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Medical cannabis patients and their providers suffer pervasive discrimination in employment, child custody, housing, public accommodation, education and medical care because of misinformation about the medical efficacy of cannabis and a lack of statutory legal protections. Furthermore, patients and their care providers are vulnerable to federal and state raids, arrest, prosecution, and incarceration. ASA's Legal Affairs Department creates, protects, and expands the rights of medical cannabis patients through direct support, extensive monitoring, proactive litigation, education, organizing attorneys, and the drafting of legislation.
Key Staff:
Joe Elford, Chief Counsel
Lauren Payne, Legal Services Coordinator
Support
Legal Support:
One of ASA's most important and far-reaching services is our Legal Support program. Under this program, we staff a legal hotline to provide assistance and legal information to people who have had law enforcement encounters, provide information and resources to assist with housing, employment discrimination, child custody, and other issues; and provide information and resources for attorneys.
Court support:
Marijuana is not just medicine in states that have Medical Marijuana laws. Medical marijuana patients are getting arrested, going to trial, and going to jail all over the country. As advocates, it is our job to highlight these injustices both in state and federal courts. Court support is a group of tactics used to support a patient or caregiver while they are going through state and federal legal systems.
POW Support:
Several patients and providers are in jail awaiting trial or in prison serving out their sentences. Although the actions of many of these prisoners were legal under state law, defendants cannot bring up a medical defense in federal court. ASA encourages our members to reach out to those in prison through letters and visits.
Education
Trainings:
A has developed legal trainings for patients and attorneys including Know Your Rights and a "How to Defend a Medical Cannabis Patient" training.
Jurors Rights:
Over one hundred medical cannabis patients and caregivers are facing defenseless federal trials in California alone. Prosecutors fight hard to keep any information about medical cannabis out of courtrooms to make sure that they get their conviction.
If the same Californian voters who supported Proposition 215 knew that they may be unwittingly convicting a medical cannabis provider and knew their rights as a juror, there would be a greater chance of a jury issuing a NOT GUILTY verdict.
Know your Rights:
Trough a series of educational booklets, trainings and manuals ASA has reached out to hundreds of thousands of medical cannabis patients educating them on their rights under state and federal law.
Emergency Response:
Proactive Litigation:
ASA's Legal Affairs staff not only support and educate the medical cannabis community but they also