Blog Voices from the Frontlines
Debbie Churgai
Medical Cannabis Patients, Medical Professionals, Advocates, and Industry Leaders Converge at National Medical Cannabis Unity Conference in D.C. - Americans for Safe Access
May 22 - May 25, 2018
Contact: Debbie Churgai | 202-857-4272 x.8 | debbie@safeaccessnow.org
WASHINGTON, DC — Starting on Tuesday, May 22nd and running until Friday, May 25th, medical cannabis patients, advocates, medical and legal professionals, and industry business leaders will gather at Americans for Safe Access’ (ASA) Annual National Medical Cannabis Unity conference in Washington, D.C. to learn and exchange ideas about how to navigate and steer medical cannabis policy in this ever-changing political landscape.
What: 6th Annual National Medical Cannabis Unity Conference
Where: Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC,
When: Tuesday, May 22nd through Friday, May 25th
This year's conference will focus on the life-saving role that medical cannabis can play in the fight against the Opioid Epidemic. In 2017 ASA launched the End Pain, Not Lives campaign, to help protect current medical cannabis programs, remove barriers for people with pain, chronic pain, and Opioid Use Disorder, and to educate medical professionals, service providers, and patients about medical cannabis and pain.
Geoffrey Marshall
How to Become a Cannabis Advocate - Americans for Safe Access
By Herbert Fuego for Westword
Most people thought the fight was over when Colorado voters legalized commercial cannabis in 2012, but that victory led to a series of smaller battles over such issues as social consumption, home-grow limitations and industry expansion. Proposals continue to pop up on both the local and state level that could advance or limit your rights as a cannabis consumer, patient, grower or business owner. Want to make sure things go in the right direction? Here's how to become a cannabis advocate:
Geoffrey Marshall
Marijuana delivery to all of California? Measure would expand access - Americans for Safe Access
By Taryn Luna for The Sacramento Bee
There's a problem with access to legal weed in California, and a Senate bill may help solve it.
A 2016 voter-approved measure to legalize marijuana in the state gave cities and counties the authority to pass regulations outlining the types of weed businesses that can operate within their borders. With limited time to craft rules before the law took effect at the start of the year, many towns approved outright bans of all marijuana businesses.
William Dolphin
ASA Activist Newsletter - May 2018
In the May 2018 Issue:
- ASA’s National Unity Conference Starts May 22
- ASA Submits Guidance to FDA for International Rescheduling
- Three States Expand Medical Cannabis Programs
- Voters in Oklahoma and Utah to Decide Safe Access
- Activist Profile: Jennifer Collins, Virginia
- ACTION ALERT: Join ASA in Lobbying Congress on May 23
Jon O'Connell
5 tips for new cannabis patients - Americans for Safe Access
By Jon O'Connell for The Citizens' Voice
Pennsylvania’s newest industry comes with a learning curve.
More than 7,000 people now carry medical marijuana ID cards to treat illness with cannabis, and thousands more seek them. However, it remains a legal conundrum when it comes to federal law, and it’s still disparaged as weak science by some physicians. Uninformed patients risk getting frustrated or giving up without the right resources.
During the first hour of the Cannabis Learn conference Monday in Philadelphia, Jahan Marcu, Ph.D., chief scientific officer with Americans for Safe Access, and the organization’s associate director, Debbe Churgai, offered some starting guidelines for patients and their caregivers considering cannabis as a treatment option.
Sasha Goldstein
Protections Proposed for Vermont Medical Marijuana Users Who Need an Organ Transplant - Americans for Safe Access
By Sasha Goldstein for Seven Days
"There's always the concern that, if there's not a specific statute or guideline [granting protections], then the risk [of discrimination] remains," said David Mangone, legislative counsel at Americans for Safe Access, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that advocates for access to medical cannabis. The group recently graded every state's medical marijuana program and gave Vermont's a zero out of five for its organ transplant protections.
Geoffrey Marshall
Why Athletes Are Ditching Ibuprofen for CBD - Americans for Safe Access
By Graham Averill for Outside
“There is overwhelming evidence that CBD can be effective for mitigating pain,” says Jahan Marcu, chief science officer with Americans for Safe Access, which works to legalize medical marijuana. “But we haven’t seen the full clinical trials necessary to understand exactly how it works.”
Kyle Jaeger
Experts React To Donald Trump’s Action To Protect Medical Marijuana - Americans for Safe Access
By Kyle Jaeger for High Times
In a statement Friday, Steph Sherer, executive director of Americans for Safe Access, noted the “tremendous amount of uncertainty from this administration regarding cannabis and how federal laws would be enforced against states that have lawful medical cannabis programs.”
But Sherer continued: “If the President intends to support a federalism-based solution, we are ready and willing to continue our efforts of ensuring that patients can access the medicine they need through robust state programs.”
David Mangone
ASA Submits Recommendations to FDA for International Rescheduling of Cannabis - Americans for Safe Access
This week, we submitted comments relating to the efficacy and medical usefulness of cannabis as a medical treatment. In early April, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a notice in the federal register asking for public comments on cannabis and its derivatives. These comments will help inform the response of the United States to the World Health Organization in potentially reclassifying cannabis.
Maranda Whittington
Local veteran hopeful about new medical marijuana pharmacy in SWLA - Americans for Safe Access
By Maranda Whittington for KPLC 7
Landry obtained a scholarship that will allow him to head to Washington D.C. next month to attend a unity conference with Americans for Safe Access.
He plans to march with other veterans supporting medical marijuana there as well.
State Advocacy Resources
