Americans for Safe Access
Monthly Activist Newsletter

Defending Patients' Access to Medical Marijuana

·    Mar. 2009

• Volume 4, Issue 3

Pressure from Advocates Brings Change to Long-standing Policy

The tireless work of medical cannabis patients and activists has begun to pay big dividends in Washington, D.C., with the new Administration's attorney general, Eric Holder, telling a news conference that ending the raids on medical cannabis providers is now government policy.

ASA members were among the thousands of advocates calling the White House and their elected representatives in the wake of the raids, deluging the administration's website with pleas for policy change, and participating in a large protest at the federal building in Los Angeles.

Holder, appearing at a Washington news conference on Feb. 25 alongside the DEA's current Acting Adminstrator, Michele Leonhart, was responding to a question about whether the DEA raids that have occurred in California since Obama took office last month would continue.

"What the president said during the campaign, you'll be surprised to know, will be consistent with what we'll be doing in law enforcement," Holder said, noting that Obama is his boss. "What he said during the campaign is now American policy."

During the campaign, President Obama was repeatedly faced with questions about federal interference in the 13 states that have enacted medical cannabis laws. Obama said then that his experience with his mother's death from cancer made him sympathetic with the plight of patients, and that he saw no difference between a doctor prescribing morphine and marijuana. During a March 2007 interview, he also said that he thought it "entirely appropriate" for states to look after the health and welfare of their citizens be legalizing the medical use of marijuana "with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors."

The attorney general's comments follow a White House statement from earlier in the month, in which spokesman Nick Shapiro responded to pressure over recent raids in California.

"The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws" Schapiro said, and that the president's appointees would be expected to "review their policies with that in mind."

The statements this month from the White House and the Attorney General were greeted with relief and jubilation by patients and advocates across the country.

"Americans for Safe Access welcomes President Obama's continued pledge to end federal interference with state medical marijuana laws," said Caren Woodson, ASA's Director of Government Affairs. "These statements reflect a sea change in federal policy."

ASA, the nation's largest medical cannabis advocacy organization, sent policy recommendations aimed at harmonizing federal and state law and encouraging research to President Obama and Congress earlier this year. More than 72 million Americans live in a state that has enacted laws that authorize the limited use and distribution of cannabis for therapeutic use.

"We look forward to working with the President and his Administration to enact long-term policies that support safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research," said Woodson.

While fierce federal opposition to state medical cannabis programs begun during the Clinton Administration, which threatened to sanction any physicians who even spoke with their patients about the therapeutic potential of cannabis before being rebuffed by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the First Amendment rights of doctors in such cases. Under Clinton, civil court action was taken to shut down medical cannabis dispensing collectives.

The Bush Administration pursued a more aggressive policy, raiding medical cannabis dispensaries throughout California, brining criminal charges against more than 100 individuals who were in compliance with state law, and threatening commercial property owners with criminal proceedings and forfeiture of their property for renting to patient collectives. Patients in New Mexico and Colorado were also targeted, though not on a similar scale.

The Obama Administration has been asked to stop the Bush tactics of intimidating California commercial property owners who rent to patient collectives that provide medical marijuana.

Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-CA) sent a letter last month to incoming U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, decrying threats by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Attorney's Office against property owners that lease space to state-sanctioned medical marijuana providers. The letter was prepared with assistance from ASA's Washington office.

Since the summer of 2007, the DEA has sent letters to at least 300 landlords in California threatening federal criminal prosecution and asset forfeiture if they continue to lease to medical marijuana dispensaries. The Department of Justice had not acted on the DEA threats until early January, when property owners in Capps' district of Santa Barbara received an ultimatum -- evict their tenants by February 21, or face legal jeopardy.

Capps letter urges the new administration "to act swiftly to suspend the enforcement threats against the property owners in California who are in compliance with local and state law."

Though licensed under a Santa Barbara city ordinance, since the threatening letters were first sent in 2007, most of the dispensaries in Santa Barbara have been evicted by their landlords or have closed voluntarily to avoid legal problems.

"We applaud Representative Capps' leadership in opposing DEA intimidation," said Caren Woodson, ASA Director of Government Affairs. "Given public statements by President Obama and others in his administration about changing medical marijuana policy, these tactics are completely indefensible."

