Medical Marijuana
Berkeley City Council to Vote on MMJ Sanctuary Resolution
Stop CBS4 Attacks on Cannabis Patients -- Tell CBS Not to Air the Attack on Disabled Veteran Kevin Dickes
ASAâs Medical Marijuana in the News: 1/25/08
- ANNOUNCEMENT: Discontinuation of ASA's Weekly Media Summaries
- ASA ACTION: Fighting for Patientsâ Right to Work
- CALIFORNIA: City Officials React to DEA Raids
- CALIFORNIA: Senior Citizens Prosecuted for Medical Cultivation
- OREGON: Change in Medical Marijuana Law Sought
- DISPENSARIES: Ensuring Safe Access
- ASA BLOG: Comments from ASA Staff and Guests
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
Discontinuation of ASA's Weekly Media Summaries
Dear ASA Supporter,
This week's media summary will be the last that ASA produces in this form. We know many of you have enjoyed these news summaries, and we intend to keep you updated in other ways. Here are three ways to stay informed:
Continue to look for special announcements and news updates on the ASA national email list. For state specific news, please sign up for one of our state or local announcement lists.
Check the Online Media Buzz section of ASA's discussion forums, where users and staff post news articles and press releases daily. Read news analysis and more from ASA staff and guests on ASA's blog, Medical Cannabis: Voices from the Frontlines.
ASA would like to thank William Dolphin, who has compiled the news and provided analysis of important medical cannabis stories weekly for the past several years.
If you have questions or comments about this change, feel free to contact me at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Rebecca Saltzman
Chief of Staff
Americans for Safe Access
ASA ACTION: Fighting for Patientsâ Right to Work
In a split decision on a workersâ rights case argued by ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford, the California Supreme Court decided this week that employers can fire workers for testing positive for marijuana use, even in the case of those who use it for medical reasons on the advice of a physician. The 5-2 ruling came despite a brief filed by all the authors of the California legislatureâs Medical Marijuana Program Act (SB420), saying that it had been their intent to extend such civil protections to medical marijuana patients. One of the authors, Assemblyman Mark Leno, has taken immediate action to submit a new bill, sponsored by ASA, that would specify workplace protections for patients.
Calif. Firms Can Fire Medical Marijuana Users
by Karl Vick, Washington Post
The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that employers can fire workers who test positive for marijuana even if they have a note from a doctor recommending its use for medical reasons. Kris Hermes, spokesman for Americans for Safe Access, the Oakland advocacy group that argued the case, said advocates would go back to the state legislature to seek more explicit protections.
Medical marijuana users can be fired: Calif. court
by Adam Tanner, Reuters
Companies can fire employees who use marijuana for medical reasons even if California law allows such use because federal law prohibits it, the state's Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. "We remain hopeful that the legislature will come to the aid of patients by preventing the sort of discrimination that is likely to occur from such a decision," said Joe Elford, chief counsel of Americans for Safe Access.
DrugSense FOCUS Alert: Use Medical Marijuana - Lose Your Job
Press Release: CA Supreme Court Denies Medical Marijuana Patients' Right to Work
ASA's Medical Marijuana in the News: 1/18/08
- NEW MEXICO: Patient Suing Sheriff, County over Federal Raid
- COLORADO: Police Pursued for Damaged Cannabis
- CANADA: Court Ruling Allows Patient Choice
- DISPENSARIES: Access Important for Patients
- MONTANA: Attempt to Limit State Law Condemned
- IDAHO: City Advised to Ignore Will of Voters
- ASA BLOG: Comments from ASA Staff and Guests
NEW MEXICO: Patient Suing Sheriff, County over Federal Raid
Within weeks of New Mexico implementing its medical cannabis law, federal agents, with the help of local sheriffâs deputies, raided the home of a paraplegic and seized his medicine. The raid outraged the stateâs governor Bill Richardson, who sent an angry letter to Washington demanding that the federal government stop interfering in New Mexicoâs efforts to care for its citizens. Now the man who was victimized is suing the county and local officers for their part in subverting the state law.
Lawsuit says deputies targeted man for medical marijuana
Associated Press
A paraplegic man from Malaga has sued Eddy County sheriff's deputies. Leonard French alleges they seized marijuana plants and equipment to grow them last summer despite the fact he has a license under New Mexico's medical marijuana law.
N.M. man sues deputies over pot seizure
KOB TV 4 (NM)
A wheelchair-bound man is suing Eddy County deputies for seizing marijuana that he says he was using for medical purposes.
ACLU files suit over raid
by Tom Moody, Current-Argus (NM)
A paraplegic Malaga man who holds a medical marijuana permit from the state of New Mexico filed a lawsuit Thursday against Eddy County and several county law officers for their part in a drug raid that seized his marijuana plants and growing equipment, attorneys announced.
