ASA is confident that Trutanich has a flawed interpretation of state law. The Medical Marijuana Program Act, landmark court decisions, California Attorney General guidelines, and a sales tax policy by the State Board of Equalization provide ample evidence that medical marijuana sales are legal. So, ASA decided to fight Trutanich using his own public relations strategy. The Friday before ASA threatened to file suit against the City of Los Angeles, Elford went on Air Talk, broadcast by KPCC, the NPR affiliate, to debate the issue of sales with Special Assistant City Attorney David Berger.

After ASA’s threat of litigation, and two council committees rejecting the City Attorney’s ban on medical marijuana sales, even more media was generated, with articles in the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal. Then, I appeared on a different KPCC program, the Patt Morrison Show, discussing dispensary regulations alongside West Hollywood Mayor John Duran and Los Angeles City Council member Bill Rosendahl.

Apparently, the PR campaign by ASA was working because Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, who shares Trutanich’s misinterpretation of California’s medical marijuana law, called a press conference to threaten prosecution of dispensary operators despite any law passed by the City Council recognizing sales. Cooley was downright rabid. He was quoted in the Los Angeles Times saying the City Council “should be collectively ashamed of their failure to grasp this issue,” and calling them “irrelevant.”

With the PR campaign gaining even greater steam, Elford went back on Air Talk Tuesday for another round with Berger and Los Angeles City Council member Ed Reyes. By this time, it was clear that Los Angeles City Attorney Trutanich and District Attorney Cooley were losing their campaign to criminalize the sale of medical marijuana. Nonetheless, Elford helped to pound the final nail in the coffin by going on Air Talk one more time Wednesday, following an interview with Cooley.

Fortunately, we’ve overcome the threat to ban medical marijuana sales in Los Angeles. The City Council seems poised to vote next week on an ordinance, and while it may still have flaws, we can at least celebrate the defeat of Trutanich and Cooley’s anti-sales campaign. By all appearances, we are nearing the passage of an historic medical marijuana dispensary ordinance for the City of Los Angeles.

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Over and over again in the past the previous AMA position was used as a justification to prevent progress for safe access to needed medicine. Now with both the AMA and the US Department of Justice changing their policies, there is a profound shift in the landscape for gaining safe access for medical cannabis patients. A big thank you goes to Dr. Sunil Aggarwal for his successful leadership in this!

Don Morgan

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Is your representative on the list?

Alphabetically:

Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2] – 10/27/2009
Rep Berkley, Shelley [NV-1] – 10/27/2009
Rep Berman, Howard L. [CA-28] – 10/27/2009
Rep Capps, Lois [CA-23] – 10/27/2009
Rep Cohen, Steve [TN-9] – 10/27/2009
Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-14] – 11/2/2009
Rep Eshoo, Anna G. [CA-14] – 10/27/2009
Rep Frank, Barney [MA-4] – 10/27/2009
Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-7] – 10/27/2009
Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. [NY-22] – 10/27/2009
Rep Honda, Michael M. [CA-15] – 10/27/2009
Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10] – 10/27/2009
Rep McClintock, Tom [CA-4] – 10/29/2009
Rep McGovern, James P. [MA-3] – 10/27/2009
Rep Michaud, Michael H. [ME-2] – 10/27/2009
Rep Miller, George [CA-7] – 10/27/2009
Rep Moran, James P. [VA-8] – 10/27/2009
Rep Nadler, Jerrold [NY-8] – 10/28/2009
Rep Pastor, Ed [AZ-4] – 11/2/2009
Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14] – 10/27/2009
Rep Polis, Jared [CO-2] – 10/27/2009
Rep Rohrabacher, Dana [CA-46] – 10/27/2009
Rep Sanchez, Linda T. [CA-39] – 11/4/2009
Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9] – 10/27/2009
Rep Sherman, Brad [CA-27] – 10/27/2009
Rep Stark, Fortney Pete [CA-13] – 10/27/2009
Rep Waxman, Henry A. [CA-30] – 10/27/2009
Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6] – 10/27/2009

By date:

Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14] – 10/27/2009
Rep Cohen, Steve [TN-9] – 10/27/2009
Rep Rohrabacher, Dana [CA-46] – 10/27/2009
Rep Frank, Barney [MA-4] – 10/27/2009
Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. [NY-22] – 10/27/2009
Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10] – 10/27/2009
Rep Waxman, Henry A. [CA-30] – 10/27/2009
Rep Michaud, Michael H. [ME-2] – 10/27/2009
Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2] – 10/27/2009
Rep Berman, Howard L. [CA-28] – 10/27/2009
Rep Capps, Lois [CA-23] – 10/27/2009
Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-7] – 10/27/2009
Rep Polis, Jared [CO-2] – 10/27/2009
Rep Stark, Fortney Pete [CA-13] – 10/27/2009
Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6] – 10/27/2009
Rep Sherman, Brad [CA-27] – 10/27/2009
Rep Honda, Michael M. [CA-15] – 10/27/2009
Rep McGovern, James P. [MA-3] – 10/27/2009
Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9] – 10/27/2009
Rep Eshoo, Anna G. [CA-14] – 10/27/2009
Rep Berkley, Shelley [NV-1] – 10/27/2009
Rep Moran, James P. [VA-8] – 10/27/2009
Rep Miller, George [CA-7] – 10/27/2009
Rep Nadler, Jerrold [NY-8] – 10/28/2009
Rep McClintock, Tom [CA-4] – 10/29/2009
Rep Pastor, Ed [AZ-4] – 11/2/2009
Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-14] – 11/2/2009
Rep Sanchez, Linda T. [CA-39] – 11/4/2009

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For some reason, Russoniello and other typically conservative federal prosecutors believe that medical marijuana should not be distributed in the normal retail fashion in California, but instead should be based on non-cash principles of communism where collective members till the soil. While this may seem idyllic to some, it belies the way in which businesses are run even in many communist countries.

With his public statement, Russoniello implied that he would ignore the recent Justice Department directive to U.S. Attorneys discouraging them from investigating and prosecuting medical marijuana cases. Russoniello reserved the right to continue raiding medical marijuana dispensaries. That is, unless they’re run like communes.

By announcing his intention to continue the Bush Administration’s aggressive policy of raiding medical marijuana dispensaries, Russoniello is showing his “drug warrior” colors and flaunting his defiance of President Obama’s new policy. Perhaps, with bold pronouncements like this, Russoniello is secretly hoping to be replaced when Obama gets around to appointing new U.S. Attorneys.

If, in fact,  Russoniello’s days as a federal prosecutor are numbered, maybe he could still apply as a government worker with the People’s Republic of China.

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Buckfield Man Evicted For Using Medical Marijuana

Dennis Gammon is paralyzed from the neck down. He requires 24-hour assistance with daily tasks, and lives every day in pain. And now, he’s being evicted from his Buckfield apartment for using medical marijuana.

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“Truth in Trials” needs a lot of support in the US House of Representatives if it is to succeed. TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO SUPPORT HR 3939! Your calls and emails do make a difference, so please encourage your network to take action today!

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I spoke to the task force about the benefits of regulations, and cautioned them not to be misled by faulty legal analysis aimed at rolling back safe access.

Improving local regulations is a high priority for ASA’s California campaign. We must work diligently in cities and counties to be sure that local ordinances fulfill the voters’ mandate in Proposition 215 – “…To encourage the federal and state governments to implement a plan for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all patients in medical need of marijuana.”

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The “Truth in Trials” Act establishes an affirmative defense for individuals who are authorized to use and provide medical cannabis in accordance with state and local law.  Under the provisions of the bill, patients and their caregivers would be permitted to introduce evidence for the court’s consideration which may demonstrate compliance with a state medical marijuana law.  Indeed, the “Truth in Trials” bill is a logical and necessary legislative complement to the DOJ’s new policy.

According to the bill’s lead sponsor, California Congressman Sam Farr,

“This is a common sense bill that will help stop the waste of law enforcement and judicial resources that have been spent prosecuting individuals who are following state law”

He added,

“We need strict drug laws, but we also need to apply a little common sense to how they’re enforced. This legislation is about treating defendants in cases involving medical marijuana fairly, plain and simple.”

Ask your U.S. Representative to become a cosponsor of the “Truth in Trials” Act.  And, please share this post with your family, friends, and colleagues – together we can make a difference!

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In particular, when asked whether marijuana has any medical benefit, the Dr. explains:

Several controlled clinical trials have been carried out in the last few years, using either smoked marijuana or a mouth spray that contains an extract of the marijuana plant. The results are quite consistent. They show that marijuana improves the well-being of patients with multiple sclerosis and alleviates chronic pain in patients with damage or dysfunction of nerve fibers (so-called neuropathic pain).

And, when asked about the risks, the Dr. offers the following:

Marijuana can produce dependence, though less aggressively than, say, tobacco or the so-called opiate painkillers.

Way to go Dr. Piomelli!

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Allison Margolin

(This is a guest blog by Allison B. Margolin, Esq.)

