On May 22nd in Los Angeles, the California Court of Appeals ruled that the state limits on medical marijuana possession and cultivation that were established under state law SB 420 are unconstitutional. In the case People v. Patrick Kelly, the court overturned the defendant's conviction for possessing 12 ounces of dried marijuana plants on the grounds that the prosecutor had improperly argued that the defendant was guilty because he possessed more than the 8-ounce limit established in Health & Safety Code Section 11362.77 and did not have a doctor's recommendation that authorized more. That section also says that counties and cities can enact medical marijuana guidelines that allow patients or caregivers to exceed the state limits.

In its 3-0 decision, the court ruled: "The prosecutor's argument was improper... because the CUA [Compassionate Use Act] can only be amended with voters' approval. Voters, however, did not approve the eight-ounce limit and other caps in section 11362.77; hence, section 11362.77 unconstitutionally amends the CUA." The decision could be appealed to the Supreme Court. Prop. 215 advocates such as California NORML have long believed that the SB 420 limits are unconstitutional. Statement from California NORML

Text of Court of Appeals decision in People v. Patrick Kelly | Text of SB 420 | Text of Proposition 215

Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) and a small bi-partisan coalition of Members of Congress introduced H.R. 5842, the Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act in April. The legislation will help protect individuals who use or provide medical cannabis in accordance with their state law.

If it is passed, this legislation would, among other things, reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I to Schedule II drug according the Controlled Substances Act and provide clearer protections for qualified patients, their caregivers, and safe-access sites authorized by state or local law. Such bills have been introduced in the past, but had not been passed into law. Americans for Safe Access has a Patient Protection Act page on its website from which people can write to their U.S. Representative to support this piece of legislation.

HR 5842: Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act | ASA's announcement about contacting Congresspeople | Controlled Substances Act

On April 29th, California's Assembly Committee on Public Safety passed A.B. 2743. The bill, authored by Assembly Member Lori Saldaña (D-San Diego) and spearheaded by the Marijuana Policy Project, or MPP, would direct state and local law enforcement officers to not assist in federal raids on medical marijuana patients and providers. The bill will now continue on to the appropriations committee.

During the more than ten years in which patients in California have had legal access to medical cannabis, local and state officials have assisted the federal war on patients and providers in more than three-dozen cases, including by calling in federal agents. Some segments of the law enforcement community have reportedly opposed this bill, but the state's ill and injured patients prevailed when the committee voted to move the bill forward.

The committee heard testimony from MPP's Aaron Smith; a raided dispensary operator; a disabled former corrections officer; and Dr. Mollie Fry and her husband Dale Schafer, who have been sentenced to five years in federal prison for medical marijuana. Several patients and caregivers from the Sacramento area also attended to show their support for the bill.

Marijuana Policy Project's Statement | ASA's AB 2743 Page

Update: An inconclusive vote was held on the Assembly floor on May 19th. Marijuana Policy Project is calling for supporters of the legislation to contact their Assemblypeople to "thank or spank" them and to encourage their votes in favor of the bill when it is next considered by the full body.

A state medical marijuana employment rights bill is working its way through California's state Assembly committees. AB 2279, which would protect the rights of hundreds of thousands of medical marijuana patients in California from employment discrimination, was introduced in February and was approved April 17th by the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee on a 6-2 vote. The bill, which heads to the Assembly floor next, would reverse a January California Supreme Court decision in Ross v. RagingWire, which said that an employer may fire someone solely because they use medical marijuana outside the workplace. Americans for Safe Access (ASA) argued the case in court and is now a sponsor of the bill.

The bill leaves intact existing state law prohibiting medical marijuana consumption at the workplace and "protects employers" from liability by carving out an exception for safety-sensitive positions. "The California Supreme Court decision said that an employer may fire someone solely because they use medical marijuana outside the workplace," Mr. Leno said in a previous statement. "AB 2279 is merely an affirmation of the intent of the voters and the legislature that medical marijuana patents need not be unemployed to benefit from their medicine."

On January 24th, the California Supreme Court upheld a ruling that denied qualified patients a remedy from employment discrimination, based either on their status as a patient or a positive test for marijuana. The plaintiff from the case, Gary Ross, is a 46-year old disabled veteran who was a systems engineer living Carmichael when he was fired in 2001 from his job at RagingWire Telecommunications-- for testing positive for marijuana. "It's important that we not allow employment discrimination in California," Ross said. "If the court is going to ignore the need for protection, then it's up to the legislature to ensure that productive workers like me are free from discrimination."

