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"Paving the Way: Harborside
Medical Marijuana Center, California"



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Harborside is one of Oakland Californiaís 



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four licensed medical cannabis dispensaries. 



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Here, we provide medical cannabis to California citizens 



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who have a written recommendation from their doctor, 



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authorising them to possess cannabis.  



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We have over 30 000 members in our collective 



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and we see about 6 or 7 hundred patients per day.  



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Harborside Health Centre has the best selection of cannabis in the world.  



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We usually have about 100 different products on our menu every day.  



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That breaks down typically to about 50 different varieties of cannabis bud; 



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about 20 or 25 different types of concentrates or hashish; 



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and equal numbers ñ 20 to 25 different kinds of edible preparations.  



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In 1996, the voters of California 



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passed a measure called proposition 215 



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which legalised the cultivation, possession and sharing of cannabis 



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amongst people who had a written recommendation from their doctor to do so.  



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A cannabis recommendation can be written for any illness 



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as long as the cannabis helps the patient.



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I came to cannabis because a doctor was brave enough to start that conversation 



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and utilise cannabis for the first time as medicine.  



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In late 2001, I was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus.  



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Most people who suffer from complications die in their mid-50s.  



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I was diagnosed in my early-20s.  



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The second diagnosis was fibromyalgia.  



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Between those two, I was on a regiment of 



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6 different steroid dosages a day.  



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I was on pain management pills.  



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I got to the point where I was dealing with transdermal morphine patches.  



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I was on probably 10 different psycho-antidepressants.  



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It was a major cocktail.  



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During that time period, I went through 2 major surgeries for cancer 



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and had several system tumours removed.  



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In 2007, I got cancer for the 3rd time.  



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Going through chemotherapy and doing that, 



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I could not imagine being able to be alive today had it not been for my cannabis.  



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So, I moved out to California early this year to be a part of that movement 



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and have the freedoms of having the medical cannabis patientsí protection here 



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that some states donít allow.  



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I do not take any other pharmaceutical anymore.  



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It is my balance.  



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I am much more effective because of it.   



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I am not constantly dealing internally with pain.  



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Now, am I really fighting my diseases? No.  



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But do I have a better quality of life? Absolutely.  



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Am I more productive? Absolutely.  



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Am I happy to be alive again? Absolutely. 



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Again, I get that because I have a balance of cannabis in my life 



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versus the alternatives . . . the alternatives I did not want to live with.  



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It just was not a world I wanted to live in anymore.  



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And this is one I do.



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We do not really know exactly what specific disease patients have 



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because that is not usually listed on the written recommendation 



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that is presented to us.  



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Usually the recommendation from the doctor simply states that 



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Usually the recommendation from the doctor simply states that 



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with the patient and has found that the patient could benefit from cannabis use.  



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The patient is then invited to become a member of our collective 



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and they sign a collective cultivation agreement.  



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They authorise all of the other patients in the collective 



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to grow cannabis on their behalf.  



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That brings us into compliance with the Attorney Generalís guidelines 



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for cannabis distribution and it creates a 100% closed loop distribution system 



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that completely insulates our patients from any contact the illicit market; 



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because all the medicine that we distribute here 



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only comes from people who have signed that cultivation agreement 



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and agreed to abide by all of our rules and regulations.  



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There are a lot of good reasons that people do not grow their own medicine.  



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California law allows patients to produce a little bit more than they need for themselves



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 and share that with these other patients who are unable to grow for themselves.  



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Usually you have a collective garden of several people 



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and typically they will take cannabis 



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and distribute it among the various different people that work in that garden.  



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When patients have more medicine than they need for their own personal uses, 



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they bring that medicine in to us.  



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We accept a maximum of 3 pounds on any one visit from a patient



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to avoid being connected to large, illegal grow operations.  



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I have a very well-trained staff.  



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They smell the medicine. 



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They look at it under the microscope.  



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They make a basic determination about the quality of that medicine 



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and whether it is up to our standards.  



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We only accept 10 to 20% of the medicine presented to us 



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because most of it does not reach medical standards.  



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We then take a sample out of each batch of medicine that is presented to us, 



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and we send it to an independent third-party laboratory for analysis.  



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We do a two step process:  



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first, the laboratory screens for the presence of any pathogenic molds, 



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because there are some molds that grow in cannabis 



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that can be harmful to patients with compromised immune systems; 



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then, we also quantify the percentage of THC and other cannabinoids 



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in the plant so that patients know the strength of the cannabis



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before they purchase it.  



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Once we know that the test result is good and that the cannabis is not dangerous 



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ñ there is nothing harmful in it ñ 



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we then package the medicine and distribute that to other patients 



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who are unable to grow their own medicine.  



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We purchase our cannabis for around $3 000 to $3 500 dollars a pound.  



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We then put a 40% mark-up on that, 



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so the average sale here that a patient buys is $90 worth of medicine.  



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Harborside Health Center pays a number of different fees and taxes: 



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there is a sales tax of ñ I believe it is 9.75% now 



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that all businesses pay.  



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Most of that goes to the state of California; 



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we pay $50 000 a year as a licensing fee as well; 



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we also pay a 1.8% tax in Oakland that goes directly to the city of Oakland.  



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This is a special tax 



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the dispensaries went to the city of Oakland and suggested they tax us.  



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We asked them to tax us



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Because there is a budget crisis in Oakland 



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and we wanted to do something to help the city.  



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We also pay income tax on any profits that we make 



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to the Federal government and to the state of California.  



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That does not amount to very much at Harborside Health Center 



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because we are a non-profit institution.  



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We do not have much profit at the end of the year.  



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The figure is estimated at about 100 million dollars a year in California, 



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from the medical cannabis industry now in taxes to the state.



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With the Obama administration coming into power, 



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there has been a change in the policy of the drug enforcement administration 



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and the federal agency.  



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Where previously they launched very frequent 



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raids of many, many different dispensaries, 



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they have said that the Federal government will respect state law 



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and will only target dispensaries who are out of compliance with state law.  



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President Obama is to be credited 



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for following through on the promises that he made on the campaign trail 



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and for respecting the wishes of the American voters.  



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I was proud to be an American on the day when I heard that news.



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In a lot of states this is a luxury that dying people do not have 



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and, quite frankly, why not?  



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It needs to change and it starts with the conversation with people like us.  



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If you want to learn more about Harborside Health Center, 



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you can go to our website at harborsidehealthcenter.com.  



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It is quite a mouthful but be patient, enter it all and you will get there. 



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On we go letís keep on paving the way [for] more freedom



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Transcribed by Arielle Reid
Subtitled by Hunter Holliman