MEDICAL MARIJUANA in the NEWS - ASA's Summary for the Week of 6/18

[Guest guest]

MEDICAL MARIJUANA in the NEWS - ASA's Summary for the Week of 6/18

 

~UPCOMING: Supreme Court Considering Key Case; Legal Trainings

~NATIONAL: Three Key Appellate Court Decisions

~FEDERAL APPEAL: First Convicted Patient Argues for New Trial

~NEW YORK: Montel and Manhattan DA Team Up to Lobby

~CALIFORNIA: New Policies for Long Beach, Oakland, Auburn, Lake County

~ARKANSAS: Initiative Moving Toward Ballot

~COLORADO: Caregiver Status in Dispute

~WORKPLACE: Labor Law Protections Apply to Patients, Too

 

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UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Supreme Court to Decide on Hearing Key Medical Marijuana Case this Week

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide this week if it will take up a landmark

California case that recently established a medical exception to the federal

prohibition on marijuana. The Bush Administration is asking the Court to

overturn the December ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Raich

v. Ashcroft, which found that the federal government lacks jurisdiction

under the Constitution to interfere with patients who use, grow or possess

marijuana in compliance with their state’s law. Americans for Safe Access

can provide reporters with interviews and comment on this important decision

from the principals in the lawsuit, Angel Raich and Diane Monson – as well

as affected patients, advocates, and doctors. We can also provide expert

legal analysis through our staff attorney, Constitutional law expert Joseph

Elford.

 

ASA Legal Trainings Continue Across California

Stockton-6/22, Chico-6/24, El Dorado-6/26, San Diego-6/29

Americans for Safe Access is conducting 24 trainings for attorneys in

California on recent changes in state and federal law that relate to medical

marijuana. The training sessions count for continuing legal education credit

(MCLE) for the participating attorneys and cost $20.

 

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FEDERAL COURTS: Three Key Decisions this Week, Plus an Appeal

Three key decisions came from federal courts this week. The Ninth Circuit

sent four cases involving medical marijuana dispensaries back to the

district judges who originally heard them, saying the Raich ruling may

control the outcomes. Those judges will reconsider after the Supreme Court

takes action on the case. In another case, the right of policy groups to

publicly advocate for reforming drug laws, including medical marijuana, was

affirmed by a federal court; Congress had sought to restrict those groups'

ability to buy advertising. And an appellate court also ruled in favor of

Oregon's assisted suicide law, using precedent and reasoning similar to that

offered in favor of state-level regulation of medical marijuana.

 

Review of pot club cases ordered

by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle

A federal appeals court gave some encouragement Friday to Northern

California medical marijuana clubs in their effort to fend off federal

enforcement, saying the clubs' cases may be affected by a recent ruling

protecting patients from prosecution under federal drug laws.

 

A Powerful Victory

by Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland Tribune

In a powerful victory recently, the ACLU, the Drug Policy Alliance and other

groups defeated the Bush administration in federal court. Our freedom of

speech and our right to tell the truth were at stake -- in the face of a

federal law that banned, from certain public areas, advertisements that

question any aspect of the federal policy of prohibition of marijuana.

 

With 0-2 in the 9th, Ashcroft looks to the high court

by Marcia Coyle, The Recorder

Before the end of the year, the U.S. Supreme Court may be asked to wade once

again into the legal thicket surrounding assisted suicide and the medical

use of marijuana because of recent court defeats suffered by the Bush

administration.

 

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APPEAL ARGUMENTS FOR PATIENT SERVING TEN YEARS

A federal court heard the appeal of the first medical marijuana patient

prosecuted under federal law after California legalized medical use. Since

medical marijuana patient and caregiver Bryan Epis was sentenced to a

mandatory minimum of ten years in prison, his case has become the prime

example of how far – and how wrong – the federal government can go in

prosecuting its war on drugs. The injustice of his sentence now gets routine

mention in editorials, columns and letters-to-the-editor, and his name has

become a rallying cry for a movement.

