The Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, or OCBC, is a California organization whose mission is to "provide seriously ill patients with a safe and reliable source of medical cannabis information and patient support." In order to become a member, a person must provide a note from a treating physician assenting to cannabis therapy for a medical condition listed on the Medicinal Cannabis User Initial Questionnaire. Those conditions range from severe disabilities such as multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...

 and cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....

 to relatively minor conditions such as menstrual cramps.

To protect the OCBC from federal interference, Oakland, California

Oakland, California

Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

 established growing and possession guidelines and declared the OCBC an agent of the city. On May 14, 2001, however, the United States Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Coop that federal anti-drug laws do not permit an exception for medical marijuana

Medical cannabis

Medical cannabis refers to the use of parts of the herb cannabis as a physician-recommended form of medicine or herbal therapy, or to synthetic forms of specific cannabinoids such as THC as a physician-recommended form of medicine...

. Since 2009 the Obama Administration's position has been not to prosecute users of or dispensary's for medical marijuana.