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."

Hundreds of medical cannabis patients and advocates will be visiting the state Capitol this afternoon to talk with lawmakers about medical cannabis legislation. One of the most important bills on the table is AB 258, the Medical Cannabis Organ Transplant Act. This bill will prevent discrimination against medical cannabis patients who need organ transplants. It is a high priority for ASA, because medical cannabis patients have already died after being dropped from the organ transplant waiting list. Others are in danger right now.

Take a minute right now to send an email to your California State Senator asking him or her to support AB 258.

Don’t wait. The Senate could vote on the bill any time this week. Look for news from today’s California Citizen Lobby Day and the vote on AB 258 later this week. 

The California Citizen Lobby Day is just one week away! That means it is time for you to get signed up on the event web page at http://CaliforniaCitizenLobbyDay.org/register using your home address, so that we have time to schedule a meeting for you with your state Assembly Member and Senator. You will have a lot to talk to them about. There are bills on licensing, regulation, penalties for making concentrates, environmental standards for cultivation, and more.

How will you get your medicine? Who will be allowed to grow it and where? Can you use a vape pen or concentrates? Will you face discrimination because of your medical cannabis use? Which bills pass or don’t pass will matter to every stakeholder – including you.

Learn more about the California Citizen Lobby Day and why it matters in my live online broadcast at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, June 9. Log on to https://plus.google.com/events/cco9nujnqklp00a9s7u2igvp2ms There are more details below.

We are going to provide lobby day participants with a briefing and fact sheets on all the bills in Sacramento next Monday, but I need your help to protect medical cannabis patients from discrimination in the organ transplant process today. The Assembly Health Committee will hear testimony on AB 258, the Medical Cannabis Organ Transplant Act, on Wednesday. That’s when I will tell members how many people have signed the petition in support of the bill. If you have not done so, sign today. If you have, get someone else to join you - http://www.safeaccessnow.org/support_the_ca_medical_marijuana_organ_transplant_act

You will see in the news section below that it has been a busy week for medical cannabis. There was another big vote in the US House of Representatives, the bills are advancing in the California legislature, and cities and voters are making decisions about medical cannabis. Get medical cannabis news, events, court support dates, action alerts, and more in the California Weekly Roundup for Monday, June 8, 2015.

By Carla K. Johnson The Associated Press

CHICAGO – Supporters of Illinois' medical marijuana program are trying to inspire interest among patients by hosting an educational event, even as the latest official count shows a tapering-off in the number of people who want to use the plant legally.