LGBT Weekly reviews the impact of the City’s new ordinances
Nineteen years after California voters approved Prop. 215, which made medical marijuana legal in the state, San Diego’s first permitted medical marijuana dispensary opened March 18, 2015.
While both the City and County fought against medical marijuana dispensaries for years, they finally came to an agreement and A Green Alternative became the first of several legal pot shops to open over the next few months in San Diego. Marijuana dispensaries have also been approved for locations in Point Loma and Clairemont.
There are strict and specific rules for these City-approved shops, including they must be non-profit and they must be located more than 1,000 feet from schools, churches and playgrounds, and more than 100 feet from a residential zone.
“The development of these ordinances was critical to ensure safe access for patients who depend on this medicine and to better address community character and public safety concerns of neighbors. The City Council must closely monitor the impacts of the ordinances now that they are implemented, and we can modify them should conditions necessitate,” said San Diego Councilmember Todd Gloria.
Many supporters of medical marijuana hope that these new stores will help to make the acquisition of the drug easier and safer. It will also help to close any illegal pot shops in the city.
While many cities in California offer medical marijuana dispensaries, San Diego is the first city in the county to do so. A legal pot shop in unincorporated San Diego County opened last summer near El Cajon after receiving approval from the County.
Legalizing marijuana has become a growing trend across America in the past few years. Not only have 23 states voted to allow the sale of medical marijuana but four states – Washington, Colorado, Alaska and Oregon – now allow the sale of recreational pot too.
Dr. Tom Horvath, founder of Practical Recovery and president of SMART Recovery, believes that the controversy surrounding medical marijuana and marijuana legislation will continue to be a hot topic in the near future.
“Public opinion on this issue appears headed in the direction of increased access to marijuana,” Horvath said. “Fortunately, relative to many prescription medications and to most drugs of abuse, marijuana is a relatively benign substance.”
Despite marijuana’s generally harmless side effects, Horvath is concerned that it will be over-prescribed.
“Many who could respond to anxiety in other ways will use marijuana rather than exert other more strenuous efforts to change,” Horvath said. “However, many of these individuals are already using marijuana.”
“The harms being done by marijuana are probably already being done, but access will allow new gains for individuals who can benefit from marijuana but are deterred by current laws from obtaining it,” Horvath continued.
The current non-profit restriction concerns Horvath the most about all the regulations in San Diego.
“I suspect we will have for-profit groups masquerading as non-profits,” Horvath said. “I would prefer allowing both kinds of organizations with their differing advantages and disadvantages to compete in the marketplace.”
Timely Holistic Care, a mobile medical marijuana dispensary, recently opened March 13. Despite being in business for such a short time, they’ve already seen their number of clients rapidly rise, particularly in Hillcrest, North Park and other communities with large LGBT populations.
As a patient collective, Timely Holistic Care doesn’t sell its medication but is donation-based instead and works with patients to meet their budgets.
“As a true collective, we strive to never refuse a patient medication for lack of funds,” said Elizabeth Wilhelm, vice president and co-owner of Timely Holistic Care.
Wilhelm credits supporters, like artist Cathy Lee, activist and creator of YouTube’s The Healthy Cannabist Sally Hall and many other LGBT people, for being such strong voices and spreading the word about medical marijuana. They’re also willing to return the support.
“We loudly and proudly support the LGBT community as allies,” Wilhelm said. “We will always advocate for what is best for our patients and our community.”
Since they are a delivery service and not a brick and mortar location, Timely Holistic Care is not under the same laws as storefronts.
“We operate in strict compliance with all laws so as long as we keep abreast of any new legislation directly related to delivery services, we will be fine,” Wilhelm said.
Wilhelm is hopeful that this is the beginning of a “realistic, somewhat reasonable legislation” that will help to serve more patients.
In addition to running the business, Wilhelm is also a medical marijuana patient. She uses it to manage her Bi Polar II as well as depression and anxiety.
“Cannabis has allowed me to reduce the number of pharmaceuticals I once took from 17 to 4,” Wilhelm said. “I am hopeful that I will eventually be pharma-free.”
Corina Young, who underwent two back surgeries in 2011, experienced a similar desire to manage her pain without prescription medication.
After an assortment of prescription painkillers failed to ease her discomfort and even sent her to the emergency room with gastrointestinal bleeding, Young battled severe depression and contemplated suicide. Then she was introduced to medical marijuana.
“I learned as a child from Nancy Reagan’s, ‘Just Say No’ campaign that drugs in any form are very bad,” said Young. “With extensive education and an open mind I was able to utilize the benefits of medical marijuana to save my life. There is a zero death rate for medical marijuana users reported by the CDC, ever. Unfortunately tens of thousands die from pharmaceutical/street related drug use every year and it’s on the rise.”
Young feels that there is much more that the City could do to make medical marijuana more easily accessible to those who need it. She criticized the “unrealistic guidelines” and “ridiculously expensive” costs that make it difficult for medical marijuana stores to get a license.
“I can truly say that medical marijuana saved my life,” Young said. “I am no longer embarrassed to share the fact that I use medical marijuana. I am the proof of its healing properties. I can only hope it can come out of the shadows, past and present prejudice, and offer relief to those like me who truly need it.”
Other medical marijuana patients feel the same way.
Deborah Cadigan-Little started using medical marijuana over 20 years ago to help treat anxiety and depression but has found that it eases the pain of many other ailments. Not only is she a cancer survivor but she has also had HIV for 21 years. The medical marijuana brings her relief without the negative side effects of traditional pharmaceutical drugs.
Despite the opening of legal marijuana dispensaries in San Diego, Cadigan-Little still has difficulty obtaining the drug.
“From what I’m seeing at this point, the people who need it the most are going to have the hardest time accessing it,” Cadigan-Little said.
Living in Ramona, Cadigan-Little has nowhere to legally buy marijuana in the area so she grows her own. In 2011, her property was raided and she spent the next two years fighting the charges in the court system until she was finally acquitted. She would like to see medical marijuana be made readily available to anyone who needs it in the future.
With new medical marijuana shops scheduled to open this year throughout San Diego, Cadigan-Little and other medical marijuana users may get their wish soon.
For more information on medical marijuana, including the latest news and laws, visit
