Medical Marijuana

• FEDERAL: Medical Marijuana Provider Turns Himself In
• ASA ACTION: Defending Democracy
• DISPENSARIES: Long Beach, Visalia, Claremont, Arcata, Santa Ana
• ASA IN THE NEWS: Speaking Up For Patients
• FEDERAL: FBI Raids Patient Garden in California
• FEDERAL: Locals Ask Court to Bar Feds From Interfering
• MONTANA: Employment Rights for Medical Marijuana Patients Tested
• ASA BLOG: Comments from ASA Staff and Guests

FEDERAL: Medical Marijuana Provider Turns Himself In

About 50 ASA activists and other supporters of medical marijuana provider Mickey Martin protested at the federal court house when he turned himself in to authorities. Last week, DEA agents raided food-preparation locations they allege are connected to Martin and arrested three others. Martin, who was on vacation with his wife and two young sons, surrendered Thursday and was released on bond. Martin has been a leader in developing alternatives to smokeable forms of medicinal cannabis.

Pot Candy Maker Out On $300,000 Bail
KTVU TV2 (San Francisco)
The founder of an Oakland food factory that laces everything from cookies to barbecue sauce with marijuana surrendered Thursday to face a federal drug charge.

Owner of pot-candy factory surrenders on federal drug charges
by Henry K. Lee, San Francisco Chronicle
The owner of an Oakland marijuana candy factory surrendered Thursday to face federal drug charges, but not before blasting the U.S. government for what he called an unfair attack by federal bullies on ailing patients who rely on medical marijuana.

Pot Candy Dealer Turns Himself In
by Katie Hammer, ABC7/KGO-TV
A man who makes edible marijuana products for medical patients turned himself in this morning to federal authorities after they raided his Oakland factory. He had a lot of supporters today at the federal courthouse in Oakland.

ASA ACTION: Defending Democracy

The victory in ASA’s legal challenge to the electronic voting machines used in a local California election got more attention this week not because the questionable recount was of a medical marijuana measure but because of widespread concerns about the integrity of votes cast without a “paper trail.” The ruling makes clear to election officials that voters have a right to verifiable recounts.

Judge orders Berkeley medical marijuana measure back on ballot
Associated Press
A judge ordered a failed 2004 city initiative on medical marijuana returned to the ballot next year because county election officials failed to hand over data from voting machines.

Judge Orders Sanctions, New Election in Measure R Case
by J. Douglas Allen-Taylor, Berkeley Daily Planet
In what would appear to be the most stinging rebuke possible to the conduct of the Alameda County Registrar of Voters Office in the November 2004 Berkeley Measure R Medical Marijuana initiative election, a California Superior Court judge has ordered that a new Measure R election be held in November of next year, and that Measure R proponents be reimbursed for litigation and recount costs.

Berkeley pot bill put on 2008 ballot after judge nullifies results
by Chris Metinko, Contra Costa Times (CA)
An Alameda County Superior Court judge has nullified the results of a hotly contested 2004 election because of mishandling of a recount by Alameda County election officials, and she ordered Berkeley's Measure R -- a citizen-sponsored medical marijuana initiative -- back on the ballot for a re-vote in 2008.

Election Results Tossed in E-Voting Case
by Catherine Pickavet, InternetNews
Electronic voting has promised security, accuracy, expediency and fairness since its advent. But amid continued controversy, a new ruling in California may add yet another mark in the tally against it.

Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is excited to announce that we have added two brand new features to our online community designed to allow patients and advocates to communicate more directly and effectively with each other. Please read on for more information on ASA’s new blog and our new discussion forums.

Sign Up for ASA's Discussion Forums
www.AmericansforSafeAccess.org/ASAForum

ASA is building an online community for activists and supporters to discuss the latest news, actions, and research around medical cannabis issues. More than 200 people have already signed up for the forums and have engaged in discussions in state, regional, media, legal, activist, and condition-based forums.

To check out our forums and sign-up to participate, visit www.AmericansforSafeAccess.org/ASAForum and get involved today!