ASA and other advocates estimate that approximately 400 dispensaries help provide medical marijuana to a majority of the more than 200,000 qualified patients in California. In August of 2008, State Attorney General Jerry Brown issued guidelines recognizing the legality of medical marijuana dispensaries and offered a set of recommendation for how such facilities could comply with state law. In 2005, the California Board of Equalization began collecting tax on the sale of medical marijuana, a revenue source for the state budget estimated by ASA at more than $100 million.

Sixteen Members of Congress Urge Attorney General Holder to change DEA policy

More medical cannabis will be available for research soon, if members of Congress have their way.

After lobbying by ASA, Sixteen members of Congress sent a letter last month to Attorney General Eric Holder, urging the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to act "swiftly to amend or withdraw" an order that significantly curtails medical marijuana research in the United States.

At issue is a 2001 request by a University of Massachusetts, Amherst researcher, Dr. Lyle Craker, to grow pharmaceutical-grade cannabis for federally approved research studies. Currently, many approved studies are unable to proceed for lack of research materials. In February of 2007, DEA Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner ruled that monopoly should end because expanded medical marijuana research is "in the public interest." The DEA sat on the ruling for nearly two years before rejecting it less than one week before the new administration took office.

For more than forty years, the government has given the University of Mississippi a monopoly on cultivating marijuana for medical research. Not only is this arrangement unlike that for any other controlled substance regulated by the federal government, no other country restricts research in this way.

The Congressional letter authored by John Olver (D-MA) notes the broad scientific and political support for Craker's proposal: "Forty-five members of the House of Representatives and Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, as well as a broad range of scientific, medical and public health organizations including the Lymphoma Foundation of America, the National Association for Public Health Policy, and the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation have all written to DEA in support of Professor Craker's efforts."

In her 87-page Opinion and Recommended Ruling, Administrative Law Judge Bittner concluded that the quality and quantity of marijuana supplied by NIDA was inadequate for the level of research that cannabis deserves.

The ACLU, which represents Professor Craker in this matter, is requesting reconsideration and an opportunity to respond to new evidence used by the DEA in its decision.

Patients, advocates call Maryland law inadequate, seek changes

Maryland has edged one step closer to expanding a state medical marijuana law that advocates say is too limited.

With assistance from ASA, Maryland State Delegate Henry Heller (D-Montgomery County) introduced legislation in February that creates a task force to study the issue.

The bill, HB 1339, would require the State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to staff a Governor-appointed task force to evaluate whether the current state law is effective, fair, and equally enforced across all state jurisdictions, among other issues.

"Maryland's medical marijuana law is broken," said Tony Bowles, a spokesperson with the Montgomery County Chapter of Americans for Safe Access. "People suffering from serious or chronic conditions are still vulnerable to arrest and prosecution, and are left without a safe, secure way to access physician-recommended medical marijuana."

The Maryland state legislature passed the Darrell Putman Compassionate Use Act in 2002, requiring state and municipal courts to consider a a physician's recommendation for medical use of cannabis to be a "mitigating factor" in marijuana-related state prosecutions. The law permits an affirmative defense in state court, yet qualified patients may still be convicted and fined up to $100.

Advocates say Maryland's citizens with a physician's recommendation to use marijuana are routinely arrested, prosecuted, and, in some cases, fined more than the statutory $100 limit.

"Maryland's qualified patients in Maryland should not be forced to break the law and use the illicit market to access to the medicine their doctors recommend," said Bowles.

Thirteen other states, containing more than 72 million people, have passed laws authorizing patients living with a serious or chronic condition to use physician-recommended marijuana free from criminal prosecution.

The Maryland chapters of Americans For Safe Access have been working with patients and their supporters bring similar protections to their state.

"Every year, Maryland wastes precious law enforcement resources to investigate, arrest and prosecute scores of people who legitimately use medical cannabis," said Bowles. "We applaud Delegate Heller's proposal and hope this task force will put science above politics, paving the way for much needed changes to a flawed medical marijuana law."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
MARCH 4, 2009

Illinois Medical Marijuana Bill Passes House Committee for the First Time Ever, 4-3

Patients, Supporters Hail Passage as Important Step to Protecting Seriously Ill Who Use Doctor-Recommended Medical Marijuana

CONTACT: Dan Bernath, MPP assistant director of communications, 202-462-5747 ex. 2030

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS — The Illinois House Human Services Committee passed a bipartisan bill today, 4-3, that would allow seriously ill patients with certain debilitating conditions who have their doctors’ recommendations to use medical marijuana without fear of arrest. A companion bill, SB 1381, is sponsored by three-term former state's attorney Sen. Bill Haine (D-Alton) in the Illinois Senate and is expected to receive a hearing in the Senate Public Health Committee next Tuesday.

