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.

More than one hundred people showed up to protest a training luncheon hosted by the California Narcotics Officers Association (CNOA) at the Montebello Country Club on Wednesday morning. The training is one of a series designed to teach local police and prosecutors how to close medical cannabis collectives. Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley told reporters afterwards that “about 100%” of collectives are illegal and vowed to close them down.

Read more about the significance of Cooley’s comments on the Americans for Safe Access (ASA Blog) – “Speaking Up to Rattling Sabers.”

Sometimes it is hard to tell if you are making a difference at a protest. Wednesday was not one of those days. We scheduled the protest to reach its peak attendance just as officers were arriving for lunch. There was a massive traffic jam entering the Montebello Country Club, so attendees had to creep slowly past our signs before turning right. I have never seen so many scowling faces behind the tinted glass of government-issued sedans.

At one point, a senior staff member from City Attorney Trutanich’s staff got out of his car and approached Yami Bolanos from Purelife Alternative. He recognized Yami from a meeting she attended at his office with ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford and me in August. He tried to tell Yami that the City Attorney was working to help patients by only targeting the bad collectives. “That’s not what your flyer says,” Yami replied and presented a copy of the invitation reading “Eradicating Medical Cannabis Dispensaries in the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County.”

Media coverage for the protest was uncharacteristically good. KTLA, FOX, the LA Times, the NY Times, and others covered the protest before cornering District Attorney Cooley outside the restaurant. I was even interviewed by a film crew from National Geographic! We can never know when there may be a chance to use the media to frame the debate about medical cannabis. Every protester should be dressed in a professional manner (or at least be presentable!) and ready with talking points. You could be the one in the paper or on TV telling the patients’ side of the story.

The medical cannabis community has come a long way since 2005, when only a dozen dissidents turned out to protest Drug Enforcement Administration raids in Los Angeles. On Wednesday, more than one hundred came – bringing signs, bullhorns, and drinking water to share. Nicely done!

Protesters gather in Montebello

GLACA members at the protest