As the Obama administration attempts to steer federal agents away from prosecuting marijuana dispensaries, the LA District Attorney and City Attorney’s Office are attempting to undermine that shift by articulating a deceitfully narrow view of the state law.

Despite reports of trillion dollar deficits nationally and a collapsing state economy, District Attorney Steve Cooley says his office is committed to closing down revenue-generating medical marijuana dispensaries and the LA district attorney’s office continues to take prisoners of war in their fight against safe access to medical marijuana.

In doing so, LA City is threatening to plunge the state’s economy into further collapse by taking potential tax revenues that could be going to the state treasury. Moreover, the City’s position threatens to generate crime by forcing the huge demand for marijuana back to the street. If the free market has allowed for the proliferation of dispensaries, that demand is not going away. The avenue for its fulfillment will simply change and could go from safe to entrenched in the poly-drug trafficking black market economy.

Most alarming, perhaps, is that the District Attorney seeks not only to thwart the proliferation of these establishments but seeks to create a whole new class of felons, medical marijuana operators. And the DA’s view of the state law—that it does not allow for the operation of dispensaries—is not just shocking. It flies in the face of case law handed down by the California courts.

Just this past August, the Fourth Circuit of the California Court of Appeals (in People v. Hochanadel) affirmed what Attorney General Jerry Brown announced last year, that storefront dispensaries that receive money in exchange for marijuana, may qualify as legal cooperatives.

Furthermore, in that case, the California judiciary upheld a 2005 interpretation of the marijuana sales law allowing for cash for marijuana transactions.  As the court appeals said in the 2005 Urziceanu case, speaking about the State legislature’s expansion of the 1996 medical marijuana referendum,

“This new law represents a dramatic change in the prohibitions on the use, distribution, and cultivation of marijuana for persons who are qualified patients or primary caregivers and fits the defense defendant attempted to present at trial. Its specific itemization of the marijuana sales law indicates it contemplates the formation and operation of medicinal marijuana [***64]  cooperatives that would receive reimbursement for marijuana and the services provided in conjunction with the provision of that marijuana.”

These two decisions also affirmed the notion that simply because some of the marijuana being sold at medical marijuana cooperatives may have been purchased from people who are not members of the cooperative does not invalidate the medical defense, or make the possession of that marijuana illegal Yet, the District Attorney’s office prosecutes people simply on the basis that some of the marijuana at a dispensary allegedly came from non-members, or that the marijuana is sold for more than that for which it is bought. The fact that a dispensary has gross protifts, does not mean that the owners are making profits. Yet again, the District Attorney’s office has used the gross-profit theory to deprive people their freedom, incarcerate law-abiding citizens, and attempt to create another class of felons.

The District Attorney’s policy and deliberate misinterpretation of the law begs the question: why? Perhaps law enforcement enjoys marijuana dispensary busts more than others because the defendants are generally civil, non-gun-toting law abiding civilians. Perhaps it s the money … but strangely enough, in cases I have represented recently, the state does not always keep the proceeds from dispensaries. Even where the state prosecutes the cases, in Los Angeles’ Criminal Court Building,  in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles, the DA’s office has been turning over assets seized from medical busts over to the federal government.

Whatever the perverse reasons motivating the District Attorney’s position, the issue is not why but how to stop this alarming waste of resources. The media has focused on the fact that dispensaries in LA have mushroomed over the past year, and on the ease with which marijuana users are obtaining recommendations. No one has focused on the fact that the war against dispensaries, is another chapter in the escalation of the drug war, another excuse to send people to state prison, another mechanism to disenfranchise people whose medicine is not respected by law enforcement or the LA District Attorney’s office as legitimate.

This has to stop. In the wake of prison overcrowding and budget crisis, sending more people away, depriving the state of taxes they are currently reaping from dispensaries, is not the answer.

The District Attorney is supposed to aim to do justice not to obtain as many convictions as possible. The District Attorney, representing the State of California, is not supposed to deliberately ignore the state law as a vehicle to fund police departments and exert its power. It is time for the people of the State of California to take back their power, to tell their DAs that they represent the People and the People don’t want medical marijuana operators to be treated as criminals.

This week, the District Attorney’s Office is expected to unleash the LAPD on medical marijuana dispensaries across the City. The time for action is now … before more people are caught up in the system, before more resources are wasted, before more lives are ruined.

—–
Ms. Margolin, a Harvard law grad, is a criminal defense attorney practicing state and federal criminal law in Los Angeles. She was Adjunct Professor of Law at University of West Los Angeles in 2008, teaching “The American Drug War: From Marijuana to Meth.”

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