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Volume 1 # 3, December 2003 / January 2004
Season's Greetings from Safe Access
Now
This is one in a series of
occasional newsletters to let you know the status of the
Safe
Access Now medical marijuana garden
guidelines campaign.
For more information on our project and the science behind
it, please visit
our website. Feel
free to forward this link to interested people.
- Humboldt County Board to review
SAN guidelines
- SB 420 causing more
confusion
- Ralph Sherrow steps down as
SAN activist coordinator
- Karen Byars to coordinate SAN
reps
- Injunction granted against feds
to protect patients
- Who we are
- SAN Guideline basics
- Donate to SAN
Humboldt BOS reviewing SAN
guidelines
Humboldt County Supervisors voted to keep the guidelines
set by County District Attorney Paul Gallegos in place until
Jan. 20, when the proposal to make them permanent will come
back to the board. The Board has been asked to formalize the
popular guidelines in the wake of SB420, which empowers
local governments to set minimum guidelines to protect
patients from arrest. The existing county guidelines were
adopted by DA Paul Gallegos and closely approximate the Safe
Access Now Guidelines to protect patients and caregivers who
possess up to three pounds of bud and up to 99 growing
plants as long as the canopy does not exceed 100 square feet
total. The number 99 is in deference to federal sentencing
laws.
Humboldt County Sheriff Gary Philp asked the supervisors
to wait until he has the chance to discuss the proposed
guidelines with other city law-enforcement agencies. Philp
said he hopes area law-enforcement agencies can "reach some
type of agreement." Patients are concerned that such an
approach could politicize the issue and result in biased and
unacceptable figures being arbitrarily imposed, but
expressed confidence in the Board's ability to recognize
that the SAN guidelines are a compromise with the federal
medical marijuana dosage of more than six pounds per patient
per year.
Jason Fishbain medicalmarijuana@cox.net 707-616-7278 will
spearhead the effort to get patients to call their board
members and come to the BOS hearings to insist that Gallegos
guidelines be retained or expanded to the dosages given to
the federal medical marijuana patients.
SB 420 causing more
confusion
Senate Bill 420, the impetus that has led to the review
of the medical marijuana policy in Humboldt County and
elsewhere, was supposed to clarify the enforcement of Prop
215. At this point, however, it is adding to the confusion
on two fronts, at least. The first is which city and county
agencies have authority and what process is required to set
higher guidelines than those in HS 11362.77 (see
http://www.chrisconrad.com/expert.witness/sb420-03.htm). The
second is how its articles apply to qualified patients who
do not sign up for the voluntary ID card program.
A new twist is that the ID card program, set to go into
effect Jan. 1, has been delayed by both a Department of
Health Services demand for startup funds in addition to the
card fee which is supposed to pay for the process -- and at
the request of Governor Schwartzenegger, who has touted his
support for medical marijuana in the past but wants time to
review all new state policies. Without an ID card program,
the protections for registered patients seem to be a moot
issue. Bill author John Vasconcellos expressed frustration
at the idea that a state agency would fail to carry out the
law and instead seek almost a half million dollars to do its
assigned job. "Departments are there to carry out the law --
not (flout) it," he told the Sacramento Bee.
Some patient advocates have supported the bill, others
opposed it. What seemed clear last week was that we were
going to have to live with it, since it has been enacted as
law. As we go into the coming year, one thing is certain: It
is more important than ever for SAN activists to work on
getting Safe Access guidelines implemented locally. Please
contact us to get involved.
Ralph Sherrow steps
down as SAN activist coordinator
It is with great regret that Safe Access Now announces
that Ralph Sherrow is stepping down as our campaign
coordinator. Due to recent health problems and the stress of
coordinating SAN representatives throughout the state, Ralph
has asked to be relieved of his responsibilities. He will
continue to consult with me on the progress and development
of the campaign and various materials that are provided to
our activists and supporters, although he feels that he
should step down in the best interests of SAN and his own
well being.
Ralph has been essential to the formation of SAN. His
contributions are unequivocal: SAN would not exist were it
not for Ralph, who co-founded this organization with me.
When I attended an Oakland meeting and announced my plan to
launch this campaign only if I had at least one committed
helper, it was Ralph who stepped up to the plate and offered
immediate support. He has been unwavering in his role ever
since, advising me on our literature and tactics, emailing
and snail mailing materials to people, interviewing
potential representatives and maintaining several email
lists. While Ralph has at times been blunt and outspoken,
there was never any doubt that he had anything other than
the best interests of California patients and caregivers and
our guidelines project in mind.
SAN wishes to express a great appreciation to Ralph for
making his important and lasting contribution to all of
California. We honor his work and look forward to continuing
and expanding upon it. Please join us in thanking Ralph for
his terrific support and wishing him a fond farewell.
While recognizing that Ralph is irreplaceable, SAN is
happy to announce that Karen Byars has offered to help take
up some of the slack, as has Jason Fishbain. Anyone else who
wishes to help us fill the gap he leaves should contact me
at chris@chrisconrad.com to discuss how we might
proceed.
