Americans for Safe Access
Monthly Activist Newsletter

Defending Patients' Access to Medical Marijuana

ASA accuses Solano County of violating state law

Medical marijuana advocates went to court in California last month asking local officials to respect state law. Six years after the state legislature established an ID card program for medical marijuana patients, ASA has filed suit against one of the counties that has refused to implement the program.

The 2003 law mandates that all counties in California implement a voluntary identification card program meant to assist law enforcement and provide greater protections for medical marijuana patients and their caregivers, but Solano County officials have failed to comply.

"Solano County cannot flout its obligation under the law," said Joe Elford, ASA Chief Counsel. "This lawsuit is aimed at forcing all counties to fully implement state law and stop denying medical marijuana patients their legal rights and protections."

ASA's action follows a landmark decision from the California Fourth District Court of Appeal, rejecting San Diego County's challenge to the law. ASA's Elford was among those arguing on behalf of patients in that case.

After that July 2008 decision, ASA sent letters to officials from Solano and 15 other counties warning them that lawsuits could result if they did not take action on the ID card program. Letters were sent again in October after the state Supreme Court declined to review the case.

Since 2003, 40 of California's 58 counties have implemented the medical marijuana ID card program. As a result of ASA's letters and the new court mandate, 11 additional counties (Alpine, Fresno, Kings, Mariposa, Modoc, Nevada, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Siskiyou, Stanislaus, and Ventura) have made ID cards available or have pledged to do so.

California law directs each of the state's counties to provide medical marijuana patients and their caregivers ID cards that help law enforcement identify qualified patients and caregivers and provide those individuals protection from arrest and prosecution.

Staff Combines Policy Support with Political Pressure

Change has come to Washington, D.C. with the inauguration of Barack Obama as our 44th President, and ASA will be working with his administration and the new Congress to ensure that change comes to federal policy on medical cannabis as well.

ASA's D.C. office, lead by Director of Government Affairs Caren Woodson, has provided members of the Obama transition team and members of Congress with detailed policy agendas and specific recommendations for lawmakers to take action on that can help meet the immediate needs of medical cannabis patients, their providers, physicians, and researchers.

During the confirmation hearings for Attorney General nominee Eric Holder, ASA lobbied committee members to ask questions about how enforcement policies will be changed to respect state laws and protect patient rights. ASA members also contacted their U.S. Senators on the issue, using the January newsletter action alert as a guide. The action may not have elicited new commitments, but it got the attention of Washington insiders, including mention in Marc Ambinder's influential politics blog for the Atlantic Monthly.

President Obama has promised to instill new respect for science in policymaking, and medical cannabis is a key area of public health where research has been ignored or blocked. And the new administration is already hearing about it.

The Obama transition team's "Citizen Briefing Book" project was designed to create a virtual white paper, authored by engaged citizens, to pitch ideas, information, and expertise to the incoming administration on a variety of topics. The issues voted the most popular were compiled and provided to President Obama upon being sworn in. Ranking third among thousands of suggestions to the transition team was a recommendation to "Stop using federal resources to undermine states' medicinal marijuana laws."

That recommendation is one ASA is working to hold President Obama accountable for, particularly since he pledged during the campaign to end federal interference in state medical cannabis programs (see this month's action alert).

After Bush loyalists in the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) staged yet another raid on a medical cannabis patient dispensary in California, just two days after President Obama was sworn in, and another in Colorado, ASA organized an immediate response, enlisting members and supporters to call the White House to register their outrage. Volunteers answering the phone reported receiving hundreds of calls, ensuring the voice of patients are being heard on Pennsylvania Avenue.

During his election night victory speech, President Obama told the country that "victory alone is not the change we seek; it is only the chance for us to make that change." By applying public pressure at all levels and providing lawmakers with detailed policy recommendations as well as political support, ASA is working to bring to medical cannabis policy the change we've been waiting for.

"The opportunity for real change is here," said Caren Woodson. "But we are counting on our members to support our legislative efforts in Washington, DC by reinforce our work in their local communities."

Among the actions ASA hopes to see the Obama Administration and the 111th Congress take are new policies that:

(1) suspend the federal resources used to interfere with state medical marijuana laws,

(2) encourage advanced clinical research trials that meet accepted scientific standards,

(3) permit affirmative defense for individuals authorized by state and local law to use or provide cannabis for therapeutic use.

With your help, ASA will be working to ensure that our government takes action.

To view ASA's recommendations and policy agenda, go to: National Policy PDF and Presidential Recommendations PDF.

As a grassroots organization, ASA gets its power from the people. In addition to its almost 60 chapters and affiliates working for medical cannabis laws across the country, ASA also has a dedicated network of concerned citizens. While they are not part of any chapter, they can be counted on to take action when they're called. It's these "after-work" activists that ASA is mobilizing with the launch of the new ASA Ambassador Project.

The ASA office gets calls everyday from people who don't live close to a chapter or don't have the time to start one up. But they still want to do their part - and now they can.

By signing up with ASA's new Ambassador program, they'll work on their own and with other Ambassadors in their region to educate and engage their communities. They are ASA's representatives to their families, friends, neighborhoods, political organizations, social clubs, support groups, and the communities in which they live. And they also act as important liaisons with their local, state, and federal elected officials.

"The program is taking off," said George Pappas, ASA's Field Coordinator. "People from across the country seem to have been waiting for just this opportunity. They are signing up to take the reins in representing ASA's goals."

ASA Ambassadors are already making an impact, meeting with elected officials and taking the responsibility of passing on ASA's actions to their networks.

"ASA members know that the actions we take in the next few months will help shape President Obama's medical cannabis policies for the next four to eight years," said Pappas. "It is going to take a commitment from every one of us to make real change at the Federal level."

To make that commitment, pledge to become an ASA Ambassador and join ASA's new campaign for 2009: MAKE IT SAFE. MAKE IT LEGAL. MAKE IT HAPPEN!

To sign up as an ASA Ambassador, send an email to [email protected], or visit www.Americans forSafeAccess.org/Ambassador to receive an Ambassador Packet with info on how to get started.