Introducing ASA's New Blog -
Medical Cannabis: Voices from the Frontlines
www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org/blog

Last week, ASA launched our blog, Medical Cannabis: Voices from the Frontlines. ASA staff and guest bloggers will be posting here regularly with the latest news and analysis of medical cannabis issues.

Here is a sampling of what we have blogged about so far:

• California Weekly Round Up
• DEA Raid analysis 6/1-9/26/07
• DEA Gives Schwarzenegger Another Reason to Stand Up for Patients’ Rights
• Michael Teague Is Free at Last, as Federal Judge Questions Another Federal Medical Marijuana Prosecution
• 60-Minutes Highlights Medical Cannabis Dispensaries and Interference by the Feds

Visit www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org/blog today to read our posts and to share your comments.

Thanks for your continued support for safe access. We look forward to meeting you online!

Rebecca Saltzman
Chief of Staff
Americans for Safe Access

• ASA ACTION: New Election for Medical Marijuana Measure
• FEDERAL: Raid on Maker of Medicinal Edibles
• NEW MEXICO: New State Law Close to Implementation
• FEDERAL: Dispensary Landlords Threatened in Santa Barbara
• FEDERAL: Sacramento Dispensary Raided
• DISPENSARIES: Patient Demand Driving Debate
• FLORIDA: Patient Needs Inform Plea for Protection
• WISCONSIN: Passage of Medical Bill Urged
• VETERANS: Medical Marijuana May Help PTSD
• WASHINGTON: Revising Patient Guidelines for Amounts

ASA ACTION: New Election for Medical Marijuana Measure

Three years after election officials said a local medical marijuana measure narrowly failed, a judge has ordered a new election. At issue are electronic voting machines that election officials did not properly maintain to ensure data was available for the recount requested by Americans for Safe Access. Whatever the outcome of the new election, ASA has won a victory for the democratic process.

Judge voids results of Berkeley measure on medical pot
by Henry K. Lee, San Francisco Chronicle
An Alameda County judge has voided election results for a failed 2004 Berkeley medical marijuana measure, ordering it returned to the ballot next year because county election officials failed to hand over data from voting machines, attorneys in the case said Thursday.

Berkeley Election Nullified Based on Misconduct by Officials
Bay City News Service
A judge has nullified the results of a Berkeley medical marijuana ballot measure in 2004 because of what she said was misconduct by Alameda County election officials. Smith also ordered that the county refund $22,000 that Americans for Safe Access had to pay for a recount of the election results as well as some legal fees for the group's lawyers.

FEDERAL: Raid on Maker of Medicinal Edibles

DEA agents staged another paramilitary-style raid in Northern California, kicking down doors at locations allegedly related to a maker of medicinal edibles, arresting three people, and even killing an employee’s dog. Despite hysterical language from the DEA about mistaking the edibles for regular candy, all the products in question are clearly labeled as medicinal and are available only to qualified patients in dispensary settings. Like the other raids around the state, the DEA appears intent on disrupting patient access as much as possible before the next election cycle. See ASA’s press release on this situation at http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=5084

Feds Raid Pot-Laced-Candy Factory
by Paul Elias, Associated Press
Federal agents said Thursday they shut down a factory that made marijuana-laced barbecue sauce, chocolate-covered pretzels and other "enhanced" snacks intended for medical users of the drug.

Oakland company raided for allegedly selling pot-laced foods
by Leslie Griffy, Mercury News (CA)
Federal drug agents busted an Oakland company that allegedly distributed pot-laced treats to medical marijuana clubs across the state, officials said today.

NEW MEXICO: New State Law Close to Implementation

Thanks to the intervention of Governor and Presidential-candidate Bill Richardson, patients in New Mexico are now being afforded a measure of protection. The state may be the first to provide medical marijuana directly to patients, though the state attorney general has expressed concerns about the federal government going after state employees who are implementing the law.

Medical Marijuana Rules Close To Final
by Vanessa Reyes, KFOX TV - Las Cruces
The rules of the medicinal marijuana law in New Mexico are close to becoming final after a public hearing with the New Mexico Department of Health and a medical board.

