Sunday, August 18, 2013

Medical marijuana comes to Mesa


Nearly three years after Arizona voters narrowly approved the concept, medical marijuana has come to Mesa.

Giving Tree Wellness Center opened in late June at 938 E. Juanita Ave., just the sort of industrial-park setting that the City Council envisioned two years ago when it approved zoning restrictions for such businesses.

It is Giving Tree’s second facility in the Valley; the other is in north Phoenix.

Both are under the medical direction of Dr. Gina Berman, an emergency-room physician who believes traditional Western medicine can go only so far in helping some patients.

“I see a lot of patients ... who have had organs removed or they have chronic pain, they’re on patches and ... they’re on all these different things and they’re not getting any better and they’re going down the rabbit hole of narcotics,” Berman said. “So I thought it would be interesting to try to open people’s eyes to other alternative therapies.”


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