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California Legislature OKs Job Rights for Cannabis Patients

The California legislature has taken action to guarantee employment rights for cannabis patients. The state senate this month sent to the governor's desk an assembly bill that would prevent discriminating against patients in "hiring, termination, or any term or condition of employment" based on their status as a state-qualified medical cannabis user or a positive drug test for marijuana.

The bill, AB 2279, was introduced by Assemblymember Mark Leno in answer to a California Supreme Court decision that found medical marijuana patients can be fired for positive drug tests, even if their cannabis use is legal under state law and occurs only outside the workplace. AB 2279 is sponsored by ASA and was drafted with assistance from ASA's Legislative Analyst, Noah Mamber.

The bill leaves intact existing state law prohibiting consumption at the workplace and protects employers from liability by allowing exceptions for jobs where physical safety could be a concern.

Gary Ross, speaking to the media

"The California legislature has stood up for the right of patients to work and be productive members of society," said ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford, who represented Gary Ross, the software engineer whose firing became a test of California's medical marijuana law. "Now the governor must act to protect the jobs of thousands of law-abiding Californians who are fighting serious illnesses such as cancer and HIV/AIDS."

The employment rights bill has the support of unions representing nearly 1 million workers in California, as well as the National Lawyers Guild and several HIV/AIDS advocacy organizations. ASA lobbying helped gain the early endorsements of the statewide California Labor Federation, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

California joins Oregon and Hawaii in considering laws to protect medical marijuana patients from employment discrimination.

More about the bill can be seen at www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org/AB2279.

CA Attorney General Directs Law Enforcement on Medical Marijuana

Comprehensive recommendations include protection of dispensaries

Guidelines for California medical cannabis patients and the operation of dispensaries that serve them have been issued by the state's attorney general.

Under the new guidelines, California law enforcement agencies should not take qualified patients into custody or seize their cannabis, so long as they are abiding by state law and local regulation. In instances where medical cannabis is seized, officials are required to return it to patients. The guidelines also provide recommendations for operating medical cannabis dispensaries in accordance with state law.

Attorney General Jerry Brown

"Today we stand beside the Attorney General of California in his effort to fully implement the state's medical marijuana law," said ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford. "We welcome this leadership and expect that compliance with these guidelines will result in fewer unnecessary arrests, citations and seizures of medicine from qualified patients and their primary caregivers."

Americans for Safe Access and other advocates have been urging Attorney General Jerry Brown and other state officials to take action on implementing the medical cannabis program. The guidelines on return of patient cannabis are in keeping with recent court decisions won by Americans for Safe Access.

The most significant aspect of the guidelines may prove to be the recommendations for operating storefront medical marijuana dispensaries in accordance with state law. Lack of state guidance has meant that the issue of how to regulate the operation of such dispensaries -- which some estimates say more than half the state's cannabis patients rely on for access -- has been left to city councils, county supervisors and local zoning boards.

The guidelines note that "a properly organized and operated collective or cooperative that dispenses medical marijuana through a storefront may be lawful under California law." The key question is what constitutes proper organization and operation. The attorney general's guidelines claim that medical cannabis dispensaries must operate on a not-for-profit basis.

This stems from language in the Medical Marijuana Program Act (SB 420), passed by the state legislature in 2003. But the voter-approved Compassionate Use Act (Prop. 215) makes no mention of profit or non-profit in its call for the establishing of a state distribution system.

The guidelines also make clear that state and local law enforcement are not to use federal law as an excuse for arresting state-qualified patients or seizing their cannabis. In so doing, the attorney general affirmed several court decisions that find California's medical marijuana law is not preempted by federal law.

The differences between state and federal laws have led to escalating interference by federal officials. The federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Department of Justice have targeted California with a campaign of investigations, raids, seizures, prosecutions, and imprisonment of medical marijuana patients and providers.

In response, several California mayors, including San Francisco's Gavin Newsom and Oakland's Ron Dellums, have asked House Judiciary Chair John Conyers (D-MI) for oversight hearings. Rep. Conyers has publicly questioned federal tactics and demanded answers from the DEA.

"It is now up to Congress and the new President to align federal policy with California and other medical cannabis states," said ASA spokesperson Kris Hermes. "It is time to resolve the federal-state conflict that serves only to undermine California and other states' sovereignty and inflict harm on seriously ill patients and their care providers."

The new guidelines can be seen at: www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org/downloads/AG_Guidelines.pdf.

Dear friends:

Sometimes it seems like the prohibitionists just can't help themselves.

In what has become a predictable routine, our opposition is once again openly lying to voters. This time, it's the members of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association (MDAA), who have posted on their Web site a statement of opposition to the Massachusetts marijuana decriminalization initiative so riddled with misleading claims, inaccuracies, and outright lies that it almost defies belief.

Among other outrageous claims, the DAs allege:

* That currently, first-time marijuana offenders are placed on probation and their records are sealed. In reality, simply getting arrested — not even convicted — for possessing a small amount of marijuana in Massachusetts generates a permanent record in a database that employers, landlords, and schools can search and use to preclude offenders from getting jobs, housing, and school loans.

* That “decriminalization of marijuana will increase its availability and use.”  In reality, both the National Research Council (in 2001) and the World Health Organization (just this year) have published studies explicitly debunking this myth.
 
* And that “there is a direct link between marijuana use and criminal activity” because a “significant number of male arrestees test positive.” In reality, this is literally a meaningless claim that doesn't show any causal relationship ... and is, in any case, entirely irrelevant to the policy change that the initiative proposes.

If you are outraged by these lies and bad faith arguments, would you please consider donating $10 or more today to the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy (CSMP), which is running the campaign?

As demonstrably false as these claims are, they are being made by a prominent and respected organization with a bully pulpit, so the campaign will need substantial resources to counter the lies.

It's not hard to understand why the opposition has been reduced to these tactics. According to an independent poll released earlier this month, a whopping 71% of Massachusetts residents support the initiative to replace the state's current criminal penalties for possession of an ounce or less of marijuana with a system of civil fines. And Massachusetts voters have passed 30 out of 30 non-binding public policy questions (PPQs) calling for such a reform since 2000 — with an average of 62% of the vote in favor.

But this public support is not in itself enough to win. Between now and November 4, we expect well-financed and powerful groups to attempt to sway voter opinion with these sorts of exaggerations, scare tactics, and lies. Would you please consider donating what you can today to CSMP, so it has the funds to fight back and pass the initiative into law on Election Day?

As always, thank you in advance for your generous support.

Sincerely,

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