FEDERAL: Dispensary Landlords Threatened in Santa Barbara

One of the latest tactics being used by the DEA to thwart patient access in California is the intimidation of the landlords whose buildings dispensaries are renting. The DEA has been sending letters to the landlords, telling them that the government may seize their buildings, even if they have nothing to do with the operation of the dispensaries. After the DEA raided the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center in West Hollywood several years ago, they even used asset forfeiture to seize the building the city had provided for the collective’s use.

Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Risk Eviction
KEYT TV Santa Barbara
Federal Drug Enforcement agents are pressuring Santa Barbara Medical Marijuana Dispensaries to close their doors for good. The owner of one shop on Victoria Street says his landlord received a strongly worded letter from the DEA threatening to take their property if they don't comply.

Feds Target S.B. Medical Marijuana Shops
Santa Barbara Independent
After enjoying years of relatively hassle-free business, Santa Barbara’s medical marijuana scene is feeling the heat this week, with a distinctly ganja-scented cloud of uncertainty hanging over its future in the wake of a federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) letter-writing campaign.

MPP’s campaign to pass a medical marijuana initiative in Michigan urgently needs your help.

In May, the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care (MCCC) began gathering signatures to place a statewide medical marijuana initiative on the November 2008 ballot.

If you live in Michigan, MCCC needs you to collect signatures or to make a sizable donation to ensure the initiative gets on the ballot. If you don’t live in Michigan, MCCC needs you to donate money to support the signature-gathering effort.?

Four months into the signature drive, MCCC has collected half the signatures that are needed. And since the signature drive must be completed by mid-November — which is just two months away — your help is needed now.

Michigan law requires MCCC to collect 304,101 valid signatures in order to place the medical marijuana initiative on the November 2008 ballot. Because the validity rate for the signatures that are being collected is hovering around 60%, this means we actually need to collect about 500,000 raw signatures to qualify the initiative for the ballot. So far, we have about 250,000 raw signatures in-hand, so we’re halfway there.

It’s going to cost about $500,000 to obtain the remaining 250,000 raw signatures that are needed — or about $2 apiece. This means we need to spend more than $8,000 per day — every day, including Saturdays and Sundays — between now and the middle of November to qualify the initiative for the statewide ballot.

Would you please visit www.StopArrestingPatients.org to donate $10 or more today?  If everyone on this e-mail list were to donate just $10, we’d have literally twice as much money ($1,000,000) as will be needed to complete the signature drive.

Making Michigan the 13^th state to protect medical marijuana patients from arrest is crucial to our national strategy: Michigan is the country's eighth largest state and would be the first medical marijuana state in the Midwest.

Would you please lend your support today?

I’ll be grateful for anything you can do to help.

Sincerely,

Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

P.S. As I've mentioned in previous alerts, a major philanthropist has committed to match the first $3.0 million that MPP can raise from the rest of the planet in 2007. This means that your donation today will be doubled.

Right now, the DEA is currently raiding the River City Patient Center in Sacramento, California — the longest established medical marijuana dispensary in the city. Protesters have gathered outside the building in support of the collective.

And yesterday, the DEA began threatening landlords in the Santa Barbara area who lease space to medical marijuana dispensaries — activity that’s legal under California state law — with federal prison time and forfeiture of their properties. Several dispensaries closed right away.

This follows a similar move in Los Angeles in July — a maneuver that was condemned in a Los Angeles Times editorial as "a deplorable new bullying tactic."

No matter what state you live in, will you please take a few minutes to write all three of your members of Congress to protest this federal interference in state law? MPP’s action center is easy to use: You can send one of our pre-drafted letters, or you can personalize the letter.

This is just the latest in the campaign of terror the DEA is waging on the sick. In June and July, the DEA conducted extensive medical marijuana raids in several California counties and in Oregon, including raids on at least 10 Los Angeles clinics in late July. Most were aimed at medical marijuana dispensaries operating legally under state and local laws, and in several cases the DEA detained and terrorized individual patients.

If this outrages you like it does me, would you help MPP hire a new grassroots organizer in California, as well as to retain a lobbyist to help push legislation in Sacramento to protect these dispensaries? If enough supporters on this e-mail list donate today, MPP will be able to fully pay for both positions.