To send him a personal message of support, email to:
Ralph Sherrow <ralphkat@comcast.net>
Byars joins Safe Access
Now team
The next time you click on the email link at safeaccessnow.net,
you'll be hearing back from someone who is both new and
familiar. Long-time California community organizer Karen
Byars is stepping up to help coordinate the SAN reps around
the state and keep the issue on the front burners. Karen is
well known within environmental circles as well as for being
a top signature gatherer for the California Hemp Initiatives
and Proposition 215. She has recently worked with the
Berkeley Patients Group and Americans for Safe Access.
Exactly what she can do and is willing to do is still in
discussion, but hopefully Karen will be responding to
emails, mailing out documents to people who need it, taking
phone calls and helping local contacts to take action in
getting Safe Access guidelines adopted. She will be working
closely with Chris Conrad in developing statewide tactics on
how to best achieve our goals, and will have the daunting
task of handling communications for our network.
One project we need your help with is to send out a
mailing to notify county boards, DAs and local law
enforcement of the "no arrest" provision of HS 11362.7. That
means compiling lists, assembling mailing packages and
sticking stamps onto envelopes. It should be done as early
in the year as possible, so if you can help get the ball
rolling, please let Karen know.
Karen wants to hear from you about what you are doing,
what you have planned in your county, and how we can help
out. Please contact her at karenbyars@yahoo.com.
Injunction granted vs
feds to protect state patients
A judge of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals joined in
a Ninth Circuit decision that it appears unconstitutional
for Ashcroft and the Department of Justice/DEA to enforce
the Controlled Substances Act to arrest medical marijuana
patients who are engaged in activities that are legal under
state law. The immunity is contingent on there being no
commercial activities because the CSA relies on the federal
commerce clause (Article I, Section 8) of the US
Constitution. As such, it does not apply to groups like the
Oakland Cannabis Buyers Coop that distributed marijuana for
money. The ruling does bode well for Santa Cruz's WAMM
medical marijuana cooperative and can be cited as precedent
in other federal cases, unless and until it is appealed to
the full Ninth Circuit or the Supreme Court, at which point
its effect will become more dubious.
Part of the significance of this decision is how it will
play out given the changes in California law embodied by SB
420 (HS 11362.7). The new State law allows caregivers,
providers and even helpers to be paid for services as well
as being reimbursed for expenses. The statute declares that
it is an exercise of States' Rights under the Tenth
Amendment, but the courts have held that commercial activity
within a state (intrastate) still affects interstate
commerce. The question is whether there are sufficient
elements in state law to differentiate it from previous
cases and get that issue reviewed favorably in light of more
recent federal cases.
In the meantime, it is still recommended that legal
medical marijuana gardens be kept small, discreet, and free
of any indicia of commercial intent. Also, be sure to
contact your local officials about adopting Safe Access
guidelines.
Who we are
SAN is a non-partisan organization dedicated to the
proper implementation of uniform guidelines in all of
California's counties in compliance with H&S code
11362.5, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996. It was
founded by Chris Conrad with Ralph Sherrow and has activists
in about half the counties of California. We are an
educational and activist organization only, and in no way
supply medicine. Our proposal has been to stop the arrests
as well as the prosecution of patients by creating a safe
harbor of presumed compliance with the law.
We work with all levels of government to achieve this
goal.
SAN guideline
basics
Since the federal government's IND program has
established more than six pounds per year of marijuana as a
safe and effective standard, with some patients receiving
even more, SAN proposes that patients should be allowed to
cultivate and consume that amount as a reasonable level of
compliance. However, since many patients use less than that
amount, we offer a compromise of allowing up to 3 pounds of
processed cannabis bud per patient per year, which typically
requires a canopy area of 100 square feet. Any amount of
plants could be grown to fill in this area without exceeding
the yield, but since a 5 year federal sentences is mandatory
for growing 100 or more plants, we advocate 99 plants as the
voluntary ceiling for patients. In addition, our proposals
allow a physician to write a note that will exempt patients
who need more from being bound by these figures. See our
website http://www.safeaccessnow.net/ for more details.
Please donate to Safe Access
Now
Safe Access Now does not charge for the time and
materials we expend to advance the safe harbor proposal for
patients, but that does not mean it does not cost money to
run this campaign. If you can help with a donation of any
size, please send it to our financial coordinator, Chris
Conrad, with a note saying it is intended for Safe Access
Now work. If you plan to donate $100 or more and want a tax
deduction, we can arrange a fiscal sponsor. Cash is great,
but something of a mailing risk.
We do not have a bank account in our name, so please make
checks out to either Chris Conrad or Family Council on Drug
Awareness, and mail to:
Safe Access Now, PO Box 1716, El Cerrito CA 94530.
See
all our past SAN newsletters: Visit our archives online!
http://www.safeaccessnow.net/sannews/sannewsarchive.htm
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