October 12, 2010

California’s Medical Marijuana Maze

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Josh Harkinson tests out California’s Byzantine medical marijuana bureaucracy:

Soon enough, I found Price-Less Evaluations, “the most trusted medical marijuana evaluation center in San Francisco”….The receptionist led me back into a hallway, where I saw a stooped, white-haired man in a rumpled pullover — the doctor. “Come on in,” he mumbled. I stepped into an office and sat down at the edge of his desk. “So, can cannabis help you in some ways?” he asked, pen poised over a recommendation form. “I think so, yeah,” I replied, trying to sound confident.

“So how does it help you?” he asked as the ink dried. “Well,” I offered, “I have periodic pain from typing a lot, and in my lower back, and it could help me with that.” He smiled. “Good. It’s signed right there.” The entire conversation had taken less than 90 seconds.

On my way out, I paid the $70 evaluation fee in cash and forked over another $20 for a wallet-sized “patient identification card” — carte blanche to buy pot from one of California’s 1,000 medical marijuana dispensaries.

Apparently the time it took to google this up was the most arduous part of the whole experience.

UPDATE: Just in case anyone didn’t get it, “Byzantine bureaucracy” was just a little joke.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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