 

U.S. appeals court reviews first medical pot conviction

by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle

A federal appeals court that has slapped restraints on the government's

campaign against medical marijuana grappled Wednesday with its first

criminal case on the issue, a Chico man's conviction and 10-year sentence

for growing pot for himself and other patients.

 

U.S. appeals court questions pot grower's 2002 conviction

by Claire Cooper, Sacramento Bee

A federal appeals court raised serious questions Wednesday about the

pot-growing conviction of Bryan James Epis, co-founder of the Chico Medical

Marijuana Caregivers, but the judges did not indicate whether they'll order

a new trial.

 

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NEW YORK: New Law Permitting Medical Use Being Considered

The bill that would allow patients to use cannabis with their doctor's

recommendation gained momentum this week with the longtime Manhattan

District Attorney joining Emmy-award winning talk show host Montel Williams

in calling for its passage. New York is one of several states currently

considering amending its law to protect patients from prosecution and

imprisonment.

 

Medical marijuana bills gain support

by Elizabeth Benjamin, Times Union

A bipartisan agreement on legislation that would let doctors prescribe

marijuana to ease the pain and other medical symptoms of very sick patients

could be reached before the year is out, state lawmakers said Wednesday.

 

Montel, Manhattan DA back medical marijuana

by Samuel Maull, Associated Press

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau joined television talk show

host Montel Williams on Tuesday in expressing support for the legalization

of marijuana for medical uses in New York.

 

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CALIFORNIA: Implementation of State Law and Regulation of Dispensaries Still

Contentious

While Oakland has led the way in sanctioning cannabis dispensaries and

protecting patients in California, the city has recently decided too many

dispensaries had sprung up in a small area. New regulations resulted, and

operators are now dispersing to elsewhere in the area, but not without

protests from patients and advocates. Likewise, in Long Beach, Auburn and

Lake County, local governments are being compelled to act by new California

law that requires cities and counties to establish procedures for ensuring

legal access.

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LONG BEACH

Recent survey data shows that law enforcement continues to resist

implementing state laws permitting medical marijuana, even in California. A

concerted push by city council and the editorial page of the local paper has

resulted in new protections for patients in Long Beach.

 

Medical marijuana: moving forward

EDITORIAL, Long Beach Press-Telegram

We commend the Long Beach City Council's push toward a prompt change in the

police department's policy on medical marijuana. A change is long overdue.

 

Council Supports Clear Medical Marijuana Use Rules

by Steve Irsay, Gazette Newspapers - Long Beach

In response to pleas from users and patient advocates, the Long Beach Police

Department will review and likely revise its zero tolerance policy regarding

the use of medical marijuana.

 

City urges police to change pot policy

Long Beach Press-Telegram

Hearing impassioned pleas from medical marijuana patients and advocates, the

City Council this week asked the Long Beach Police Department to change a

policy that essentially requires officers who see marijuana to arrest

patients first and ask questions later.

 

Medical pot smokers sway City Council

by Jason Gewirtz, Long Beach Press-Telegram

Hearing impassioned pleas from medical marijuana patients and advocates, the

City Council on Tuesday asked the Police Department to change a policy that

essentially requires officers who see marijuana to arrest patients first and

ask questions later.

 

Medical use of marijuana

EDITORIAL, Long Beach Press-Telegram

Seven years have passed since the majority of California voters approved the

use of marijuana for medical reasons, yet many sick patients still live in

fear of arrest and prosecution. Because Long Beach's local policies have not

been revised to match the state laws, sick people legally using marijuana

are considered to be criminals. They're not.

 

Rx for medical marijuana

EDITORIAL, Long Beach Press-Telegram

Earlier this year a Long Beach deputy city attorney told a citizens'

advisory commission on public safety that it shouldn't become involved in

medical marijuana issues because the City Council had no business in that

area. Actually, there are few policy issues more in need of council

leadership than medical marijuana.

