Jerry Brown

A spokesperson for California Attorney General Jerry Brown told the New York Times that the nonprofit sales of medical cannabis in storefront patients’ collectives are legal. The Attorney General is speaking up in response to a growing controversy about how to regulate hundreds of collectives and cooperatives in Los Angeles. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich told City Councilmembers in September that storefront collectives and nonprofit sales of cannabis are illegal, despite guidelines issued by the Attorney General last year that indicate otherwise.

The stakes in the debate in Los Angeles are high. Lawmakers in Sacramento, Long Beach, San Diego, and dozens of smaller cities are looking to see how the state’s largest city resolves the issue, which has pitted regulation-minded City Councilmembers against and intransigent City Attorney’s office for over two years. If Trutanich is successful in rolling back safe access in Los Angeles, patients and advocates in other cities can expect to see medical cannabis opponents adopt the same strategy in their hometowns.

Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is pushing back in Los Angels. We have been working City Councilmembers, the City Attorney’s office, and city staff to develop and implement sensible regulations for patients’ associations since 2005. We have also galvanized a grassroots base here that can fill City Council chambers, interface with neighborhood groups, or respond with peaceful protests if necessary. The significance of that grassroots presence must not be underestimated. Without it, opponents might have swept away safe and legal access to medical cannabis in Los Angels years ago.

District Attorney Cooley and City Attorney Trutanich would do well to listen to what the Attorney General Brown (and the California courts) have to say. They should drop their adversarial posture and embrace regulations like those already in place in cities and counties statewide – including Los Angels County. Research by ASA shows that regulations reduce crime and complaints around collectives. That is exactly what the City Council and other Angelinos want… And that is what patients need.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 18th, 2009 at 11:24 am and is filed under Activism, Americans for Safe Access (ASA), California, Dispensaries, 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.