Medical Cannabis Patients, Medical Professionals, Advocates, and Industry Leaders Will Converge Online for the 2020 National Medical Cannabis Unity Conference
WASHINGTON, DC — On Friday, March 27, 2020, Americans for Safe Access (ASA) will hold its 8th Annual National Medical Cannabis Unity conference. This year, for the first time ever, the conference will be held online due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Instead of cancelling or postponing the conference, ASA decided to move this year’s Unity Conference from an in-person conference to an online conference in order to make their program content available to participants across the country. From 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET, ASA will share the latest developments in medical cannabis, discuss barriers to medical cannabis access, exchange ideas about how to navigate medical cannabis policy--nationally and globally--in this ever-changing political landscape, and demand action from state and federal elected officials.
This year’s Unity Conference theme is “Campaigning for Cannabis: Making Policies Work for Patients”. The conference will highlight issues that medical cannabis patients are still facing and will provide policy solutions that participants will be able to share with their state legislators. Although medical cannabis is legal in 33 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, due to cannabis still being federally illegal, many patients across the country still have to deal with the fear of losing their children, being kicked out of housing, traveling out of state without their medicine, losing their jobs, and not having access to medical cannabis in healthcare settings such as hospices. During the conference participants will learn solutions to mitigate these issues and will leave with the knowledge they need to advocate for better policies and to vote for candidates that align with their views on cannabis on election day in November 2020.
When: Friday, March 27 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET
What: 8th Annual National Medical Cannabis Unity Conference
Where: Online using Zoom
Who: Reporters, medical cannabis patients, caregivers, veterans, advocates, medical professionals, industry business leaders, health care providers, researchers, legal and regulatory experts, industry representatives
“While this country has made incredible progress in the last few years towards the acceptance of medical cannabis, many barriers to safe and legal access still remain,” said Steph Sherer, President and Founder of Americans for Safe Access. “Ensuring access for patients means more than just acceptance; we need to continue to urge legislators to enact better safety regulations, laws, and civil protections that will allow all patients safe and equal access to this medicine. We also need to continue to push for policies that will expand medical professional education, science, and research to better understand the potential of this medicine.”
“Due to the safety of all participants during this coronavirus pandemic, ASA decided to move this year’s Unity Conference from an in-person conference to an online conference,” said Debbie Churgai, interim director of Americans for Safe Access. “While it is disappointing that we won’t be able to engage with each other in person, with this year being an election year, we felt Unity 2020 was too important to cancel, and we are excited to bring our great content in an online format, so that people everywhere can participate and engage with our community.”
Speakers
- Ngiste Abebe, Columbia Care
- Nichole Snow, MA Patients Advocacy Alliance
- Christine Stenquist, TRUCE
- Nic Easley, 3C Cannabis Consulting
- Michael Krawitz, Veterans for Medical Cannabis Access
- Hillary Black, Canopy Growth
- Pavel Pachta, International Cannabis and Cannabinoids Institute
- Josh Crossney, Cannabis Science Conference
- Julie Armstrong, Aurelius Data
- Antonio Frazier, CannaSafe Analytics
About Americans for Safe Access
The mission of Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is to ensure safe and legal access to cannabis (marijuana) for therapeutic use and research.
ASA was founded in 2002 by medical cannabis patient Steph Sherer as a vehicle for patients to advocate for the acceptance of cannabis as medicine. With over 100,000 active members in all 50 states, ASA is the largest national organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists, and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. ASA works to overcome political, social, and legal barriers by creating policies that improve access to medical cannabis for patients and researchers through legislation, education, litigation, research, grassroots empowerment, advocacy, and services for patients, governments, medical professionals, and medical cannabis providers.
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