I will be attending the CA Unity Conference and Lobby Day because I support the hardworking, taxpaying medical cannabis members of my union, the United Food and Commercial Workers. I am a proud member of UFCW Local 5’s Medical Cannabis and Hemp Division, and a Special Projects Union Representative for Local 5. My Local was the first in the nation to start organizing cannabis workers in 2010 with the Oaksterdam family of businesses, and was a lead coalition partner in support of Proposition 19.
Since then, medical cannabis workers have joined our union throughout California; in Sacramento, San Francisco, the Emerald Triangle, Los Angeles, Marin County, San Jose, and other areas across the state. We were also proud coalition partners with the Citizens Coalition for Patient Care referendum campaign in San Jose, which overturned the bad ordinance that would have effectively banned medical cannabis dispensaries. Workers have also joined UFCW’s Medical Cannabis and Hemp Division in Colorado and Michigan, and we will soon be organizing in other medical cannabis states across the country. Read the rest of this entry »
Why am I attending the California Unity Conference? Because the federal government continues to undermine state and local medical marijuana laws – resulting in the closure of some of San Francisco’s oldest and best-regulated dispensing collectives, and scaring patients who fear reprisal from law enforcement just for using their medicine. We are being put to the ultimate test to see whether or not our community has the strength and adversity to protect and defend safe access. Right now, support from our elected representatives is jeopardized because of misinformation being spread by our opponents. We must stop these attacks on medical cannabis and take back the momentum for patients. Read the rest of this entry »
Last week, two Washington, D.C. Area Neighborhood Commissions (ANC) voted unanimously in support of dispensary permit applicants who received provisionally sufficient scores by the District Department of Health to operate in their neighborhoods. Two additional medical cannabis dispensary applicants will have their applications considered at ANC meetings later in May. Some in these neighborhoods have expressed fear over negative perceptions about what medical cannabis dispensaries mean in terms of community impact; however, the best evidence available suggests that dispensaries are a benefit, not a risk, to public safety. Read the rest of this entry »
There has never been a clearer opportunity to demonstrate support for medical marijuana than the current race for Oregon Attorney General, which features two Democrats with decidedly different views on safe access to therapeutic cananbis. This campaign and the media it has generated is important for the national perception it creates that
there is a medical marijuana movement and
that our movement will act unified enough to make a difference in an election.
This campaign is the first time any of the US Attorneys who led attacks on state legal co-op gardens has ever had to consider the marijuana vote. Dwight Holton has consistently sided with the tough on crime crowd and boasts endorsements from the group responsible for passing Oregon’s mandatory minimum sentences law.
Judge Ellen Rosenblum – with 22 years on the bench and 14 more as a prosecutor and an attorney – says she will protect patients and uphold Oregon’s voter-approved law. That law passed in 1998, five years before her opponent Dwight Holton moved to Oregon.
Recent polls show Rosenblum with a healthy lead. But with 60% of the vote yet to be cast, Holton can still make a comeback.
Every vote matters in this race. Please share this on Facebook and tell all of your friends. It’s too late to mail in your ballot. You must find one of Oregon’s drop-off sites in your community. Vote Rosenblum for Oregon Attorney today.
During a TV interview in Denver yesterday, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney got testy when asked about access to cannabis. He asked, “Aren’t there issues of significance you would like to talk about?”
Mitt Romney, access to medical cannabis is significant to patients and their loved ones.
President Obama has not been a friend to medical marijuana users, as we all know. Under his watch, more than 170 dispensaries, caregivers and patients have faced federal law enforcement action in states where medical marijuana is legal. But Mitt Romney’s statement is harsher than anything the President has said on the issue. Romney added, “I think medical marijuana should not be legal in this country.” Read the rest of this entry »
Wednesday night, the House voted on the Rohrabacher-Hinchey-McClintock-Farr amendment, to end the federal crackdown on state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries. While the amendment failed, it received more votes than a similar bill in 2007 (when Democrats controlled the House). Thank you so much for reaching out to your representatives to support safe access. In less than a week, we generated thousands of phone calls, emails, and tweets urging Congress to adopt the bill.
