RIVERSIDE CLINIC WILL OFFER DOCTORS' NOTES FOR MEDICAL
MARIJUANA

Riverside residents could soon have a much shorter drive to get a
doctor's recommendation for medical marijuana.

Palm Springs resident and marijuana activist Lanny Swerdlow said he
plans to open a clinic in December in an office building at 647 N.
Main St. in northern Riverside.

"It's kind of a good central location for the entire Inland," said
Swerdlow, a registered nurse who heads the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition
Project.

Ingrid Wyatt, a spokeswoman for the Riverside County district
attorney's office, has said in previous interviews that such a clinic
would not be against the law provided no marijuana was dispensed
there. She could not be reached for comment Monday.

"We do not dispense any cannabis at all," Swerdlow said in a
telephone interview. "We're completely legal."

California voters approved decriminalizing the medicinal use of
marijuana in 1996. State law allows people suffering from
AIDS-related complications, cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and
other diseases to use cannabis to relieve pain. They must first get a
doctor's recommendation.

But marijuana use remains a federal crime. This year, federal
authorities have raided or shut down dispensaries in Palm Desert,
Corona, Perris, Riverside and Norco.

Swerdlow said a Rancho Mirage doctor is the only other physician in
Riverside and San Bernardino counties who can provide a
recommendation for medical marijuana. Patients seeking a
recommendation have had to go the Coachella Valley or to Los Angeles
or Orange County.

The Riverside clinic would be run by Swerdlow under the auspices of
The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation, a nonprofit group that operates
medical marijuana clinics in Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington
state.

Swerdlow said several Inland doctors have agreed to work at the
clinic. Patients will have to submit their medical records because no
diagnostic testing will be done at the clinic.

Patients will undergo physical examinations, and their medical
histories will be checked.

For those a doctor believes medical marijuana would benefit,
recommendations will be written.