spinal surgeries, degenerative bone loss and accident victims.

California and numerous other states have passed laws allowing cannabis to be recommended by doctors, but the federal government does not recognize any legitimate use for marijuana and denies the right of states to supercede federal law. (See adjacent article).

Dr. Denney says of his patients, “They are your friends and neighbors, they are fixing your tires, working in your banks and they are your police officers. People have used cannabis as medicine for 10,000 years. It has an extremely long history of successful use as a medicine.”

The 58 year old Denney has been practicing medicine for 30 years after graduating from the University of Southern California.

“It's rewarding as a physician to hear patients who have used opiates that cannabis has relieved their pain and turned their lives around,” Denney said. “Cannabis is safer than aspirin and anti-depressants. There has never been a case of an overdose or death from cannabis.”

The use of cannabis for medical applications is currently mired in controversy in California. Proposition 215 legalized its use without specifying amounts, while Senate Bill 420 amended 215, setting limits on how many plants patients could grow and how much processed leaf they could have in their possession. SB 420 also says that patients may go over the limits on a doctor's recommendation.

Whether SB 420 is constitutional is at issue as the California state constitution says a proposition may not be amended without a vote of the people.

For Denney, the answer is that the people have spoken with Proposition 215 and prescribing cannabis is a medical issue in which the police should not interfere.

“Proposition 215 is the controlling law and cannot be changed without a vote of the people,” he said. “Prop 215 says nothing about amounts, only what is based on need. The need is determined by the doctor, not the police. The voters' intention was to leave it up to the doctors, which is how medicine has always been done,” Denney said. “The lawyers, politicians, judges and courts aren't licensed to practice medicine. The police are practicing medicine without a license.”

Denney acknowledges that cannabis is a drug, but seriously questions the federal government's decision to place cannabis at the top of its danger list as a Schedule I, along with heroin and opiates, above cocaine and methamphetamines.

“Absolutely not is it (cannabis) a Schedule I drug,” Denney said. “If they were rational, it would be on Schedule III, where I could phone it in to a pharmacy.”

Noting that other counties allow far more leeway in numbers of plants and processed ounces, Denney says Siskiyou County's guidelines on six plants and eight processed ounces isn't fair, legal or realistic.

“Eighty percent of my patients use an ounce or less of cannabis a week, with most of my patients using one half ounce a week, but some need more,” Denney said. “For the police to say you can only have six plants and eight ounces is wrong. They are making this up. Proposition 215 is very clear. It does not specify an amount. Even under SB 420, the physician can recommend more.”

Another cannabis issue Denney says is a “tragedy,” is taking children away from medical cannabis users.

“Taking children away from medical cannabis patients is an egregious abuse of power,” he said. “There is no evidence to support such an action. They don't take children away for secondary tobacco smoke and we know that is dangerous.