Read more about the webcast and ASA’s work on the ASA website.

I call on medical cannabis patients and providers to join me in supporting ASA, the nation’s largest organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. ASA’s work helped make a place for safe access – and we need this ongoing work right now to hold the ground we have and push forward against a growing backlash. Please join ASA today!

“Americans for Safe Access (ASA) filed an appeal of the Zoning Administrator’s interpretation of the new medical cannabis ordinance in Los Angeles on Friday. The appeal challenges the Zoning Administrator’s position on parking and nonconforming use status for medical cannabis collectives…”

Read the entire post on the ASA Blog.

Pres Obama

My message posted to the DPFCA listserv tonight:

Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is encouraged to learn that the Obama Administration will take a major step forward in defining its policy on medical cannabis tomorrow, when the US Department of Justice publishes a memo giving new instructions to federal prosecutors and law enforcement.

(Read the ASA announcement and download DOJ memo)

ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer and Director of Government Affairs Caren Woodson met with officials at the US Department of Justice in Washington, DC, last week to discuss the new Administration’s policy and the impact of federal interference in states where medical cannabis is legal. We are confident that the Administration is moving in the right direction and hearing our concerns.

ASA sent policy recommendations to President Obama in January asking him to end federal raids in medical cannabis states, encourage advanced clinical trials, and remove cannabis from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. Our recommendations also call for compassionate leadership by allowing defendants to make an affirmative defense in federal court and ensuring the accuracy of information disseminated by federal agencies.

We hope that tomorrow’s memo is a starting point for developing a federal policy that provides real and lasting protection for patients. ASA is committed to continued engagement with the Administration, federal agencies, and Congress to be sure that happens.

Congratulations are in order to everyone who has worked so hard to help create a more compassionate federal policy. I would like to say a special thank you to Steph Sherer and Caren Woodson for their timely and strategic work with the new Administration.

Patients and advocates worry that newly-elected City Attorney Carmen Trutanich has yet to make any public comment repudiating his processor’s anti-medical cannabis position. In fact, Trutanich’s Senior Advisor Jane Usher told the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Committee on August 1 that staff in her office could find no legal protection for sales of cannabis, even inside the membership of a legally organized and operated patients’ association.

On August 10, ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford and I joined representatives of the Greater Los Angeles Collective Alliance (GLACA) in an unprecedented meeting with Ms. Usher and two of the other top eight managers in Trutanich’s office to discuss regulatory solutions for the city. We presented the staff with a new White Paper published by ASA and GLACA and a draft ordinance based on input from the city’s defunct medical cannabis working group. The White Paper explains the justification for storefront collectives and sales of medicine within their membership. It also makes policy recommendations for the city’s final ordinance. Trutanich’s staff listened attentively and asked hard questions – both good signs, but the outcome is uncertain.

It is possible that Carmen Trutanich will disappoint the medical cannabis community, which rallied around his campaign earlier this year, when he returns recommendations to the PLUM Committee this month. If so, patients and advocates will have to work hard persuade committee members to reject his advice and stay the course on developing sensible regulations for Los Angeles. This is important not just because regulations are proven to reduce crime and complaints in communities, but also because they will finally set some standards in a city that has grappled for too long with how best to regulate access to medicine.