Americans for Safe AccessA c t i v i s t N e w s l e t t e r

Defending Pat ients ’ Access to Medical Mari juanaMAY 2016 Volume 11, Issue 5

Americans for Safe Access • 1624 U Street NW, Suite 200 • Washington, D.C. 20009 202-857-4272 • info@AmericansForSafeAccess.org • www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org

New ASA Partnership to Support Patients’ RightsAmericans for Safe Access and Orrick,Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, a global legal pow-erhouse based in San Francisco, announcedlast month a new partnership to provide no-cost legal support to medical cannabis patientsthrough ASA’s Patients’ Rights Project.

For more than a decade, ASA’s Patients’ RightsProject has helped medical cannabis stake-holders navigate the often confusing legallandscape, providing educational materials,advocating for better legislation, and workingthrough the courts.

The partnership project will include new legalmanuals for patients and guides for publicdefenders who represent them in court. In the

fall, Orrick will begin coordinating attorneys tosupport ASA’s legal hotline for individualpatients and monitor implementation of statemedical cannabis programs.

Each of the dozens of state medical cannabislaws is unique, as are those in US territories.What counts as compliance with those laws isoften decided by court cases, and confusionoften leaves patients and providers vulnerableto arrest, prosecution, and incarceration.

“Partnering with Orrick on this important proj-ect will allow us to keep up with demand,”said Steph Sherer, ASA’s Executive Director.“With over two million medical cannabispatients and rapidly evolving laws, the services

the Patient's Rights Project provides havenever been more important.”

Orrick, founded in San Francisco a century anda half ago, today has global reach through 25offices and a reputation for dedicated probono work on diverse causes, including immi-gration, civil rights, systemic problems andgrassroots global development.

“We are very excited to start apro bono relationship withsuch a dynamic nonprofit, asAmericans for Safe Access,”said Rene Kathawala, Orrick’spro bono counsel. ”They offerfirst-rate advocacy in ensuring

that low-income patients with a medical needfor cannabis have the legal and other neces-sary support.”

Over the last 14 years, ASA has helped thou-sands of patients with legal support throughtheir toll-free patient hotline, online interac-

The Department of Justice (DOJ)may finally be accepting the restric-tions Congress placed on medical

cannabis enforcement in 2014. Last month,prosecutors abandoned two civil cases target-ing California dispensaries, following a federalcourt ruling last October that the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment to the DOJ budget blockssuch cases.

Early in April, the DOJ dropped its appeal ofthat ruling on the 14-year-old injunction thateventually shut the Marin Alliance for MedicalMarijuana (MAMM), and later in the month

they also dropped their asset forfeiture suitagainst Harborside Health Center in Oakland.

The case against Harborside, the largest dis-pensary in the nation, was brought by the DOJback in 2011 as part of a broad federal strategyof using asset forfeiture threats against land-lords who rented to licensed medical cannabisbusinesses. The strategy was successful in clos-ing hundreds of dispensaries.

The Harborside case was different from mostin that the operators and landlord contested

Federal Gov’t Drops Dispensary Cases

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The US State Department has goneon record that the Drug EnforcementAdministration (DEA) may issue more

licenses to cultivate research cannabis. TheDEA has long maintained that the monopolyon research cannabis production held by theNational Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) wasthe only way to comply with UN treaties.

Legal analysis by the Bureau of InternationalNarcotics and Law Enforcement at the StateDepartment concluded otherwise, finding thatthe United Nations Single Convention onNarcotic Drugs does not prohibit multiplelicenses for the cultivation of cannabis formedical and scientific purposes. The StateDepartment finding came in response to aninquiry from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).

“For years, the DEA has cited this internationaltreaty as the reason for limiting medical

research,” said Sen. Gillibrand in a statement.“Now that the State Department has con-firmed this treaty should not be a barrier toexpanding research, the DEA should issue newlicenses to supply medical researchers and stopletting antiquated ideology stand in the wayof modern medical science.”

Currently, the only licensed cultivation facilityis at the University of Mississippi. Researchershave complained for years that the facilitydoes not provide sufficient amounts or appro-priate types for research. In 2013 a DEA admin-istrative law judge ruled that allowing morelicenses is in the public interest, and NIDA itselfwent on record before Congress last year rec-ommending their monopoly be discontinued.

Several countries have issued multiple licensesto grow cannabis for medical and scientificpurposes. None have faced UN sanctions.

State Dept Says DEA Can License More Growers

ASA’s fifth annual California CitizenLobby Day will be held in Sacramentoon Monday, May 23. Advocates have a

chance to join 300 other patients and advo-cates to talk face-to-face with lawmakers andregulators about medical cannabis. ASA willprovide lobbying materials and arrange meet-ings with the representatives in the Senate andAssembly for all who register. At the end ofthe day, ASA will host a VIP Reception withlawmakers and other citizen lobbyists.