    HB 2514, the House medical marijuana bill, is sponsored by Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie).

    Although this isn't the first time a medical marijuana bill was introduced in the Illinois House, this is the first time a House committee passed such a bill. Advocates hope state lawmakers will note that 63 percent of Michigan voters approved a similar law last November and that a 2008 statewide poll shows 68 percent support among Illinois voters for such a law.

    "Doctors need every safe, effective medicine available to them when treating patients with serious conditions such as cancer, HIV/AIDS and multiple sclerosis," said Dr. Jay Riseman, a Springfield physician who testified before the committee today. "I've seen medical marijuana work for patients when nothing else did, and I should be able to recommend it to my patients without leaving them vulnerable to arrest and even jail."

    With more than 26,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

MARCH 3, 2009

Senate Committee Passes Medical Marijuana, 4-3

CONTACT: Former Rep. Chris DeLaForest (R-Andover)......................................................(763) 439-1178

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA -- The Senate version of Minnesota's medical marijuana bill, S.F. 97, cleared its second hurdle in the Senate today, passing the Judiciary Committee by a vote of 4 to 3.

     "I am increasingly confident that this will be the year that Minnesota joins the 13 other states that have acted to protect medical marijuana patients from arrest," said bill sponsor Sen. Steve Murphy (DFL-Red Wing). "This is an issue where science, compassion and simple common sense come together."

     A previous version of the bill passed the Senate and every House committee in the 2007-2008 session, but was never brought up for a vote on the House floor. A hearing on the companion House bill is expected in the House Civil Justice Committee shortly.

     Thirteen states, comprising approximately one-quarter of the U.S. population, now permit medical use of marijuana under state law if a physician has recommended it. The newest such law was enacted by Michigan voters last November, passing with a record-setting 63 percent "yes" vote. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder reaffirmed on Feb. 25 that the Obama administration intends to pursue a policy of non-interference with these state laws. Medical organizations that have recognized marijuana's medical uses include the American Public Health Association, American Nurses Association, American Academy of HIV Medicine, and American College of Physicians.

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MEDIA ADVISORY

MARCH 2, 2009  

Medical Marijuana Bill Faces Senate Committee Hearing Tuesday

CONTACT: Former Rep. Chris DeLaForest (R-Andover)..........................................…………(763) 439-1178

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA — Minnesota's medical marijuana bill faces its next crucial committee test in the Senate Judiciary Committee this Tuesday. If passed, the measure would make Minnesota the 14th state to permit medical use of marijuana by seriously ill patients with a physician's recommendation. The newest such law, in Michigan, was passed by voters in November with a record-setting 63 percent voting "yes."

    WHAT: Senate Judiciary Committee hearing and vote on medical marijuana legislation
    WHO: Sen. Steve Murphy (DFL-Red Wing) and committee members
    WHEN: Tuesday, March 3, 3 p.m.
    WHERE: Rm. 15, State Capitol, 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul

Dear friends:

When I spoke with Barack Obama at a Capitol Hill reception in September 2004 (two months before his election to the U.S. Senate), he said he agreed with me that states should have the right to determine their own medical marijuana policies without federal interference.

That was the beginning of a series of events that culminated two days ago, when Attorney General Eric Holder announced — while standing next to the current DEA administrator — there will be no more DEA raids on medical marijuana establishments in California or elsewhere. This is significant, given that Holder is the "top cop" of the nation and the boss of the DEA!

Medical marijuana patients, dispensary owners and staffers, growers, MPP staffers, and other activists are breathing a sigh of relief ... having been terrorized by the Bush administration for eight years.  How did we get to this point?

Please watch this one-minute video clip of Obama responding to one of our campaign volunteers in New Hampshire on August 21, 2007, in the heat of the presidential primary campaign ...

After that, Obama publicly reiterated that he would discontinue Bush's policy, including in an interview with the editorial board of an Oregon paper. And, since Obama was elected, we've kept in touch with high-level staffers in the White House and on his transition team, as a way of keeping this issue on their radar screen until the policy was officially changed. 