These reprehensible DEA attacks — which run counter to state law, as well as the 78% of the American people who support "making marijuana legally available for doctors to prescribe in order to reduce pain and suffering" — are preventing effective local regulation of medical marijuana: Cities and counties in California are passing ordinances to ensure that medical marijuana dispensaries follow the law and serve patients properly. But by treating all who provide medical marijuana to the sick as common drug dealers, the DEA has become the single largest obstacle to effective regulation of these establishments.

A major Los Angeles raid actually occurred at the exact moment that members of the city council were holding a press conference to discuss an ordinance to regulate medical marijuana providers.

Local officials and major newspapers are outraged by the DEA's actions. After the July raids in Los Angeles, L.A. City Councilman Dennis Zine — a Republican and former police officer with the L.A. Police Department — said, "I am greatly disturbed that the Drug Enforcement Administration would initiate an enforcement action against medical marijuana facilities in the City of Los Angeles during a news conference regarding City Council support of an Interim Control Ordinance to regulate all facilities within the City. This action by the DEA is?contrary to the vote of Californians who overwhelmingly voted to support medicinal marijuana use by those facing serious and life threatening illnesses. The DEA needs to focus their attention and enforcement action on the illegal drug dealers who are terrorizing communities in Los Angeles."

After a series of DEA medical marijuana raids in San Francisco, the city's health director, Dr. Mitchell Katz, wrote to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, "These actions have resulted in 4,000 persons with chronic illness left without access to critical treatment upon which they rely. Certainly in this post-September 11 environment, it seems that a DEA priority punishing organizations for distributing cannabis for medical purposes to chronically ill individuals is misplaced."

Would you help us fight back against the DEA's deplorable attacks on sick patients? Please write your three members of Congress now, and then consider making a donation to MPP today.

Sincerely,

Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

Late last week, Congress passed a measure involving the FDA that did not include a dangerous amendment that could have undermined the 12 state laws that are protecting medical marijuana patients from arrest and jail.

The FDA bill’s passage marks the defeat of the greatest threat the medical marijuana movement has ever faced.

The threat was in the form of an amendment that was authored by U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and attached to the Senate version of the FDA bill back in April. The House thankfully omitted Sen. Coburn’s amendment from its version of the FDA bill, and the final bill that President Bush is expected to sign also did not include Sen. Coburn’s amendment.

This victory is the result of MPP’s tireless work on Capitol Hill — and your calls, e-mails, and faxes to your members of Congress. Also important were the behind-the-scenes calls from major MPP allies to key members of Congress.

If you haven’t yet made a donation to MPP this year, would you please consider giving $10 or more today to support our important work in Congress?

The defeat of Sen. Coburn’s amendment feels really, really good. He is perhaps the number-one opponent of medical marijuana in the U.S. Senate; for example, last year he told MPP’s lobbyist that “marijuana is not a medicine, and the doctors and scientists who say it is one are smoking it themselves.”

Sen. Coburn's amendment was a thinly veiled attempt to undermine the medical marijuana laws in 12 states — Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington — by placing them under the authority of the FDA (in addition to the DEA), while not providing the same approval process for marijuana as for other drugs seeking FDA approval as prescription medicines.

If the Coburn amendment had become law, a federal agency could have sued, say, the Oregon government for the purpose of persuading a federal judge to shut down Oregon’s medical marijuana ID card program that has done so much to protect more than 10,000 patients in the state.

MPP and its allies on Capitol Hill successfully worked with members of the House and Senate to remove the offending provision from the final version of the bill — making new legislative allies in the process. The House passed the final FDA bill on Wednesday, and the Senate passed it on Thursday.

Again, this success would not have been possible without your support — in the form of contacting your legislators, and in the form of financial contributions. Influence in Congress is not easily gained.

Please make a donation to MPP today so that we can continue to push forward with ending marijuana prohibition in this country.

Just today, the FBI released its annual Uniform Crime Reports, which documented that our nation just hit a new all-time high for marijuana arrests in the U.S. — 829,627 arrests by local and state police (not the feds) in 2006 alone. That’s one marijuana arrest every 38 seconds.

