Contents (Scroll down for details and links):

News

• National
• California
• Local

Events

• August 26, 2015 - Improving Analysis and Quality Control of Cannabis Products Using Complementary Analytical Techniques (Online)
• August 30, 2015 - 2nd Annual Sonoma Blossom Festival (Santa Rosa)
• March 18-22, 2016 - National Medical Cannabis Unity Conference (Washington, DC)

Court Support

• August 21, 2015 – Court Support for Lynette Shaw (San Francisco)
• More

Take Action Now

• Sign the Petition to Ask Your Representative and Senators to Sign on to the CARERS Act!  (National)
• 5 Things People Can Do to Help Create Safe Access (National)
• Medical Marijuana: A Patient Survey (California)

ASA Website Spotlight

• Vote Medical Marijuana
• The Truth About Medical Marijuana

Chapter & Affiliate Meetings

• August 18, 2015 - Nevada County ASA (Grass Valley)
• August 18, 2015 - San Francisco ASA (San Francisco)
• August 19, 2015 - East Bay ASA (Berkeley)
• August 19, 2015 - Lake County ASA (Clearlake Oaks)
• August 23, 2015 - Nevada County ASA (North San Juan)

Join me for another live Google Hangout tomorrow night at 8:00 PM PT. We will be talking about what pending medical cannabis legislation does and does not mean for patients and providers in California. You can be a part of he conversation by logging on to “The Truth About Medical Cannabis: Regulations in California.”

Get more details about the Google Hangout below; plus medical cannabis news, events, court support requests, action alerts, and more in the California Weekly Roundup for Monday, July 27, 2015.

Contents (Scroll down for details and links):

News

• National
• California
• Local

Events

• July 28, 2015 - Sacramento County Board of Supervisors Meeting (Sacramento)
• July 28, 2015 – The Truth About Medical Cannabis: Regulations in California (Online)

Court Support

• July 27, 2015 – Court Support for James Morton (Oroville)
• July 29, 2015 – Court Support for Lance and Julie Stenhouse (Red Bluff)
• More

Take Action Now

• Sign the Petition to Ask Your Representative and Senators to Sign on to the CARERS Act!  (National)
• 5 Things People Can Do to Help Create Safe Access (National)
• Growing Medical Cannabis is Not a Waste (Sacramento County)

ASA Website Spotlight

• Provider Resources and Support

Chapter & Affiliate Meetings

• July 28, 2015 – San Diego ASA (San Diego)

Mark your calendar now for the next live Google Hangout, The Truth About Medical Cannabis: Regulations in California, on Tuesday, July 28, at 8:00 PM. Get all the federal, state, and local medical cannabis news for California... plus events, court support, action alerts, chapter meetings, and more in this week’s California Weekly Roundup!

Contents (Scroll down for details and links):

News

• National
• California
• Local

Events

• July 28, 2015 - Sacramento County Board of Supervisors Meeting (Sacramento)
• July 28, 2015 – The Truth About Medical Cannabis: Regulations in California (Online)

Court Support

• July 21, 2015 – Court Support for Stephen Boski/The Healing Connection (Modesto)
• More

Take Action Now

• Sign the Petition to Ask Your Representative and Senators to Sign on to the CARERS Act!  (National)
• Growing Medical Cannabis is Not a Waste (Sacramento County)

ASA Website Spotlight

• Find an Attorney: ASA Legal Team

Chapter & Affiliate Meetings

• July 21, 2015 - Nevada County ASA (Grass Valley)
• July 21, 2015 - San Francisco ASA (San Francisco)
• July 23, 2015 - Sacramento ASA (Sacramento)
• July 26, 2015 - Nevada County ASA (North San Juan)

The California State Legislature will adjourn for their summer recess tomorrow, following a flurry of activity surrounding medical cannabis. Legislative policy committees have approved at least eight bills that touch on almost every aspect of the issue. These bills are both good and bad for patients, providers, and others. However, they all share one common trait: they are moving easily through the process. After failing to adopt a significant medical cannabis bill since the Medical Marijuana Program Act in 2003 (SB 420), lawmakers are determined to pass bills this year. Most of bills have passed easily through committee votes so far – some with no opposition at all.

