to recommend a specific number of plants. They can only recommend a certain amount of cannabis that is needed by their medical cannabis patient.
Some unethical clinics whose doctors attempt to give out “cultivation licenses” have other suspicious activity. These clinics may have owners who aren’t doctors (which is against California law). Other such clinics use doctors who have invalid or suspended licenses. Our advice to patients is to steer clear of any doctor who attempts to recommend more than a reasonable amount of medical cannabis. Here at PrestoDoctor, we follow California laws and give our patients access to ethical doctors. We recommend our patients follow California law, too – we don’t want anyone getting in legal trouble if we can help it!
Federal law does not protect legal patients
That said, the Gonzalez v. Raich ruling clarified that patients are not exempt from federal law. This means that, even if state law allows it, they can get in trouble. If patients possess or cultivate their own cannabis, they do run the risk of having federal charges filed if the government decides to prosecute. We ask our patients to please use their best judgment, and if they grow their own in California, to do so under the safety net of the SB 420 limits.
Please check the policies in your own state for up-to-date information concerning cannabis laws. State laws can change, and PrestoDoctor supplies this information merely as a general comparison of various states’ policies.
