Eugene Davidovich, May 26, 2011
In April of this year, the San Diego City Council passed an ordinance that effectively denied safe access to thousands of patients in the city. If left as is, it would have negatively impacted the most vulnerable members of our community by cutting off access to their medicine.
Here at ASA we are fighting hard for patients’ rights, and this year we’re taking a whole new approach. We’re calling it ASA 3.0. We’ve been holding stakeholders’ meetings across the nation, and we designed this approach based on what you – local activists and patients – want and need.
We’ve developed a plan for improving safe access across the nation, but we need your help to make it happen. Can you commit just $1 a day to ASA’s important work? When you give to ASA, you are giving back to yourself because we build our strategies based on your needs.
The California Senate will vote this week on a bill to protect responsible law-abiding medical cannabis patients from employment discrimination. Americans for Safe Access (ASA) needs your help today to be sure that AB 129 is approved.
Take a moment right now to call your California Senator and ask him or her to support SB 129!
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| Benjamin Gasper |
Cultivation charges re-filed against legitimate medical marijuana patient after being previously dismissed in the same courthouse by different Judge.
By: Terrie Best and Eugene Davidovich – San Diego Americans for Safe Access
SAN DIEGO – In the summer of 2009, Benjamin Gasper, along with two other seriously ill medical marijuana patients rented a warehouse space in the Sports Arena area of San Diego in a heavily commercial district far from residences and other “sensitive uses,” and began to collectively cultivate medical marijuana there, for their own personal medical needs.
From ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer in today’s Huffington Post -
In February, Oakland City Attorney John Russo asked the Obama Justice Department whether his city’s plan to regulate large-scale medical marijuana cultivation would get the approval of the federal government. As expected, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag responded to Russo with a declarative “No!” Little did patient advocates realize, though, that Haag’s letter would begin a trend resulting in similar U.S. Attorney letters sent to local and state officials in at least 9 different medical marijuana states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
Read the entire post online.
US AG Holder: Rattling Sabers
In the past few months, United States Attorneys General in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Rhode Island, and Vermont have issued letters threatening federal action against any entity, including state employees, participating in state sanctioned medical cannabis programs. While our community has seen these types of letters under previous administrations, it is disappointing to see President Obama sanction this behavior.
Patient advocates welcomed Delaware’s adoption late last week of the 16th medical marijuana state law. However, its prohibition on patient cultivation fails to adequately provide for the needs of patients. Advocates argue that restrictive laws like Delaware’s placate law enforcement and opponents of medical marijuana at the expense of patients’ rights and dignity.
Chronic pain conditions are the most prevalent form of disease in many countries. In the US, the American Pain Foundation estimates that 76.5 million people suffer from persistent pain. With few alternatives and a lack of safe and effective treatments for disabling pain, millions will continue struggling to function in their daily lives. Many people suffering from chronic pain have turned to medical cannabis, but the practice is still frowned upon by some lawmakers.
Montana recently passed a law to restrict the number of people living with chronic pain from taking part in the state’s medical cannabis program. Some states, such as New Jersey, arbitrarily prohibit the use of medical cannabis for chronic pain due to a failure by public officials to grasp the therapeutic benefits in this area.
The California Senate will soon vote on SB 129, a bill sponsored by Americans for Safe Access (ASA) that will protect responsible, law abiding patients from discrimination in the workplace. Can you take minute right now to call your Senator and ask him or her to support SB 129?
Employers in California can fire an employee just for being a medical cannabis patient – even if the employee does not use medical cannabis at work. That is not fair, and ASA needs your help to stop it. Senator Mark Leno’s (D-SF) SB 129 will prevent discrimination in hiring, promotion of any term of employment. But the bill does not allow patients to use medical cannabis in the workplace or be impaired by cannabis during work hours. SB 129 simply establishes the same rights for medical cannabis patients as those that prescription drug users already enjoy.
Americans for Safe Access (ASA) staged rallies yesterday in Sacramento, California and Washington, DC to bring attention to the unnecessary incarceration of more medical marijuana patients and to defy what has become an escalated federal attack on medical marijuana states. As part of its “Sick and Tired” campaign, ASA members and supporters also delivered “Cease & Desist” orders to federal authorities in 10 medical marijuana states.
