However, most patients say they prefer a regular pipe or water pipe to better measure the amount that they use. No one will say how the center gets the drug for distribution or how the center is supported. I only know that we have the promise that if we need medicine it will be here for us. To become members, as the center calls its regular patients, visitors must show photo identification. Patients say in some cases their doctors know about their marijuana use, but the letters are simply a statement of diagnosis and are not a sign of the doctors' support of the treatment.
New members waive confidentiality so the clinic can verify their diagnoses.
The treatment area is homey. Old chairs and comfortable futon couches are available for resting, and a couple of kitchen tables are stacked with fruit baskets and assorted large bags of potato chips, pretzels and candy suckers. Juice and purified water are free. Out of consideration for people with asthma, no cigarette smoking or incense burning is allowed in the center. During two visits on separate days, there was hardly a hint of smoke in the room.