There are only three ways a medical marijuana patient can legally obtain their medicine. They can grow it themselves, they can get their primary caregiver to grow it for them or they can join a collective or coop. Most people do not grow their own tomatoes, bottle their own beer or make their own clothing and most patients do not grow their own medicinal marijuana.

California has over 500,000 medical marijuana patients and the majority probably still get their marijuana the old fashion way – they buy it from criminals. As collectives spread into more areas, patients are turning from illegal sources of marijuana to collectives and coops legally sanctioned by the laws of California.

The Inland Empire Patients Health and Wellness is a not-for-profit medical marijuana collective located in Riverside at 647 Main St., Unit 2A. The collective provides its 6,000 doctor certified members with medicinal marijuana from a building in an Industrial/Warehouse zone not far from the San Bernardino County border. Not even remotely close to any school, park etc. there has been no neighborhood outrage over the operation of the collective or an increase in crime since the collective began operation in December 2009.

The collective is a model medical marijuana collective paying sales taxes, following all labor laws, maintaining insurance and contracting with an independent accounting service. The collective strives to follow the Attorney General Guidelines governing the operation of medical marijuana collectives which state that a medical marijuana collective ““should only provide a means for facilitating or coordinating transactions between members.”