Your support is clearly needed more than ever. Please give now.

Thanks for your support.

Sincerely,

Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

P.S. As I've mentioned in previous alerts, a major philanthropist has committed to match the first $3.0 million that MPP can raise from the rest of the planet in 2007. This means that your donation today will be doubled.

P.P.S. You can opt out of receiving fundraising mentions in the e-mail alerts I send you in 2007 by visiting www.mpp.org/2007optoutpreference at your convenience.

• FEDERAL: Medical Marijuana Patient Must Return to Prison
• WISCONSIN: State Measure Introduced Again
• NEW YORK: Medical Marijuana Bill Moving Forward
• FEDERAL: Targeting of Patients Continues, Condemned
• WASHINGTON: Advocates Want Local Interference Stopped
• CALIFORNIA: Plant Count An Issue in Arrest
• DISPENSARIES: Locals Debate Access as Nation Watches
• CANADA: Patient’s Case Challenges Registration Requirement

FEDERAL: Judge Says Patient Must Return to Prison

A California medical marijuana patient is being sent back to jail to finish a 10-year sentence. Shortly after voters legalized medical use in the state, Bryan Epis began cultivating marijuana for himself and a handful of other qualified patients. Federal prosecutors claimed he was a drug dealer hoping to get rich; defense attorneys say they lied and misrepresented evidence at trial. Epis was released from prison after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found in favor of medical marijuana patients in the Raich case, but now a judge says he has to go back and serve his original term.

Same term for medical pot grower
by Denny Walsh, Sacramento Bee (CA)
For the second time in five years, Bryan James Epis, the first person associated with a California cannabis buyers' club to be tried in a federal court for growing marijuana, was sentenced Friday in Sacramento to 10 years in prison.

WISCONSIN: State Measure Introduced Again

For the fifth year in a row, the Wisconsin state legislature is taking up the question of whether medical marijuana patients should be prosecuted for following their doctors’ advice. Polling shows that more than 75% of Wisconsin voters think access to medical marijuana should be legal. Lawmakers will again have the chance to bring public policy into line with public opinion.

Medical cannabis supporters unite
by Cara Harshman, Badger Herald (WI)
Is your medicine legal? Jacki Rickert’s isn’t. The Wisconsin mother joined two state legislators and other medical marijuana supporters Tuesday for a press conference to announce the introduction of new medical marijuana legislation.

Their medicine's not legal yet
by Jackie Johnson, Wisconsin Radio Network
Two state lawmakers introduce comprehensive medical marijuana legislation, called the "Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act."

In Politics: For the Health of It
by Doug Hissom, On Milwaukee Magazine
Some state legislators are trying the get Wisconsin out of the mainstream when it comes to pot laws. The latest effort is being billed as "the most comprehensive medical marijuana legislation to date," according to bill sponsors, state Reps. Frank Boyle (D-Superior) and Mark Pocan (D-Madison).

Just a bill: Medical marijuana
by Stacy Forster, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
People with debilitating medical conditions would have access to marijuana under a bill introduced by Democratic Reps. Mark Pocan of Madison and Frank Boyle of Superior.

Boyle reintroduces medical marijuana bill
KUWS radio (WI)
Using marijuana for medical relief will be proposed again in the Wisconsin legislature again this session. Mike Simonson reports from Superior.

NEW YORK: Medical Marijuana Bill Moving Forward

The state Assembly has already passed a bill to remove criminal penalties for medical marijuana patients in New York. Now the state Senate is considering a different version of the bill, one that could render the law unworkable. The tactic has drawn the condemnation of at least one editorial board.

NY State Sen. Morahan backs medical pot stance
by Matt King, Times-Herald Record (NY)
Days after medical marijuana advocates took out an ad targeting state Sen. Thomas Morahan, he reaffirmed his support for a bill allowing doctors to prescribe the drug for seriously ill patients.

Baloney on medical marijuana
EDITORIAL, Times Herald-Record (NY)
There's a trick politicians use when they want to appear to be in favor of some issue that has strong public support. They craft legislation that suggests support but include a provision they know the other political party won't go for.