Medical Marijuana Collective in Retirement Community Courts Controversy

A medical marijuana collective is operating in the middle of one of the largest U.S. retirement communities, in Southern California, reflecting a growing nationwide trend as more elderly citizens use marijuana to deal with aches and pains. The collective’s members use marijuana to relieve chemotherapy-related nausea, arthritic pain and other conditions.

The collective operates within a gated campus that houses 18,000 people, the Associated Press reports. About 150 senior citizens belong to the collective, which is both thriving and controversial, according to the article.

Some members of the community grow marijuana plants and have workshops to demonstrate how to turn the plants’ leaves into tea, milk and a vapor that can be inhaled. All of the members of the Laguna Woods Village collective have a medical marijuana card that is valid under California law. The cards can be obtained for a variety of ailments with a doctor’s recommendation.

Members of the collective say they have encountered opposition from fellow residents. The board that governs the community has prohibited the cultivation of marijuana on the village’s property. However, residents with medical marijuana cards can still grow six plants, the state limit, per person in their private residences.