Text of AB2279 | ASA page on AB2279, including Fact Sheet and Letters of Support | Legal briefs and rulings in the Ross v. RagingWire case | Indybay's Past Coverage: CA Supreme Court Upholds Right of Employers to Fire Medical Marijuana Users

Thousands of students from around the Monterey and San Francisco Bay Areas participated in a "Four Twenty" celebration in Porter Meadow at UC Santa Cruz on April 20th, 2008. Four Twenty (420) is a time of day when people, often a group of friends, smoke cannabis together or eat foods cooked with it. For that reason, April 20th has evolved into a counterculture holiday where people gather to celebrate and consume cannabis. Porter Meadow at UCSC has traditionally been the largest 420 gathering place around, and this year was said to be even larger than 2007. Despite the severe measures initiated by the UCSC administration to curtail the unorganized convergence, folks showed they were determined to experience Four Twenty as one large group of people in the Porter Meadow. Read More and View Photos

see also: Thousands Celebrate 420 at Porter Meadow | UCSC Reefer Madness! Campus lockdown! | 2007: A Portrait: 420 at UC Santa Cruz

On March 19th, Dr. Marion "Mollie" Fry and Dale Schafer walked out of a US Court in Sacramento free on bail pending appeal after being sentenced to a five-year mandatory minimum for conspiracy to cultivate and dispense medical cannabis. US District Judge Frank Damrell deplored the sentence as a "tragedy" that should "never have happened." Supporters were elated by Judge Damrell's decision to grant release the defendants on bail after much of the hearing had resulted in rulings in favor of the prosecution. Defense attorney Tony Serra called it "one of the saddest days I've confronted in a long career" after Damrell turned down all the defense's motions to avoid the mandatory minimums.

Dr. Mollie Fry stirred the courtroom to tears as she related the story of her struggle with breast cancer and subsequent desire to help people with medical cannabis. "We caused no harm to anyone," she said, "There were no victims." Judge Damrell acknowledged the legitimacy of Fry's medical use of marijuana, but said that the couple had "spiraled out of control. ' He concluded that he had "no choice" but to impose the mandatory minimum of 5 years, a sentence dictated by the jury's finding that the couple had grown a total of slightly more than 100 plants over a period of three years.

On the final issue of the day, Judge Damrell agreed that the couple had "substantial" grounds for appeal so as to justify their release on bail. Following expert testimony by attorneys J David Nick and Ephraim Margolin, Damrell found substantial appeals issues relating to entrapment, the defendants' state of mind, and the conflict between state and federal laws. He added that the couple's precarious state of health was further extraordinary grounds for keeping them out of prison. He reprimanded Dr. Fry for her loose standards in recommending marijuana, and stipulated as a strict condition for her release that she desist from further recommendations, to which she assented. Dale Gieringer of California NORML writes, "Judge Damrell effectively declared the bankruptcy of US laws regarding mandatory sentencing and medical marijuana, and rightly referred the matter to higher authorities to decide. There are good grounds to hope that Dale and Mollie will be vindicated by the Ninth Circuit and/or a change in administration." Doctor Fry reportedly sold her practice by the end of March.

Reports from the Sentencing | Announcement of the sentencing | 8/22/2007: Medical Cannabis Doctor and Attorney Found Guilty of Growing Cannabis Plants | Doctor Fry's website

Michael Martin of Tainted/Compassionate Medicinal Edibles faces a Change of Plea Hearing in Oakland on Wednesday, March 26th. He writes, "I cannot gamble with raising my two children from prison for a decade over principle, so regrettably I will accept the plea offered to me and hope the judge sees the injustice of the situation." As he is unable to speak freely about the medicinal nature of Tainted's products, the alternative would be a jury that could assign him a ten year mandatory minimum sentence.

Michael is hoping that the community will go to court to show support for him. He writes, "It is our first appearance in front of Judge Claudia Wilken and I think it is important to let her know that there is a community of patients and providers that demand justice. She will be responsible for the sentencing in our case and I believe it to be important that she understand that we are one of many being persecuted and denied our rights regarding cannabis as a medicine." The hearing will take place on Wednesday at 2:30pm in Judge Wilken's courtroom at 1301 Clay St. in Oakland. Read more

Past Coverage: 1/31: Patient Testimonials Needed. Let Your Vice Be Heard | DEA Targets East Bay Supplier of Edible Medical Cannabis Products | Free Tainted Cannablog

On Wednesday, March 19th, the California Supreme Court decided not to review last year’s landmark return of property decision in Garden Grove v. Superior Court. By affirming the appellate court’s decision, the Supreme Court has made protection against seizure of medical marijuana by law enforcement legally binding throughout the state of California.

In November of 2007, the California Court of Appeal ruled that state law enforcement could not use federal law as an excuse for not upholding California’s medical cannabis laws – therefore police must return medicine wrongfully seized from legal patients. ASA filed the successful appeal on behalf of Garden Grove patient Felix Kha in hopes of stemming the tide of hundreds of wrongful confiscations of medicine all over California. Kha had sought the return of his 8 grams of medical marijuana that was seized by police in June of 2005. In a ruling that rejects law enforcement's claim that federal law preempts the state's medical marijuana law, the court asserted "we do not believe the federal drug laws supersede or preempt Kha's right to the return of his property." The court further stated that, "it is not the job of the local police to enforce the federal drug laws..."

As a result of hundreds of cases of wrongful medical marijuana confiscation, and careful legal planning and research over the course of two years, ASA’s legal team felt that it built a strong defense for the rights of Felix Kha and others like him. ASA wants to make sure that the more than 250,000 legal patients and thousands of attorneys and public defenders are sufficiently educated about patients’ rights and protection from medicine confiscation to which patients are now entitled. ASA now hopes to educate police officers, prosecutors, and judges, and to use the media to end patient harassment and to ensure that police no longer claim that marijuana is illegal.