We came close because your voices were heard loud and clear.
Make no mistake about it – this vote was a great victory for our movement. 73% of Democrats voted to end President Obama’s policy of cracking down on state-sanctioned medical marijuana dispensaries. 12% of Republicans voted for this bipartisan amendment to the Justice appropriations bill, a significant increase from 2007 – even as pundits say the House has grown more conservative.
Note from Steph: To make our conference more accessible, we were able to lower the cost to just $50 for both days including lunch. Please join us!
California’s voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996, almost 16 years ago. I don’t need to remind you that today, we are still fighting for our right to access our medicine. While we continue to work at the federal level to respect states’ rights, we must ensure that the State of California respects the needs of patients when regulating marijuana.
Last year we were given the shellacking of our lives in the State Capitol because there was no one up there to represent us. We cannot afford to make that mistake again. There are some very good bills – like AB2312 – and some very bad bills being considered. If our state legislators do not hear from us, who will they be listening to for our side of the issue?
There is no substitute for your voice in Sacramento
That’s why I am going, along with a busload of patients from the Inland Empire, to the California Unity Conference sponsored by the ASA-organized coalition, Californians to Regulate Medical Marijuana. Yes, we are family and we are coming together to work on protecting patients’ rights to safe, reliable and local access. If you support safe access, you need to come and work with us. Purchase your tickets now for the conference, or arrange to join us for Lobby Day!
PS: The IE bus of patients will be staying at a local Sacramento motel. If you are coming up and need a room, send an email to writetoclsa@gmail.com if you would like to obtain one of the rooms at the place we are staying.
One month ago I traveled to California for an event in San Francisco. The morning before the event, I awoke to the news that the Drug Enforcement Administration was raiding Blue Sky, a dispensary in Oakland. It was heartening to see an outpouring of support for medical marijuana patients, but the dispensary was closed down and medicine was seized. The next day I visited a dear friend who is suffering from late-stage cancer, who is too ill to medicate even with a vaporizer. Though in great pain, my friend did not want to use morphine and lose her ability to communicate with the friends and family whom she loves very much.
Guest blog by Jahan Marcu. Cathy Jordan was on a panel with Jahan Marcu at the Cannabis Therapeutics Conference in Arizona. Before taking the stage, she discussed the medical use of cannabis for ALS with the Vice Chair of ASA’s Medical and Scientific Advisory Board.
Finally, President Obama has spoken about his aggressive stance toward medical marijuana. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, his statements are underwhelming, inaccurate and do nothing to address medical marijuana as a public health issue. In response to a question from Rolling Stone on why his administration is conducting more medical marijuana raids than the Bush administration, President Obama failed to come clean on reasons for the breadth and intensity of the attacks, which significantly escalated since he took office.
What I specifically said was that we were not going to prioritize prosecutions of persons who are using medical marijuana. I never made a commitment that somehow we were going to give carte blanche to large-scale producers and operators of marijuana…
Actually, what Obama said on the campaign trail in 2008 was that he was “not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state [medical marijuana] laws.”
I will be attending the CA Unity Conference and Lobby Day because I support the hardworking, taxpaying medical cannabis members of my union, the United Food and Commercial Workers. I am a proud member of UFCW Local 5’s Medical Cannabis and Hemp Division, and a Special Projects Union Representative for Local 5. My Local was the first in the nation to start organizing cannabis workers in 2010 with the Oaksterdam family of businesses, and was a lead coalition partner in support of Proposition 19.
Why am I attending the California Unity Conference? Because the federal government continues to undermine state and local medical marijuana laws – resulting in the closure of some of San Francisco’s oldest and best-regulated dispensing collectives, and scaring patients who fear reprisal from law enforcement just for using their medicine. We are being put to the ultimate test to see whether or not our community has the strength and adversity to protect and defend safe access. Right now, support from our elected representatives is jeopardized because of misinformation being spread by our opponents. We must stop these attacks on medical cannabis and take back the momentum for patients.
Last week, two Washington, D.C. Area Neighborhood Commissions (ANC) 
President Obama has not been a friend to medical marijuana users, 
