| On Seeking Physician Approvals
The licensed California physicians searchable on this page are available for consultation as medical cannabis specialists. Patients should have a documented medical record of diagnosis and treatment or a physician referral.
Medical marijuana patients should begin by consulting with their own physicians about medical use of cannabis. If you don't have a medical record of treatment for serious illness, you may not be eligible for marijuana under state law.
To qualify, patients must obtain a physician's "recommendation" or "approval" (NOT prescription) to use marijuana (SAMPLE recommendation form). No official registration is required. Marijuana can be recommended for ANY serious condition for which it provides relief; over 250 uses have been reported.
WARNING: Beware bogus clinics! Some unethical doctors are charging clients extra for so-called "cultivation licenses" supposedly entitling them to grow more than the normal number of plants. There is no such thing as a "cultivation license" under California law. Any patient with a California physician's recommendation may legally cultivate or possess as much marijuana as they need for their own personal medical use, and no more. No physician can authorize them to cultivate more (they can only testify in court that a certain amount of marijuana is consistent with the individual patient's needs, and they do not have professional competence to prescribe plant numbers). Other unethical clinics are using doctors whose licenses are invalid or suspended, or are under the ownership of non-physicians, which is against California law. Our policy is not to list illegal or unethical clinics at this website. Please let us know of any violations.
To be listed on this page, see Listing on CalNORML's Physicians Pages |