Lawmakers will have three weeks to get bills through the Appropriations Committees and to a final floor vote when they get back to Sacramento on August 17. Not every bill will make it. The Appropriations Committees are tasked with determining which policy decisions the state can afford. Many bills never make it out of these powerful committees. Bills that make it through Appropriations are likely to be adopted in a final floor vote before September 11. Governor Jerry Brown will then have until October 11 to sign or veto each bill. Things will move quickly between now and the end of the session. Patient advocates must stay alert and active to make a difference in the home stretch. 

The California legislative calendar is filling up, as lawmakers get ready for the summer recess on July 17. Four medical cannabis bills had committee hearings last week, and there are four more scheduled for this week. Lawmakers seem determined to pass medical cannabis bills this year. Both good and bad bills are being approved by healthy margins. Look for votes on commercial licensing and regulation, cultivation, and manufacturing butane hash oil this week. Get more information about this week’s hearings below, and read about all of the medical cannabis bills at http://www.safeaccessnow.org/2015_legislation

This may be your last chance to email Governor Brown and ask him to sign the Medical Cannabis Organ Transplant Act (AB 258). Patients who legally use medical cannabis in California are routinely denied a place on the national organ transplant wait list. Some have died as a result. AB 258 will end this discrimination and save lives. The Governor has until Wednesday to sign or veto the bill – so don’t wait. Speak up now!

http://www.safeaccessnow.org/tell_ca_governor_brown_to_sign_ab_258

Are you one of the 900 people who have already signed the petition or sent a post card to the Governor? Thank you! Can you get someone else to sign today? Share the link with your email list and on social media.

Check out the California Weekly Roundup for Monday, July 6, 2015, for medical cannabis news – including articles about how the media misunderstands (and misrepresents) medical cannabis research, the latest on cannabis cultivation and environmental damage, news on the raids in the Island Mountain area of the Emerald Triangle, and much more. And get all the details about four legislative hearings coming up in Sacramento this week. 

Federal momentum behind medical cannabis reform continues to build. Last week, the White House lifted bureaucratic hurdles to scientific research. But with progress comes more scrutiny. One national study spotlighted serious inconsistencies in the way edibles are labeled for potency in California and Washington, and a second review of the scientific literature showed mixed results when it comes to the efficacy of medical cannabis for certain conditions.

Here in California, the state legislature seems determined to adopt some kind of medical cannabis regulations. Bills dealing with commercial licensing, environmental standards for cultivation, and manufacturing concentrates all have committee hearings soon. Meanwhile, local law enforcement raided numerous cannabis gardens in the Island Mountain area of the Emerald Triangle. Law enforcement spokespeople say more raids are coming, in part, because of illegal water diversion and other harmful cultivation practices.

Poor labeling, questions about efficacy, rules for cultivation, and more – it all points to the need for sensible regulations. ASA calls on local and state lawmakers to finish the long overdue work of fully implementing Proposition 215 by adopting guidelines that protect patients, providers, communities, and ecosystems. Read about all the medical cannabis news, events, action alerts, and more in this week’s California Weekly Roundup. 

The California Senate approved AB 258, the Medical Cannabis Organ Transplant Act, earlier today by a margin of 33-1.  AB 258 prohibits discrimination against medical cannabis patients in the organ transplant process, unless a doctor has determined that medical cannabis use is clinically significant to the transplant process. Medical cannabis patients in California are routinely removed from the organ transplant waiting list if they test positive for cannabis use – even legal doctor-recommended medical cannabis.  AB 258 was authored by Assemblymember Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) and sponsored by Americans for Safe Access (ASA).

“AB 258 is about fundamental fairness and compassion. Legal medical cannabis patients should never face a choice between their doctor-recommended medicine and a life-saving organ transplant,” said Don Duncan ASA’s California Director. “AB 258 will help the law catch up with science, which has shown that medical cannabis patients are just as likely to benefit from an organ transplant as other patients.”

Earlier today, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) announced they will lift the public health service (PHS) review on marijuana research projects not funded by the federal government. The PHS review process was established in 1999 following a 1998 Institute of Medicine report that called for more in depth scientific research on marijuana. While the process was intended to facilitate greater research today it is broadly recognized as undermining legitimate scientific inquiry.  

"The US government has systematically impeded marijuana efficacy research, and the PHS review has played a large role in that stonewalling," said Dr. Sue Sisley. "It was a shameful tactic used by opponents of marijuana research who never wanted the public to see objective data about the efficacy of marijuana. To see the government finally eliminate this waste of taxpayer dollars is a triumph and hopefully represents another historic shift in drug policy reform."