LAist relies on your reader support, not paywalls.
Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today.
BBC Buys Marijuana in LA: 'This place is like Amsterdam'
BBC News Correspondent David Willis wanted to see how hard or easy it was to get a medical marijuana prescription in California. He went to a clinic in the San Fernando Valley of the city and the only medical condition he could think of was how he gets anxious.
Soon, the doctor appeared - a softly-spoken Vietnamese man who introduced himself as Dr Do. He wore a white lab coat and scrubs and led me into a spartan room where he proceeded to take my pulse and blood pressure before asking precisely how long I had been anxious.
"Several years," I told him.
"Do you suffer panic attacks?" "Not really."
Dr Do wrote panic attacks in his notebook. We spent a few minutes shooting the breeze about Asian cuisine and he signed a prescription for medicinal marijuana, valid for a year.
And that was it. Done and dusted in less than 10 minutes.
Photo of a Studio City Dispensary by lavocado via Flickr