Blog

Contents:
California News

• CalNORML to Challenge Medical Marijuana Cultivation Ruling (California)
• Growing Marijuana in California: Here’s the Law (California)
• Navy Veteran Sentenced for Running Medical Marijuana Dispensary (San Diego)
• San Jose Passes Medical Marijuana Law, then Starts Shutting Down Shops (San Jose)
• Opposing portraits of med pot operation (Stockton)
• Parents losing custody for medical-marijuana use (San Diego)
• Fresno County supervisors OK preliminary marijuana ban (Fresno)

Events

• Tuesday, December 17, 2013 – Long Beach City Council Meeting (Long Beach)
• Friday, December 20, 2013 – ASA Constituent Call: California in 2014 (Statewide)

Take Action

• Get you ASA Cloud Vaporizer Pen and help support ASA
• Click to Donate - Raise money just by searching the Internet

ASA Services
Free Online Services

• Legal Support
• Publications
• Raid Center
• Medical Cannabis Advocate's Training Center

ASA Chapter Meetings

• Tuesday, December 17, 2013 – San Francisco ASA (San Francisco)
• Wednesday, December 18, 2013 – East Bay ASA (Oakland)
• Wednesday, December 18, 2013 – Lake County ASA (Clear Lake Oaks)

California News

CalNORML to Challenge Medical Marijuana Cultivation Ruling
By CalNORML

In an action supported by California NORML, medical marijuana patient James Maral will file a petition with the California Supreme Court to review the recent Third District Appellate Court decision upholding the city of Live Oak’s ban on medical marijuana cultivation.  San Francisco Attorney Joe Elford will draft and file the petition. “If you ban dispensaries and you ban cultivation, you’re ripping the heart out of California's medical marijuana laws,” said Elford. "This decision conflicts with the intent of the electorate and Legislature and should not be allowed to stand." The announcement comes a day after Fresno county took steps to enact a total cultivation ban on first reading at its Board of Supervisors meeting. A second reading on the ordinance will take place on January 7…
Read the full story here.

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Growing Marijuana in California: Here’s the Law
By Smell the Truth Staff in the SF weekly

Californians legalized medical marijuana cultivation in 1996, creating a medical defense in court that allows the use of the herb to treat people who are suffering from things like chronic pain, anxiety, and insomnia. However, it still remains illegal under federal law to grow, sell, or use marijuana. Usually, medical marijuana growers and providers who operate within state regulations and treat their customers and neighbors well don’t have any trouble with the federal government. But, what happens if they do? Read on to find out more about what can happen to someone who gets busted for selling marijuana – even for medicinal purposes…
Read the full blog here.

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Navy Veteran Sentenced for Running Medical Marijuana Dispensary
By Monica Garske and Elena Gomez on 7 San Diego

A Navy veteran convicted of running a medical marijuana retail store in San Diego will serve about four months in sheriff’s custody for charges stemming from the sale of marijuana. Jovan Jackson was sentenced Friday to 180 days in sheriff’s custody, plus three years of probation. Jackson has earned credit for past days served in custody, bringing his final sentence down to 132 days. Jackson’s sentence begins on Jan. 3, after the holiday season. Jackson’s attorney, Lance Rogers, and prosecutor Chris Lindberg both spoke before a judge in San Diego Friday, pleading their cases one final time…
Read the full story and watch the video here.

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San Jose Passes Medical Marijuana Law, then Starts Shutting Down Shops
By Ken Broder on AllGov.com

San Jose didn’t have a medical marijuana law until Tuesday night, after the city council rejected a motion, 7-4, to ban dispensaries, then passed an ordinance that approves and partially regulates them—and immediately starting shutting many of them down. The city has some 80 dispensaries, which pay a 10% local business tax that generates $5.4 million annually, but they are scattered all about and don’t have much oversight. San Jose voted to conjure up a complete regulatory framework within 90 days that will keep dispensaries 1,000 feet away from schools, parks, recreation centers, libraries and other marijuana vendors. They also can’t be within 500 feet of rehabilitation centers and 150 feet of residential properties. The San Jose Mercury News said the city will quickly send notices to shops next to homes that they have to leave and expects them all to be gone in a month or two…
Read the full story here.