Then, when Bush holdovers in the DEA raided five medical marijuana dispensaries in California in the days after Obama took office on January 20, MPP barraged the media and MPP members barraged the Obama administration to demand an end to the DEA's raids (and to fire the Bush holdovers).

And, of course, MPP and a host of other organizations — including conservative groups like Citizens Against Government Waste — have built support for the annual vote (from 2003 to 2007) on the House floor for an amendment that would have forbidden the DEA and the Justice Department from spending taxpayer money to subvert state-level medical marijuana laws.

All of this advocacy by thousands of patients, dispensary owners, volunteers, paid lobbyists, medical associations, and so many others has paid off. You did it; we all did it.

Now it's time for us to take our work to the next level by (1) enacting medical marijuana laws in Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and New York; (2) improving California's and Rhode Island's existing medical marijuana laws in order to provide licenses to dispensaries in both states; (3) reopening the federal "compassionate IND program" so that patients in all 50 states can obtain legal access to medical marijuana; and (4) passing our medical marijuana ballot initiative in Arizona in November 2010.

Please consider making a financial donation to all of this work.  Thanks so much ...

Sincerely,

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

REPORTER:  "Right after the inauguration, there were some raids on California medical marijuana dispensaries. Was that a deliberate decision by you, by the Justice Department? As a prediction of policy going forward, do you expect those sorts of raids to continue? (muffled) The president said during the campaign —"

ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER:  "Well, what the president said during the campaign, you'll be surprised to know, will be consistent with what we'll be doing here in law enforcement. He was my boss during the campaign, he is formally and technically and by law my boss now, and so what he said during the campaign is now American policy."

Dear ASA Supporter,

Speaking at a press conference on Feb. 25 with DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters that ending federal medical marijuana raids "is now American policy." The Attorney General’s comments are the latest sign of a sea change in federal policy prompted by a groundswell of grassroots pressure by Americans for Safe Access (ASA) and our allies. They came as a response to Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raids carried out by Bush Administration holdovers in California in January and February.

ASA needs your support to keep grassroots pressure on the Attorney General. Please support ASA today.

President Obama indicated he would end the DEA raids during his presidential campaign, a position reiterated by the White House following DEA raids in raids which took placeon February 4. In response to a question last night about DEA raids at medical marijuana facilities in California, Holder said, "What the President said during the campaign...is consistent with what we will be doing here in law enforcement. He was my boss in the campaign....He is my boss now. What he said in the campaign is now American policy."

Medical marijuana patients and advocates, who have mounted a massive grassroots campaign to influence the new Administration’s policy, cheered the Attorney General’s comments. 72 million Americans live in states where medical cannabis is legal, but federal law prohibits its use under any circumstances. More than 100 Americans are currently facing prosecution, sentencing, or serving time in prison for medical cannabis offense right now. ASA needs your help to ensure that the emerging change in federal policy signals an end to prosecutions and brings those already serving time for medical cannabis offenses home to their families.

ASA has provided recommendations for a new national medical cannabis policy to President Obama and the 111th Congress earlier this year. We are working overtime now to be sure those recommendations are heard in this new era of compassionate federal policy. Please support ASA in this effort.

Sincerely,

Don Duncan
California Director
Americans for Safe Access

ASA California Weekly Alert: 02-20-09

Weekly Round Up
1. 2009 Medical Marijuana Week Recap
2. Palm Springs Votes to Allow Dispensaries
3. Laguna Beach Passes Dispensary Moratorium

Take Action
4. Go back and Participate in ASA's MMJ Week Actions!

Chapter and Affiliate Meetings
5. Saturday, February 21st – Los Angeles: L.A. ASA Meeting
6. Tuesday, February 24th - San Francisco: SF ASA Meeting
7. Wednesday, February 25th - Oakland: East Bay ASA Meeting

Court Support
8. Monday, February 23rd - Los Angeles: Protest to Support Charles Lynch Against Federal Injustice

Special Events
9. Saturday February 21st - Los Angeles: LA-ASA Meeting & Activist Training
10. Sunday February 22nd - Oakland: East Bay Medical Cannabis Activists Mixer
11. Wednesday, March 11th - Riverside County AIDS Conference to Include Medical Cannabis Panel

Weekly Round Up

1. 2009 Medical Marijuana Week Recap

Medical cannabis activists across the country have been participating in this year's "Medical Marijuana Week 2009", which has included a week long series of events and actions designed to get people to participate, become active advocates, and to learn and think more about what issues, prejudices, and exciting medical breakthroughs surround the cannabis plant and are as yet still unaddressed.