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OAKLAND

City withholds permits from cannabis clubs

by Jim Herron Zamora, San Francisco Chronicle

Oaksterdam is on its deathbed. Oakland's once-bustling downtown enclave of

medical marijuana clubs is about to disappear -- less than a year after it

earned its nickname -- after city officials refused last week to issue

permits to several popular establishments.

 

New city ordinance doom pot clubs in " Oaksterdam " neighborhood

Oakland Tribune

Several medical marijuana clubs in a downtown neighborhood face closure

after an ordinance allowing the city to regulate the clubs went into effect

June 1.

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AUBURN

Auburn Proposes 'Pot Shop' Ordinance

by Niesha Gates, Sacramento Bee

Auburn officials Monday will consider regulating the location and operations

of medical marijuana dispensaries, even though no such " pot shops " have

applied for business permits in the city.

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LAKE COUNTY

Marijuana Dispensary Tax Considered

by Elizabeth Larson, Record-Bee (Lake County, California)

Proposition 215, passed in 1996, legalized the use of marijuana for

medicinal purposes in California. Since that time, controversy has arisen as

officials have wrestled with the fundamental difficulties in managing the

use of a substance that has been outlawed for many years.

 

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ARKANSAS: Medical Marijuana Initiative Moving Toward Ballot

Vermont has just passed its medical marijuana bill, New York and Rhode

Island may act soon, and voters in Arkansas may have a chance to decide

directly this November if medical use will be permitted there. Recent

federal court decisions establishing that states may regulate legal access

to medical marijuana is expected to add further momentum to an issue that

has been rapidly advancing in states across the country.

 

Supporters of Arkansas marijuana amendment gathering signatures

by Rob Moritz, Arkansas News Bureau

If amendment supporters have their way, Arkansas voters will get to decide

whether marijuana should be allowed as a medical remedy.

 

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COLORADO: Medical Program Withdraws Legal Status for Caregivers

A problem for many medical marijuana laws that protect the right of patients

to use it with their doctor's approval is that there is no similar

protection for those who provide the medicine. Officials in Colorado had

quite reasonably extended that state's protections to caregivers, only to

find out that they had exceeded the law in doing so. The situation points

out the part legislatures must play in passing medical marijuana laws,

because they can consider and implement all the steps necessary to ensuring

safe access for everyone.

 

Colorado Pot Program Nixes Caregivers' Cards

by Brian D. Crecente, Rocky Mountain News

The state's medical marijuana program is revoking the caregiver certificates

it issued after realizing that the law never allowed for them.

 

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LABOR LAW: Medical Marijuana Patients Enjoy Employment Protections

With drug testing having become ubiquitous in the American workforce, the

issue of who is legally entitled to use cannabis will inevitably affect the

workplace and labor law. Federal and state laws protecting workers with

illnesses or injuries apply equally to those who must use cannabis as part

of their medical treatment, and employers may not legally discriminate

against them.

 

Medical marijuana and the workplace

by John Sahlberg, Idaho Employment Law Letter

Idaho may be one of the least likely states to legalize marijuana use for

medicinal purposes, but two of its neighbors and at least seven other states

have already done so. An Idaho employer with operations in any of those nine

states or that has employees who live in those states but work in Idaho may

be concerned about how such use affects its obligation to provide a

drug-free and safe workplace.

 

 

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ABOUT AMERICANS FOR SAFE ACCESS

A national coalition of 10,000 patients, doctors and advocates, Americans

for Safe Access is the largest organization working solely on medical

marijuana. For interviews or more information, contact ASA’s communications

director, William Dolphin, at (510) 919-1498 or asa.

 

Americans for Safe Access

1678 Shattuck Ave. #317

Berkeley, CA 94709

510-486-8083 (phone)

510-486-8090 (fax)

http://safeaccessnow.org

 

 

Hilary McQuie

Campaign Director

Americans for Safe Access

1678 Shattuck Ave. #317

Berkeley, CA 94709

510-486-8083

www.safeaccessnow.org

 

Join the fight for medical marijuana rights!

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