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Opposing portraits of med pot operation
By Keith Reed on Recordnet.com

Stockton businessman Matthew Davies was ordered Friday by a U.S. District Court judge to surrender himself to a federal prison on March 3 and serve a five-year sentence for his role in manufacturing medical marijuana and distributing it through multiple dispensaries in Stockton and Sacramento. Davies, 36, likely will spend his time performing dairy farm work at a minimum-security facility in Lompoc. He pleaded guilty in June to federal drug charges dating back to 2010. His sentencing and upcoming prison time mark the conclusion of a three-year saga that has pitted federal drug laws against state-approved laws that allow for medical marijuana sales, Davies said, describing his operations as being "under the letter of California law…"
Read the full story here.

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Parents losing custody for medical-marijuana use
By Joshua Emerson Smith in the San Diego City Beat

During a telephone conversation with her husband, Wendy Jones heard a loud bang through the receiver right before the call went dead. On her way back from a work trip to Anaheim in early 2012, she’d called her husband Mark to say she was less than an hour away from their East San Diego County apartment. After several failed attempts to call him back, she arrived home to find their apartment ransacked. Mark and their 6-year-old son John were gone. She frantically dialed 911 and described to the dispatcher what looked like the scene of a burglary. Then Wendy saw a business card of a county social worker lying on a table. Ending the emergency call, she dialed the number on the card. A social worker picked up and told her that San Diego County Child Welfare Services had removed her son and placed him at the Polinsky Children’s Center in Kearny Mesa. The social worker refused to provide additional information…
Read the full article here.

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Fresno County supervisors OK preliminary marijuana ban
By Gene Haagenson on ABC 30

Fresno County is a step closer to making growing medical marijuana against the law.The Fresno County Sheriff's Department raided more than 100 big marijuana farms this year but acknowledged there are about 500 they couldn't get to.  Those untouched farms in the Squaw Valley area are a problem for residents like Norma Jean Onyschuk. She told the board members on Tuesday, "I don't feel safe walking down my street anymore because there's a grow on the next street down from me..."
Read the full story and watch the video here.

Events

Tuesday, December 17, 2013 – Long Beach City Council Meeting (Long Beach)
The Long Beach City Council will discuss a proposed medical cannabis ordinance at their meeting on Tuesday night. This is the item that was to have been heard last week. Arrive early to sign up to speak on items 21 and 22 on the agenda. Tell the City Council to listen to patients and advocates about the new rules. The meeting starts at 5:00 PM in Council Chambers at 333 West Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90802.

Friday, December 20, 2013 – ASA Constituent Call: California in 2014 (Statewide)
Join ASA members and allies from all over the state for a talk with ASA California Director Don Duncan for a talk about what is on the horizon in California in 0214. The call, which is the first of several over the next few months, begins at 12:00 PM. Call 206-402-0825 and enter access code 1618568# to join the one-hour call.

Do you have a medical cannabis event to share? Send items for the California Weekly Roundup to [email protected] before 12:00 PM on Friday to be included in Monday's distribution.

Take Action

Get you ASA Cloud Vaporizer Pen and help support ASA

Cloud Vapes and ASA have teamed up to offer this very special, limited edition vapo-pen. This high-quality vape pen has an ASA logo and a life time guarantee. Cloud Vapes is donating a portion of proceeds for each retail and wholesale transaction to ASA. ASA Cloud Vaporizer pens make great holiday gifts!

Click to Donate

Help raise money for medical cannabis advocacy – just by searching the Internet! Sign up at Click to Donate and select Americans for Safe Access as your charity. Then just keeping searching.

ASA Services

Free Online Services

• Legal Support - Legal information for patients, lawyers, and other about medical cannabis laws the legal system.
• Publications - Education literature and training for patients, activists, and others.
• Raid Center - Be prepared for a law enforcement encounter, let ASA help you in case of a federal raid, and get text alerts regarding local law enforcement activity.
• Medical Cannabis Advocate's Training Center - Learn how to be a more effective advocate for medical cannabis and how to build the movement in your community.

ASA Chapter Meetings

Tuesday, December 17, 2013 – San Francisco ASA (San Francisco)
7:30 PM at 847 Howard St, San Francisco, CA 94103. Email [email protected] for more information.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013 – East Bay ASA (Oakland)
6:30 PM at Oaksterdam Student Union, 1915 Broadway, Oakland, CA. Email [email protected] for more information.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013 – Lake County ASA (Clear Lake Oaks)
6:30PM at Moose Lodge 15900 E Highway 20, Clearlake Oaks 95423. Email [email protected] for more information.

See the full calendar here.

Have something to share?

The “California Weekly Roundup” is a once-a-week email for ASA Members and Friends that focuses on relevant news and important updates, action alerts, meetings and special events. Send items for the California Weekly Roundup to [email protected] before 12:00 PM on Friday to be included in Monday's distribution.