The catalyst for the latest expansion in collectives is a Preliminary Injunction from Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mohr blocking enforcement of portions of the city’s Medical Cannabis Ordinance. Some lawyers, advocates, and entrepreneurs see the injunction as a green light for new collectives. Their spirit of free enterprise notwithstanding, the perception that medical cannabis collectives are once again out of control in Los Angeles may have consequences reaching beyond hand-wringing by the neighborhood councils.

Anti-medical cannabis City Council Members have certainly taken notice. Council Members Bernard Parks and Jan Perry introduced a motion calling for an outright ban on medical cannabis collectives in the city on December 15. It is unlikely they have the votes to prevail yet, but sensational media coverage and public ambivalence could sway Council Members to abandon the slow, contentious work of regulating medical cannabis in favor of an easier option to ban collectives – a position City Attorney Carmen Trutanich has steadfastly supported. It has happened before. Critical media coverage and neighborhood complaints regarding collectives and the City Council’s apparent inability (or unwillingness) to regulate them helped steer the City Council away from sensible regulations in 2010 towards what is arguably the state’s toughest ordinance.

Medical cannabis advocates in Los Angeles and elsewhere ignore a backlash at patients’ peril. A simple analysis may conclude that more collectives mean more access. History teaches otherwise. The Cities of Oakland, San Francisco, Sacramento, West Hollywood, and others all adopted ordinances limiting the number of collectives following an artificial inflation in the number of facilities like the one we are seeing again in Los Angeles. These earlier proliferations did not lead to more collectives; they led to fewer. Those who have been involved in medical cannabis on the longer term remember the rise and fall of “Oaksterdam” all too well. “The-more-the-merrier” does not necessarily apply.

We must not doubt that the federal, state, and local backlash against medical cannabis is underway. Renewed DEA raids and more subtle interference from the Obama Administration raise doubts about the federal momentum towards reform. Consider increasing IRS audits of collectives, banks closing medical cannabis accounts en masse, the unanimous confirmation of anti-medical cannabis crusader Michele Leonhart to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the recent decision to deny a permit to grow medicine for medical research.

And here in California, Los Angeles, Orange, and Fresno Counties recently banned collectives outright – all on the same day! Supervisors in Riverside County abandoned plans to replace their existing ban with regulations. These bans come in concert with city bans, which continue to multiply in the void left by the incomplete decision in Qualified Patients Association v. City of Anaheim. We are also looking at a battle with more sophisticated opponents in Sacramento over legislation regarding patients’ rights, cultivation, distribution, and taxation. Medical cannabis foes will be working hard to fan the flames of sensational media and community concern – especially when it comes to the perception of unchecked proliferation.

There is a way to push back on the backlash. Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is making field development a priority this year. The goal is to train an army of effective citizen advocates to take up the mantle of safe access and bring the debate back to the patients’ needs. The nationwide “Activist Boot Camp” in February is one of the early efforts in this regard. The Greater Los Angeles Collective Alliance (GLACA) is pushing back locally by supporting sensible amendments to the city’s imperfect Medical Cannabis Ordinance and stepping up efforts to accredit legal collectives that uphold its safety and operational protocols.

Perhaps the most important thing patients and advocates can do right now is to let policy makers know that their constituents support safe access and sensible regulations – not bans. Lawmakers need to hear this at the local, state, and federal level now more than ever. If we can put the patients’ voices back at the fore front of the debate, we will reverse the backlash and keep moving forward.

LA Court Rejects Strict Ordinance, Officials Respond with Greater Restrictions

 On December 10th, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mohr ruled in the case Americans for Safe Access v. City of Los Angeles, which involves more than 100 plaintiffs, that the city’s medical marijuana dispensary ordinance was too restrictive. Relying on the recent landmark decision in Qualified Patients Association v. City of Anaheim, Judge Mohr held that state law forbids such onerous restrictions on local distribution. However, some LA City Council Members must not have read the decision.

Judge Mohr’s 40-page ruling was a shot in the arm for advocates of safe access to medical marijuana. Though unpublished, Judge Mohr’s ruling clearly emphasized the need for local distribution and called for a functional regulatory scheme in Los Angeles to implement it…

Read the entire post with links on the ASA Blog.

Unfortunately, the San Jose City Council jumped on the taxation bandwagon at Monday’s meeting. Councilmembers voted to place a tax of up to 10% on medical cannabis on the November ballot. Voters there should be suspicious. Taxation on medicine is ethically wrong, and rarely results in the real legal protections and social acceptance for which proponents hope. Fees calculated to cover the cost of local access programs are reasonable, but voters should reject a “sin tax” on doctor-recommended medical cannabis. Patients already pay sales tax. We should not put an additional burden on some of the most vulnerable citizens. Let’s hope citizens in San Jose see it that way when they vote next year.

What:  Peaceful protest before the BOS Meeting

When:  9:00 AM sharp * Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Where:  On the sidewalk in front of 500 W. Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Info:  don@safeaccessnow.org

Sup. Don Knabe

Medical cannabis patients in Los Angeles County will be protesting outside the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, December 7. Supervisors are expected to give final approval to an ordinance banning medical cannabis patients’ collectives that day. Patients and supporters should make plans to attend this important event. It is unlikely that protesters will persuade Supervisors to change their votes, but it is important that advocates make a strong show of opposition. Otherwise, Supervisors will continue to ignore patients’ voices – and that will make it harder to change this harmful and unnecessary policy.

Medical cannabis advocates did a double take when they saw what Supervisor Don Knabe had to say in the Los Angeles Times today. Supervisor Knabe, who also serves on the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, voted to end a ban on raves at the county-owned Coliseum, despite the fact that a 15-year old girl died there at a 185,000-person rave this summer. In explaining his vote, the Supervisor said:

“There’s a way to do it right where we protect the public and allow this opportunity to take place,” said Supervisor Don Knabe, who serves on the commission and said he preferred regulating raves at the publicly owned venue rather than see them “driven to the back alleys.”

Too bad he did not apply the same logic to medical cannabis patients’ collectives when he voted to ban them last week. The ban only stops legal patients’ collectives from operating in the unincorporated communities. The ban does nothing to protect public safety or check the expansion of non-permitted collectives in the county. Supervisor Knabe understands that regulation is the best way to cope with massive drug-fueled dance parties, but seems content to see legal patients “driven to the back alleys” to get their legal medicine.

Get more information about Tuesday’s protest online.