In the past week, activists in California took part in events that included legal trainings, film screenings, public seed plantings, art shows, and festivals, as well as charity events that raised awareness and benefited homeless communities.  All the way across the country in our nation's capital, activists from Maryland ASA chapters held candle light vigils, educational medical cannabis teach-ins, and a party to celebrate the hard work their chapters have done to introduce legislation in the Maryland state legislature.

On the activism side, ASA has been sending actions to our national list all week, encouraging people to stand up and get active in ways they might normally wouldn't.  Actions this week included officially joining up with ASA through a membership or signing up for the Ambassador program, spending a day reading and learning about the history or new science of cannabis, recruiting others, meeting with elected officials, and connecting with medical cannabis POW's.  We've received great feedback and lots of participation from our membership - so thanks to all of you who took part in the actions of the past week!  Keep it up!   This has been a great way to bring attention to medical cannabis with a week of actions that have helped to rejuvenate our community  of activists.   It's been a great week and I can't wait until 2010!

2. Palm Springs Votes to Allow Dispensaries

This week the City Council members of Palm Springs voted to make it the first city in Riverside County to allow medical cannabis dispensing collectives.  The decision by the Council was intended to improve access of medical cannabis and keep local residents from having to resort to the illicit market for their treatment.  Activists have long been pressuring Palm Springs and other parts of Riverside County to allow dispensing collectives, and the 3-1 vote in favor demonstrates the fruits of that labor.

The ordinance will go into effect in 30 days following its second reading, and allows two dispensing collectives to operate within city limits.  According to Councilmember Ginny Foat, "This is an incredible first step."

Dispensary regulations have been a growing trend in California, as cities and counties work to address the needs of the medical cannabis patients in their communities, and as California state law has become increasingly clear about the legality of the dispensing collectives, as evidenced most recently in guidelines released by California Attorney General Jerry Brown.  In addition, research has indicated that dispensing collectives can not only improve the safety of communities, but can also lead to greater health outcomes of patients who are members.

3. Laguna Beach Passes Dispensary Moratorium

Unfortunately, not all municipalities are moving in the same direction with regard to dispensary regulations.  While Palm Springs became the first city in Riverside County to allow dispensing collectives, the City Council of Laguna Beach voted to implement a moratorium,  putting the halt on a dispensary that had been set to open in the city's downtown area.

The 45-day moratorium was established at least in part because Councilors claimed to require more time to consider how the permit process would move forward and for them to consider their "regulatory options".   Some cities have passed moratoriums in order to buy themselves time to draft ordinances, but others have used the moratoriums as a means to stall and postpone dealing with the issue, before ultimately passing bans altogether.   This was a concern of local advocates.

Laguna Beach residents who spoke out in defense of the dispensing collective cited personal stories of loved ones with severe illness and their need for safe access to  their medication,  as opposed to driving to "illegal set-ups", as one resident put it.    

Dear friends:

Although Washington, D.C., passed a ballot initiative to allow medical marijuana use in 1998, with an overwhelming 69% of the vote, Congress has thwarted the will of D.C. voters and prevented the law from taking effect.

In fact, originally — until a court intervened — Congress even tried to stop the vote from being counted! 

Would you please take a minute to ask Congress to stop overriding the will of D.C. voters, and let D.C.'s medical marijuana law go into effect? MPP's online action center makes it easy.

Even the sponsor of the original federal law, former Congressman Bob Barr (R-Ga.), has called for the repeal of the very law he authored a decade ago, saying, “Continuing to have the federal government run roughshod over the states, even if the citizens of a state decide they wish to legalize medicinal marijuana, for example, is wrong.”

In 2007, MPP worked with Congressman Barr to try to remove this provision so D.C.'s medical marijuana law could go into effect. But at the time, Democrats in Congress didn't want to force the issue with then-President Bush, who they knew would use such an opportunity to stoke the flames of the culture war. However, now that we have a president in the White House who has already signaled support for medical marijuana access, this is the best opportunity we've ever had to repeal this terrible provision.

Please take a minute right now to tell Congress to stop thwarting the will of D.C. voters.

Thank you,

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 $2.35 million that MPP can raise from the rest of the planet in 2009. This means that your donation today will be doubled.