California Assembly Member Marc Levin (D-San Rafael) has just introduced ASA-sponsored legislation to protect medical cannabis patients who need an organ transplant from life-threatening discrimination. Legal patients can be denied an organ transplant right now based solely on their status as a medical cannabis patient, but AB 258 will protect patients and save lives. 

Click here to read more about AB 258 and see a new video about the bill.

Do you have questions or input about AB 258, state regulation and licensing, or local medical cannabis issues? ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer is in town this week, and she wants to talk to you. Steph is talking to medical cannabis patients and other stakeholders about their role in local and state politics in a series of events entitled “Our Health Is In Our Hands.” Look for appearances in San Diego, West Hollywood, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Santa Rosa this week in the Events section of this message. 

ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer will be touring California between February 8^th and 15^th to talk to patients and other stakeholders about the local and state work that needs to get done on medical cannabis between now and November of 2016, when voters are likely to decide on an adult use ballot measure. A lot is up in the air between now and then.

Will regulations for commercial medical cannabis be good, bad, or both? Will the state legislature finally protect legal patients from discrimination? Will cities and counties ban distribution and cultivation, or keep moving forward with regulations allowing local access?

The answer to each question is that it is up to us. Steph’s talk is entitled “Our Health Is In Our Hands,” because responsibility for making sure that patients’ needs are met and rights are respected lies with us – the grassroots medical cannabis community. If we don’t take our message and vision to City Councils, Boards of Supervisors, and state lawmakers; no one else will. Don’t miss a chance to be a part of this important conversation about your community and state. Check the Events section for a list of talks statewide.