COLORADO: Police Pursued for Damaged Cannabis
The landmark court order for the return of medical marijuana to a Colorado couple got them their plants back, but in unusable condition. With the help of attorney Brian Vicente, director of the Colorado Campaign for Safe Access, the couple is now pursuing damages based on federal estimates of the plantsâ value. State law has a provision that requires law enforcement to return wrongfully seized medical marijuana in good condition.
Couple seeks compensation for pot
by Trevor Hughes, The Coloradoan
In what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind request for Colorado, a Fort Collins couple is demanding police pay them more than $200,000 for improperly confiscating and destroying 39 marijuana plants.
Couple to ask police to pay for dead marijuana
by Jeffrey Wolf, KUSA 9News TV (CO)
A couple plans to file for compensation after they say police destroyed their medical marijuana.
Fort Collins couple to ask city for reimbursement for dead marijuana plants
The Coloradoan
The attorney for James and Lisa Masters, whose 39 medical marijuana plants were seized by Fort Collins police and later destroyed, plans to file a motion this afternoon asking the city pay the couple for the destroyed plants.
Couple Wants Police To Pay For Damaged Marijuana Plants
by Lance Hernandez, KMGH TV News7 - Denver
James and Lisa Masters said they want to send a message to police departments all across Colorado. The couple and one of their attorneys filed a motion late Thursday seeking compensation for 39 damaged medical marijuana plants.
Medical Marijuana Users Seek $200K For Lost Stash
by Emil Steiner, Columnist, Washington Post
Today in Fort Collins, Colo., a lawyer will walk into a court house and ask the city to pay his clients for destroying their marijuana. The motion for compensation asks Fort Collins to fork over $202,800, the most money ever sought for the destruction of a drug.
ASA's Medical Marijuana in the News: 1/11/08
- COLORADO: Another Return of Medical Marijuana
- CANADA: Caregiver Limits Found Unconstitutional
- IMPLEMENTATION: Cultivation Quantities Disputed
- WASHINGTON: Workersâ Rights Again in Question
- DISPENSARIES: Local Officials Challenged to Meet Need
- IN MEMORIAM: Patient Advocate Passes
- ASA BLOG: Comments from ASA Staff and Guests
COLORADO: Another Return of Medical Marijuana
Another case of wrongfully seized medical cannabis has come to a happy close in Colorado, as a former Marine had his medicine returned by police. The return is thanks largely to landmark litigation brought in part by Brian Vicente, director of the Colorado Campaign for Safe Access, a joint project of Sensible Colorado and ASA. Even the Washington Post is taking note.
Aurora Police Return Marijuana To Former Marine
by Rick Sallinger, CBS 4 Denver
Police in Aurora have given back dozens of marijuana plants they seized. The owner claimed the pot was being used for medicinal purposes and he had a state issued card to back it up.
Medical Marijuana Payback Burns Colorado Police
by Emil Steiner, Washington Post
Policing pot in Colorado is about to get a lot more complicated. The kick-in-the-door raids SWAT teams have long employed could now cost cities hundreds of thousands of dollars following two landmark court decisions upholding the state's constitutional protection of medical marijuana. Under the rulings, police departments are required to return any marijuana and paraphernalia taken from state-sanctioned growers, and can be sued by those growers if the crops aren't preserved.
CANADA: Caregiver Limits Found Unconstitutional
A federal court in Canada has again found that country's policies on restricting access to medical cannabis to be unconstitutional, saying the current approach has "caused individuals a major difficulty with access." In this case, the issue is the number of patients for which a person may provide cannabis, which had been limited to a single patient per grower, and the government's requirement that those who cannot grow their own use the cannabis provided by the government's contractor. The court's decision opens up the possibility of a more efficient dispensary model, such as California's.
Federal Court strikes down regulation limiting growers of medical marijuana
Canadian Press
Canadians who are prescribed marijuana to treat their illnesses will no longer be forced to rely on the federal government as a supplier following a Federal Court ruling that struck down a key restriction in Ottawa's controversial medical marijuana program.
Canada court rejects supply limit on medical pot
Canadian Press
A Federal Court judge has struck down a government regulation that prevents medical marijuana growers from producing the drug for more than one patient.
IMPLEMENTATION: Cultivation Quantities Disputed
The number of plants patients are legally entitled to grow has been a source of contention in California since medical use was approved by the voters. Californians had the wisdom to recognize that the amounts patients would require could vary considerably, so they did not try to mandate medication amounts. Since then, law enforcement, courts, local officials and even municipal referenda have tried to establish limits, but the law is clear in its silence on the subject, and cannot be changed except by another statewide initiative. What the legislature and local entities can do, is provide guidance on the levels at which law enforcement can decline to investigate further or refer matters to the courts for decision.