ASA's page about the Garden Grove case || Past coverage on Indybay: 11/2007: Appellate Court Strongly Vindicates Patients Right to Medical Marijuana Seized by Police | 8/2007: State Appellate Court to Hear Demand for Return of Patients' Medicine

On February 26th, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a sanctuary resolution. This new law re-establishes the city's sanctuary status and calls on the Mayor to take action. On February 12th, the Supervisors had heard and postponed a vote on a resolution that would show the Supes' support for John Conyers Jr., the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of Congress, who called for hearings to investigate the DEA's attempts to undermine California state laws. This resolution is similar to the one that was passed by the Democratic County Central Committee on January 23rd. Patients and supporters spoke out in support of this resolution. Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, who represents neighborhoods in southwest San Francisco, said he wanted a chance to go on record against the resolution, so he asked that the vote be deferred. He voted against the measure on the 26th. Also on the 26th, the Supervisors voted to allow for dispensaries to stay open after the March 1st deadline, pending an amendment to the current ordinance. Supervisor Allioto-Pier was absent for both votes on that date.

At a press conference held on San Francisco City Hall Steps at noon on Monday February 4th, members of the San Francisco medical cannabis community and their supporters gathered in solidarity to call for Mayor Gavin Newsom to end his silence about recent US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)'s scare tactics against medical cannabis facility landlords. Photos and Report The DEA has been sending letters threatening asset forfeiture and imprisonment if landlords continue to rent to medical cannabis dispensaries, even though they are doing so pursuant to City regulations. Speakers including California State Senator Carole Migden; San Francisco Supervisors Chris Daly and Ross Mirkarimi; representatives of local dispensaries; and other luminaires such as Libertarian presidential candidate Steve Kubby challenged the Mayor to join with Mayor Ron Dellums of Oakland in denouncing the federal government's treachery. On Wednesday, the Mayor's spokesperson Nathan Ballard said, "The mayor is concerned that the DEA's actions will leave patients without their physician-recommended medical marijuana" Some SF Supervisors are concerned that this statement did not demonstrate enough leadership-- many measures would be needed to protect dispensaries from closure, and to assure patients' continued access to their medicine should the DEA's threatening letters lead to many dispensaries closing down.

To celebrate the growing support for medical cannabis and the spread of safe access in medical cannabis states throughout the nation, Americans for Safe Access (ASA) organized Medical Marijuana Week 2008. Medical Marijuana Week has taken place the last five years during the week of February 15th, or 2/15, to commemorate the passage of Proposition 215, California's medical cannabis law.

Each day during the week, Americans for Safe Access announced opportunities to advance safe access to medical cannabis, through actions such as educating one's community, meeting with U.S. Senators, writing letters to the editor, and more. They reminded participants that wearing medical marijuana-related t-shirts, stickers, hats, bags, or sweatshirts can serve as icebreakers or ways to start talking about medical cannabis. Local events in the Bay Area included Sunday's Medical Marijuana University, as well as film screenings, a legal training on Tuesday evening in SF, a Valentine's Day seed planting at SF City Hall, and a photo/video shoot of patients' testimonials. On Friday evening, SF Patients' Cooperative hosted a Unity in the Community event to discuss starting a medical marijuana community center. On Saturday, Medical cannabis researcher Jahan Marcu spoke at a Los Angeles ASA meeting, while a civil disobedience training for emergency response was held in Oakland. On Sunday night, SF ASA hosted a party.

The national daily actions included:
Monday: Joining Americans for Safe Access, which is the nation's largest organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research.
Tuesday: "Meet Your Senators" On Tuesday and Wednesday during Medical Marijuana Week activists throughout the country "dropped in" on their U.S. Senators’ district offices to talk about supporting access for FDA-approved medical cannabis research. They hope that senators will sign on to the letter Senators Kennedy and Kerry are circulating to enable FDA-approved research.
Wednesday: Put Pens to Paper for Research Participants wrote letters to the editors of local newspapers, calling on their Senators to support access for FDA-approved medical marijuana research. ASA says, "FDA-approved research is key to safe access nationwide."
Thursday: Meet Your Match Patients nationwide have joined together to form condition-based unions to further promote medical cannabis research and advocate for safe access to medical cannabis through the Medical Marijuana Unions project.
Friday: Meet the Movement and Get Organized On Thursday, ASA released its first ever National Field Report, which paints a comprehensive picture of the local, state, and national campaigns ASA’s chapters and affiliates work on and also highlights the 2007 accomplishments in the field. ASA hoped that on Friday, people would be inspired to found or join a chapter of the organization.
Saturday and Sunday: Walk Your Talk On Saturday and Sunday, ASA suggested that participants download and print out a petition calling on their U.S. Senators to support access to materials for FDA-approved medical cannabis research. ASA has an interactive map, so that petitions could be addressed to participants' own U.S. Senators.

Medical Marijuana Week announcement | San Francisco ASA's Medical Marijuana Week | Americans for Safe Access