Medical Marijuana Legislation to Be Considered Next Week in the California Senate

Next week, the California Senate will vote on two pieces of medical marijuana legislation. The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on AB 2279, which would protect the rights of hundreds of thousands of medical marijuana patients in California from employment discrimination. Introduced by Assemblymember Mark Leno and sponsored by ASA, AB 2279 passed through the Assembly last month and, if passed by this committee, will soon head to the full Senate for a vote.

SJR 20, introduced by Senator Carole Migden, could be voted on by the full Senate as early as next week. This resolution urges the President and Congress of the United States to enact legislation requiring federal law enforcement to respect state medical marijuana laws, to cease raids of medical marijuana dispensaries that are operating legally under California and local law, and to return any assets seized from medical marijuana dispensaries and collectives to the states in which they are located. After clearing the Senate Health Committee, SJR 20 was slated to be heard in the Judiciary Committee, but the committee instead passed it straight to the Senate floor.

For more information on AB 2279 and SJR 20, please visit www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org/CA2008Bills

Luke Scarmazzo and Richard Montes Will Not Be Retried on Conspiracy Charges

On Monday, Luke Scarmazzo and Richard Montes were in court for a Motion for a Speedy Trial Hearing for Retrial on Conspiracy count. Scarmazzo and Montes had been tried in federal court last month. While the jurors had deadlocked on the conspiracy counts and acquitted on the firearms counts, they delivered a grand total of eight guilty verdicts against the defendants, including a conviction for continuing criminal enterprise, which puts Scarmazzo and Montes at risk of life imprisonment.

Here is Vanessa Nelson’s account of the hearing:

Rather than going to trial right away, federal prosecutors have decided to ditch the plan to re-try former dispensary owners Luke Scarmazzo and Ricardo Montes on conspiracy.

Both defendants were imprisoned a month ago, following the first trial of medical marijuana dispensary operators in federal court.  Oddly enough, the jurors handed down convictions on several weighty felony charges, but failed to return verdicts on conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, distribute marijuana, and possess marijuana with the intent to distribute.  Shortly after the trial concluded, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Servatius revealed that Scarmazzo and Montes would be re-tried on this conspiracy count, but the defendants’ refusal to waive time threw a wrench in the works.  Unable to find a way to avoid a speedy trial, Servatius announced yesterday that the government would dismiss the conspiracy count for both defendants “in the interest of justice.”

Please read the full story at Medical Marijuana of America’s website.

California Medical Marijuana Program Launches New Website

The California Medical Marijuana Program recently launched a new website. The site has several new features, including:

• A map tracking counties that have implemented the ID card program and those that have not.
• Statistics on state ID cards issued, by year.
• A more user friendly directory of county programs.

Interestingly, while 10,274 ID cards were issued in the fiscal year 2006/2007, this number dropped to 6,836 for 2007/2008. This drop in registration is possibly due to the fee increase that was implemented by the California Department of Public Health in March 2007.

For further information on California’s medical marijuana ID card program, please visit www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org/CAIDCard.

With All Votes Counted, Mendocino’s Measure B Passes

Two weeks ago, we reported that Measure B in Mendocino County appeared to have passed, but there were still more than 10,000 ballots to be counted. The final votes were counted today, and the measure passed with 52% of voters voting for the measure and 48% voting against it. Measure B lowers the plant limits for medical marijuana patients from 25 plants to the state limit of 12 immature or six mature plants and eight ounces of dried marijuana.

Though the ballot initiative has now passed, advocates may challenge it in court, based on the recent ruling in People v. Kelly.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 2:26 pm and is filed under Americans for Safe Access (ASA), California, DEA, Federal, Medical Cannabis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.