Medical pot users arrested
by Stacia Glenn, San Bernardino Sun (CA)
JoAnn Cates, who has 16 great-grandchildren, seems an unlikely candidate to be handcuffed and hauled off to jail for growing a marijuana crop in her backyard.
Pro-pot measure returns to ballot
Press-Democrat (CA)
A landmark 2000 Mendocino County marijuana measure will be back before voters in the June primary, a move taken Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors after a contentious three-hour public hearing.
ASAâs Medical Marijuana in the News: 1/5/08
- ASA ACTION: City of San Diego Sides with ASA on Patient Rights
- MONTANA: Corrections Officials Try to Block Access
- NEW MEXICO: Patient Grateful, but Still Fearful
- NEW JERSEY: Medical Marijuana Bill Languishes in Legislature
- FEDERAL: Nomination for US Attorney Bodes Ill for California
- CANADA: Crusading Patient Memorialized
- SENIORS: Aging Americans Look to Medical Marijuana
- DISPENSARIES: Operator Defends Safe Access
- CALIFORNIA: Medical Cannabis Conflict on North Coast
- ASA BLOG: Comments from ASA Staff and Guests
ASA ACTION: City of San Diego Sides with ASA on Patient Rights
When officials from three counties tried to opt out of Californiaâs requirement that they issue medical marijuana patients ID cards, ASAâs legal team took action. ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford appeared in court on behalf of a coalition of advocacy groups to argue that state law must be respected, and won. San Diego County was alone in deciding to appeal the ruling, and now the city of San Diego has filed a brief arguing in favor of patients.
City files amicus brief for medical ID cards
by Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union Tribune
In the legal tug of war between the county and state over medical marijuana, the city of San Diego has sided with Sacramento â and voters.
County Wants Relief of Duty Providing ID Cards for Medical Marijuana Users
Fox 6 San Diego
The city of San Diego has taken the state's side against San Diego county in a battle about medical marijuana use, according to court documents.
County, City At Odds Over Medical Marijuana
NBC San Diego
The city of San Diego joined the fight in support of medicinal marijuana Friday, issuing a request to the state court to confirm that ailing patients have the right to use the drug for medicinal purposes.
MONTANA: Corrections Officials Try to Block Access
Medical care for Montanans under state supervision would be limited if corrections officials get their way. But there is substantial opposition to the plan, which would eliminate access to the stateâs medical marijuana program for those on parole or probation.
Medical Pot Ban Sought for Parolees
by Mattt Gouras, Associated Press
Montana's Department of Corrections is facing stiff resistance to a proposal to prohibit all people on parole or probation from obtaining medical marijuana.
Medical Marijuana - No medicine for parolees
by Patrick Duganz , Missoula News (MT)
Convicts on parole or probation in Montana currently have the same rights as anybody else to use medical marijuana as prescribed by a physician, but the Montana Department of Corrections (DOC) wants to alter this policy because of a perception that parolees are âdoctor shoppingâ for the legal medication.
A Holiday Surprise & Victory for Medical Marijuana!
[Courtesy of Americans for Safe Access]Â
Last week, House Judiciary Committee Chair, Rep. Conyers (D-MI) pledged to investigate the DEAâs recent and ongoing tactics threatening the safety and security of state-sanctioned patients, providers, and innocent third-party landlords. Chairman Conyersâ commitment to question DEA attacks on medical marijuana states has brought holiday cheer to medical marijuana patients and supporters. Please thank Chairman Conyers, and his staff, today!
Click here to thank Chairman Conyers right now! Chairman Conyers needs to know you support and appreciate his decision to hold oversight hearings. Be sure to thank him and tell him that as a patient and/or medical marijuana supporter, you look forward to working with him and his dedicated staff as they prepare for the oversight hearing.
Visit www.AmericansforSafeAccess.org/ThankYouRepConyers to send a short message.
Since the DEA began raiding medical cannabis dispensing collectives in 2002, Congress has never held a hearing to investigate the goal of these raids, how much these raids are costing taxpayers in both dollars and precious resources, or what impact these raids are having on patients and the state and local governments attempting to regulate the distribution of medical marijuana in accordance with state law. A House oversight investigation is an important and significant opportunity for the medical marijuana community. Please thank Chairman Conyers today. Click here to send a message.
Thank you for your commitment to safe access.
Sincerely,
Sonnet Seeborg GabbardField Coordinator
Americans for Safe Access
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