Tension over Eagle Rock marijuana clinics

Cornerstone Collective opened in 2007. It has between 200 and 300 active patients.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Buds of dried marijuana are handled with chopsticks and sold by the gram at Cornerstone Collective.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

At the Cornerstone Collective, director Michael Backes holds a thick bud of marijuana under a magnifying glass for a customer.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

A customer buys six different varieties of marijuana buds. The bill came to $291.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Frank Paul Angelillo IV pauses from construction work on the new Green Goddess medical marijuana dispensary. He defends the Green Goddess’ operator. “I’m really ticked off. It’s like the few trying to tell the many what they want,” Angelillo said. “It’s not a terrible drug. This is a drug manufactured by Mother Nature.”  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Manwell Hernandez, an associate at the Cornerstone Collective, serves customers from behind the stainless steel counter. Tall jars contain various kinds of dried marijuana buds that are sold only to qualified patients with a doctor’s recommendation.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Mark Lupo reads in the waiting room at Cornerstone Collective.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Ruben Rios, 35, examines a jar of marijuana at Cornerstone. He smokes pot to treat an eating disorder.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Ruben Rios smokes pot at home after work. Without it, he said, he would eat a banana in the morning and not be hungry until the next day — and would be 30 pounds underweight. Today, after a year of marijuana use, the 5-foot-11 Rios is a healthy 163 pounds.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)