About Medical Marijuana

Big victory in Butte County

Americans for Safe Access (ASA) won another important victory for medical cannabis patients this week! In County of Butte v. Superior Court (download decision), the Third District Court of Appeal upheld patients’ right to collective cultivation. The ruling puts California cities and counties on notice that they may face civil litigation for abridging patients’ rights. It also upholds the District Court finding that not every member of a collective garden must physically participate in growing the medicine.

County of Butte v. Superior Court “upholds Butte County Superior Court Judge Barbara Roberts’ ruling from September 2007, in which she states that seriously ill patients cultivating collectively ’should not be required to risk criminal penalties and the stress and expense of a criminal trial in order to assert their rights.’ Judge Roberts’ ruling also rejected Butte County’s policy of requiring all members to physically participate in the cultivation, thereby allowing collective members to ‘contribute financially’.” (quoted from ASA) This has positive implications for defendants and regulations statewide!

Read more about the Butte County decision on the ASA web site.

Tags: Americans for Safe Access, Butte County, collectives, medical cannabis

Hardship hardships

Hundreds of medical cannabis collective operators in Los Angeles face an uncertain future as the City Council and Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee take up more than eight hundred hardship applications filed under a controversial provision of the city’s moratorium on new patients’ associations. The City Council has already denied forty-four applications seeking permission to operate facilities that opened or relocated after the City Council adopted the moratorium in September of 2007. None have been approved.

Most advocates agree that the City Council is likely to deny most or all of the hardship applications. Critical media coverage and growing opposition from neighborhood groups have backed Councilmembers into a corner, and the only way out may be to send a strong message to the community by denying hardship applications en masse. Denied applicants are already threatening litigation, and in most cases, refusing to close their facilities. Assuming the promised lawsuits materialize and survive preliminary review, the city may be dealing with the political and legal fallout for some time.

The city may also come out swinging in response to recalcitrant applicants who defy orders to close.  Los Angeles City Councilmember Dennis Zine told reporters at a press conference on June 9 that he and his colleagues were going after the “illegal” collectives and remain determined to close them down. Applicants’ attorneys may take issue with Zine’s characterization of post-moratorium collectives as illegal, but they should not take words like these lightly from the city’s preeminent advocate for regulations.

Medical cannabis advocates expect that newly inaugurated City Attorney Carmen Trutanich will be more reasonable than his predecessor in laying out a sensible legal strategy for medical cannabis. His staff indicated he would support real implementation when speaking with representatives from Americans for Safe Access (ASA) and the Greater Los Angeles Collective Alliance (GLACA) during the campaign. City Council staff caution advocates, however, that the new City Attorney is likely to take an aggressive stand towards closing collectives he believes are in violation of the moratorium.

There is an unfortunate minority of collective operators caught in the crossfire of this controversy. Some of the one hundred eighty seven collectives that registered with the City Clerk’s office before the 2007 deadline were subsequently forced to relocate as the result of letters sent by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) threatening their property owners with prosecution and civil asset forfeiture. Advocates hoped these victims of federal interference could use the hardship provision to relocate and reopen. In the current political climate, however, the city is making no distinction between legitimately displaced pre-moratorium collectives and relative newcomers – many of whom are suspected of jumping in at the eleventh-hour in hopes of capitalizing off the confusion.

It seems the only hope for hardship applicants is to reach out to their City Council Representative, members of the PLUM Committee, and neighborhood groups for support well in advance of their hearings. There is little to be accomplished in two to five minutes before a panel that is under political pressure to do something about the rising number of collectives. Applicants who overlook the chance to persuade Councilmembers of the merits of their case in advance are unlikely to prevail.

It remains to be seen how the conflict over hardship applications and push for permanent regulations will wind up, but there are some reassuring signs. Councilmember Zine acknowledged ASA’s work in developing and promoting regulations at an invitation-only reception honoring his third inauguration today. It is reassuring to know he remains committed to the end goal of protecting patients’ access. We can also take heart from the fact that Councilmembers like Janice Hahn, Bill Rosendahl, and others continue to support medical cannabis despite the controversy around proliferation. Newly elected Councilmember Paul Koretz is a long time supporter, and his voice will strengthen our majority support on the City Council.

ASA Blog: LA Councilmember Acknowledges ASA’s work

“Los Angeles City Councilmember Dennis Zine acknowledged the work of Americans for Safe Access (ASA) at a reception honoring his inauguration to a third term on the City Council this afternoon. Speaking to an invitation-only crowd of almost one hundred supporters at City Hall, Councilmember Zine thanked ASA for working with the city to be sure that patients who need medical cannabis have safe access. ASA has been working with Councilmember Zine and other allies in city government since 2005 to develop and implement sensible regulations for patients’ association in the city…”

Read the entire post on ASA’s blog, Medical Cannabis: Voices from the Frontline.

Tags: dennis zine, Los Angeles, los angeles city council, paul koretz

Extending the ICO

The Los Angeles City Council will consider amending the Interim Control Ordinance (ICO) establishing a moratorium on new medical cannabis collectives at tomorrow’s meeting. Councilmembers Huizar, Zine, and LaBonge have asked for an amendment to close the controversial hardship clause. More than six hundred collectives have filed for a hardship exemption to the ICO since the City Council adopted the measure in September of 2007. Most advocates agree that collectives have had a sufficient amount of time to file applications, and the hardship clause should be removed to prevent the further proliferation of collectives – a trend that is fueling a community and media backlash against medical cannabis collectives in the city.

(Download the relevant documents from the LA City Clerk’s website.)

Advocates are skeptical, however, of an amendment to the initial motion extending the term of the moratorium for another six months (until march 2010). Councilmembers Reyes, Rosendahl, and Zine proposed that friendly amendment to give city staff more time to write a permanent ordinance regulating collectives. Advocates worry that the extension violates California Government Code 65858, which prohibits cities from using an Urgency Ordinance to establish a moratorium for more than two years. This may generate litigation when the initial two-year moratorium expires on September 14, 2009, and new collectives try to open.

City staff argues that work on the permanent regulations is underway, and therefore, the extension is defensible. This may be true, but delays caused by litigation will certainly complicate the already chaotic path towards regulations. The situation is even more complex because, as a Charter City, Los Angeles has the constitutional right to make its own law. Whether or not state law preempts Los Angeles from adopting longer moratoria under Section 253 of the City Charter is unclear. That section can be read as allowing longer Urgency Ordinances, although it is reasonable to assume a court would disallow an open ended ban on any activity temporarily prohibited under Section 253. This may have to be settled in court if the City Council extends the moratorium beyond two years.

What the city needs now is clarity and concrete progress. The City Council would be wise to leave the original deadline in place and prod city staff into action on the final ordinance before the original two-year ICO expires.

The City Council will consider the amendments at 10:00 AM on Friday, June 19, in Council Chambers (Room 340) at City Hall – 312 N. Spring Street at Temple Street in downtown Los Angeles.

Tags: collectives, draft ordinance, Los Angeles, mcdc, medical cannabis, moratorium

ASA Blog: CNN Gets It Right!

From ASA Director of Government Affairs Caren Woodson on the ASA Blog:

“When ASA learned that CNN’s Anderson Cooper was going to conduct a 5-part series on marijuana, which was to include some discussion regarding the medical and therapeutic use, ASA reached out.  My lengthy call with the medical producer covered all the usual topics – addiction, potency, toxicity – but my primary goal was to make certain that the CNN producers would accurately report the latest research.”

Read the whole post with links and video on the ASA Blog.