Lobby Day begins with a continental breakfastand citizen lobbyist training at the HyattRegency Hotel on L Street, right across thestreet from the state Capitol Building. Lobbyday participants will also receive a special leg-islative briefing from the new chief of thestate’s Bureau of Medical MarijuanaRegulation, Lori Ajax, and the bureau’s SeniorPolicy Advisor, An-Chi Tsou. The two officialswill discuss the implementation of the newMedical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act.

The suggested donation for the lobby day is$40, but no one will be turned away. Registeronline at californiacitizenlobbyday.org.

CALIFORNIA CITIZENLOBBY DAY: May 23

Among those honored at ASA’s annualAwards Dinner at the 2016 UnityConference was the ASA Action Groupof the Year, Georgia’s Hope. The groupwas recognized for playing an instru-mental part in advancing safe access intheir state, with new legislation passedlast year to protect qualified patientswith eight medical conditions.

Georgia’s Hope came together in late2013 when two parent groups, one forchildren with seizures and one for kidswith mitochondrial disorder, separatelycontacted ASA for support after seeingSanjay Gupta’s medical cannabis docu-mentary on CNN. Once ASA put the twogroups in touch with each other, theycommitted to working together andestablished themselves as an ASA ActionGroup in early 2014. The first step was reach-ing out to their state legislators and the media,but they didn’t expect to get much attention.

Yet immediately that work resulted in theAtlanta ABC station airing a segment withlocal families of children with intractableseizures that might be helped by medicalcannabis, followed a few days later by an on-air interview with Janea Cox and her four-year-old daughter Haleigh, who would become thenamesake of the state’s medical cannabis law.

After State Rep. Allen Peake (R-Macon) metHaleigh Cox in the hospital, he reached out tothe ASA group asking to meet. Within just afew weeks, Rep. Peake had introduced withfive co-sponsors a limited medical cannabis bill.HB 885, also called Haleigh’s Hope Act, passedthe House 171 to 4 in 2014 but was denied a

vote in the Senate by political maneuvering. Asa result, many families, including Janea andHaleigh Cox, moved to other states to accesscannabis treatment.

In 2015, Rep. Peake tried again, introducing HB1 to allow cannabis oil with up to 5% THC foreight qualifying conditions. The bill passedand was signed by Gov. Nathan Deal in April,but with no mechanism in the law to produceor acquire medicine, Georgia’s Hope was com-mitted to passing a more comprehensive law.

“We will work until we get something,” saidSebastien Cotte, one of the leaders ofGeorgia’s Hope whose son Jagger has mito-chondrial disease. “It is not just for our kids,but for all patients.”

In 2016, the Georgia’s Hope, Facebook pagegrew to more than 16,000 followers. They

teamed up with another group,Hope United, to get supportfrom more people representingother conditions.

A new bill introduced by Peakethis year, HB 722, would haveestablished an in-state cultiva-tion and distribution program,added more qualifying condi-tions, and removed the THClimit. The bill had support in theHouse, but opposition from Gov.Deal forced Peale to scale it backto an expansion of qualifyingconditions. The stripped-downbill passed the House with over-whelming support but did notget a committee hearing in the

Senate, despite patient lobbying into the finalminutes of the session (pictured).

“We thought we had a good but still very con-servative bill with a lot of support from ourlegislators,” said Shannon Cloud, anotheractive member of Georgia’s Hope “It was verydiscouraging to find out that it didn’t have achance once the governor said before sessioneven started he would not support it. We willnot give up until all patients have access.”

tive FAQ, and one-on-one visits with patientsand other stakeholders. Changing laws havereduced, but not eliminated, criminal sanctionsand prosecutions of legal medical cannabispatients and others. However, patients stillface pervasive discrimination in employment,access to health care, housing, and parentalrights. They also face inappropriate harass-ment and prosecution.

LEGAL SUPPORT, continued from page 1

the action and were joined in the court battleby the City of Oakland, which argued it had aright to regulate and tax the business withoutinterference from federal authorities.

The government’s decision was reportedly, atleast in part, a direct result of the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment to the 2016 budget, whichsays the DOJ cannot spend any money oninterfering with state medical cannabis pro-grams. The DOJ has argued that the amend-ment does not restrict civil suits and criminalprosecutions of individuals or businesses. ASAwas among those who demonstrated theamendment's intent and proper applicationprevents just such enforcement actions, whichUS District Judge Charles Breyer affirmed.

ASA worked for more than a decade throughsix House votes before getting it passed thefirst time in 2014, and again in 2015. As abudget rider, the amendment must berenewed each year. A durable solution willmost likely come through direct legislation,such as the CARERS Act.

DISPENSARIES, continued from page 1

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ASA Activist Profile: GEORGIA’S HOPE ACTION GROUP

ACTION ALERT: Demand Action on CARERS!The Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States Act(CARERS) keeps gathering Senate co-sponsors but remains stuck in commit-tee. Urge Sen. Chuck Grassley to give the CARERS Act a hearing in theJudiciary Committee so your Senators can vote on the most comprehensivefederal medical cannabis legislation ever introduced. Call his office today at(202) 224-3744 and demand action!