Medical Marijuana

Save the Date: IMMLY Medical Cannabis Benefit and Awards, Oct. 3 in Madison!

Please join us for our next monthly public meeting. For more information, as well as minutes from our last meeting, see http://www.cmmnj.org/.

Richard Eastman, along with Making Social Change, is planning a medical cannabis rally and march, under the name Democrats for Safe Access at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Co. The required permits were applied for some time ago and were initially denied. However, after some persistence and assistance from the ACLU, the necessary permits were issued for a demonstration up to 10,000 people. We invite you to come and join us in asking the next presidential nominee of the Democratic Party for his support. We seek the support of a unified Party to require their candidate, if elected President, to stop federal criminalization of medical cannabis. We urge any and all groups who have an interest in this cause (i.e.: political watchdogs, patient advocates, voter's rights, associated industries, etc.) and individuals alike to provide whatever assistance they can through sponsoring and/or volunteering. Please contact Duke Smith, Event Chairman, at (818) 914-9560 to coordinate efforts. Democrats for Safe Access 4848 Lexington Ave., Suite 109, Hollywood, CA 90029 Tel: 323-474-4602, Fax: 323-882-6263

Currently, Maryland law protects seriously ill patients from being sentenced to prison for possessing marijuana if they can prove a "medical necessity" for using it. The maximum penalty for patients who prove a medical necessity is a $100 fine. However, the law does not protect them from arrest, and it does not provide them a way to safely access their medicine. Even patients who prove a medical necessity still end up with a criminal record!

Please join us for a great meal, a program celebrating the late Mae Nutt, live music by Dark Chocolate, comedy by Ngaio Bealum, and a live and silent auction. Cost is $80/person. Registration deadline is March 25, 2008. For more information, see http://www.medicalcannabis.com/.

Patients Out of Time is pleased to announce, and invite you to, this amazing conference. Please join us for international experts representing the latest research and exciting developments in the knowledge and understanding of the unique properties of medical cannabis/marijuana.

On January 29, the Berkeley City Council will be considering a very important resolution. Co-sponsored by Kriss Worthington and Darryl Moore, this item would: 1. declare Berkeley a "sanctuary city" for medical cannabis in the event that the DEA raids any of our dispensaries, 2. call on the Berkeley Police Department, the County District Attorney, the Alameda County Sheriff's Department, and the State Attorney General not to cooperate with the DEA in its efforts to undermine state and local medical cannabis laws, 3. urge Governor Schwarzenegger to publicly stand with the more than 200,000 medical cannabis patients in the state and to let Congress and the Bush Administration know that DEA interference is uncalled for and will be resisted by local and state government, and 4. encourage the City to plan for continued safe access in Berkeley in the event of a DEA raid on one or more of our dispensaries. See the draft text at: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/agenda-committee/agendaindex.htm. Click on the pdf for the 1/22 meeting, and look for Item 22. ASA and others have worked extensively with Councilmembers Moore and Worthington, and with many other supportive city staff, to craft this resolution, and we expect the full support of the Council, the City Manager and the City Attorney. Obviously this is a VERY important moment for medical cannabis patients, and I want to encourage you to attend tomorrow's City Council meeting if at all possible. We plan to have a rally at 6:45 p.m., before the Council meeting, on the steps of Old City Hall. Wear your ASA shirt, sport a medical marijuana pin, and let's fill the hall with supporters to celebrate the moment--and thank our Berkeley elected officials for taking this significant step to defend patients' rights! For more information, contact Becky DeKeuster at 510-540-6013 ext. 0.

Americans for Safe Access' new western NC chapter is having its first public meeting this Sunday in Asheville, NC. ASA, based in California, is a great patient advocacy organization: http://www.safeaccessnow.org.

Dr. David Bearman, a Santa Barbara, California physician and surgeon with Wisconsin roots, will be presenting at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Dr. Bearman is one of the most clinically knowledgeable physicians in the U.S. in the field of medical marijuana. He has spent 40 years working in substance and drug abuse treatment and prevention programs. Dr. Bearman was a pioneer in the free and community clinic movement. His career includes public health, administrative medicine, primary care, pain management and cannabinology. He is on the Board of Advisors for the group Patients Out of Time [http://www.medicalcannabis.com/] and worked closely with them to present the Fourth National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics in Santa Barbara, CA in April 2006.