Photos: Laguna Woods Medical Cannabis collective

On the porch of his Laguna Woods home, Robert Evans, 52, who has cancer, smokes a medical marijuana cigarette. When he uses pot, he vomits less frequently.   (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

A small suitcase holds eight jars, each filled with a different strain of medical marijuana, at Laguna Woods Medical Cannabis.   (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

After smoking medical marijuana from a water pipe, Kimberly Brassell, 51, reclines on the patio of her Laguna Woods home. Her ovarian cancer has spread all over her lower body. “I’m not prepared to die. I’ll fight with all my might. I’ll do anything except pharmaceuticals.”   (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

At Laguna Woods Medical Cannabis, a customer checks out bottles of pot oil. Two to five drops under the tongue are prescribed to relieve certain ills.   (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Robert Evans rolls a medical marijuana cigarette on his kitchen table. He doesn’t think pot can save him from cancer. But it’s improved his quality of life.   (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

“This is how I’m going out,” cancer patient Robert Evans says as he headed to the porch of his Laguna Wood home with a marijuana cigarette in his hand.   (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Pat McClintock, 85, of Laguna Woods takes drops of marijuana oil to help relieve chronic back pain. She had tried acupuncture, chiropractic treatments and cortisone shots, but nothing worked. When someone suggested she try pot, she decided to “give it a whirl.”  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Peggiann “Benji” Johnson sits in her Laguna Woods living room smoking medical marijuana to help deal with the side effects of chemotherapy.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Lonnie Painter holds a photo of himself amid 8-foot-tall marijuana plants in a Humboldt County greenhouse. He’s an advocate of tighter medical marijuana regulations.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)