San Francisco Democratic Party Calls on Obama to End Medical Marijuana Attacks

[Better Believe It]

OR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2012

San Francisco Democratic Party Calls on Obama to End Medical Marijuana Attacks
Democrats seek to re-open closed dispensaries & call for passage of statewide regulations

SAN FRANCISCO - April 27 - The San Francisco Democratic Party adopted a resolution yesterday demanding that President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, and U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag "cease all Federal actions in San Francisco immediately, respect State and local laws, and stop the closure of City-permitted medical cannabis facilities." The resolution was co-sponsored by 21 members of the party's Central Committee (DCCC) including: its author Gabriel Haaland, Assembly member Tom Ammiano, State Senator Leland Yee, Supervisor David Campos, Supervisor David Chiu, former State Senator Carole Migden, and former Supervisor Aaron Peskin.

At least 5 permitted San Francisco dispensaries have been forced to close in the last few months as a result of the Obama administration's heightened attack in California. The operators and landlords of these and several more dispensaries were threatened with federal criminal prosecution and asset forfeiture in an effort to shut down access points for the city's tens of thousands of qualified patients. San Francisco has been especially hard hit since October, when California's four U.S. Attorneys escalated an already vigorous federal campaign against medical marijuana.

The DCCC argues that, "the U. S. Attorneys in California are not targeting individuals and organizations that are operating outside of the law, but instead are aggressively persecuting a peaceful and regulated community, wasting Federal resources in using a series of threatening tactics to shut down regulated access to medical cannabis across the state of California." The DCCC also accuses the federal government of "depriving...the State of California [of] much needed tax revenue."

The DCCC resolution comes as President Obama deflects concern and anger over his aggressive enforcement practices in today's issue of Rolling Stone. Backpedaling, President Obama is claiming that "there haven't been any prosecutions" of medical marijuana patients, but he has ignored the broader negative effects of his campaign and the need to treat medical marijuana as a public health issue. "With a highly contentious bid for the White House, Obama should think twice about being out of step with his party and the 80 percent of Americans who support safe and legal access to medical marijuana," said Steph Sherer, Executive Director of Americans for Safe Access, which is part of the SF United campaign.

The passage of yesterday's resolution also comes on the heels of a rally held earlier this month, attended by hundreds of medical marijuana patients and supporters. Since then, the coalition San Francisco United for Safe Access has lobbied legislators to stand up to federal intimidation and coercion. In response to this effort, the DCCC is coming to the aid of city dispensaries by seeking to "establish an emergency plan to expedite the re-permitting of any [shuttered] medical cannabis dispensaries."

The DCCC also endorsed Assembly Bill 2312, a statewide regulatory framework for the medical marijuana industry in California, and called on their fellow Democrats to do the same. Last week, the Assembly Public Safety Committee passed AB 2312, which is now set to be heard by Assembly Appropriations within the next two weeks. "It's irresponsible for the federal government to dismantle established and responsible regulations in California," said the resolution's author and DCCC member Gabriel Haaland. "Hundreds of thousands of patients will be forced into the illicit market, creating unnecessary public safety issues that will affect us all."

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Americans for Safe Access is the nation's largest organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research.

http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=7131

[kestrel91316]

1. I heartily approve of ASA's mission. And so does my neck.

[AsahinaKimi]

2. Good!

eom.

[pipoman]

3. Obama could go down in history as a hero

if he ended the WOD and apply the budget to mental health services and addiction treatment for anyone who wants or needs it.

On a side, my eyes aren't that good, but are those pictured in the Americans For Safe Access banner all men?

[Better Believe It]

4. A woman is the Executive Director of the organization.

I think the person on the far right side of the banner is a woman.

The Executive Director of the Americans for Safe Access is Steph Sherer.

Steph Sherer is a medical marijuana patient with over eleven years of experience servicing and managing non-profit businesses and community organizations including: event planning, consulting, fund development, public relations, and project management. She has worked with community development, education, social justice, human rights, peace, social change, and youth programs. She is a powerful advocate, a skilled spokesperson, and an energetic initiator of campaigns. Steph is a nationally recognized activist in the global justice movement and has received several community awards for work including the San Diego Peacemaker of the Year Award in 2003. She is a guest lecturer at University California, Berkeley and George Washington University, DC.

[pipoman]

5. Just from a marketing standpoint

I believe the design of the banner should include at least 2 people who are obviously female and one of the 2 should be in the center square. Or 3 women and 2 men with a man in the center square. There is something about 5 pictures (or 5 of anything) which is visually appealing.

[Bluenorthwest]

11. Of course those are simply portraits of patients, not of their execs.....

Old, young, different races and genders. The ONLY person named on their site is a woman, who is the head of the organization. She's great.

[Dragonfli]

6. Perhaps he can find "common ground" with these Democrats, he works hard I am told to find things

like common ground.

[msongs]

8. he looks for common ground..with republicans lol nt

[truedelphi]

27. But he doesn't limit his search for meaning and

Common Ground to Republicans. He will often side with Big Pharma, and Big Health Care interests.

[Gregorian]

7. It's no longer 1930. End it.

[20score]

9. Fuckin' A Ringo! Now if the rest of the country's Democrats would join the enlightened...

[Comrade Grumpy]

16. Colorado Democrats support the legalization initiative there.

Shit, even the Denver Republican Party does!

Don't be caught on the wrong side of history, Obama.

[anti-alec]

29. Denver Republicans support this?

When both major parties from the same state support legalization, you know it's going to pass.

So Amendment 64 stands an excellent chance of passing, and that's GOOD news.

[Comrade Grumpy]

30. At their county assembly in March:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/15/denver-assembly-marijuana-laws-gop_n_1348765.html

[patrice]

10. End expansion of federal power!

Last edited Sat Apr 28, 2012, 01:24 PM - Edit history (1)

[Egalitarian Thug]

12. K&R. Prohibition doesn't work, never has, never will. n/t

[Upton]

13. K&R... end the war on the American people..

[Quantess]

14. I can't stand weed. But I want sick people to have access to medical marijuana.

This is not something to begrudge people in pain.

[randome]

18. Which is why there are hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries operating in CA.

The ones that were closed were violating some federal law or another and sometimes were targeted because of local law enforcement requests.

You can argue about whether or not Obama should be enforcing federal law but that's not the same as saying he doesn't want people to have access.

[Quantess]

19. Well, if we're talking about *access* to marijuana, that should be no problem.

If grandparent is denied access to medical marijuana, just send child or grandchild out to score some weed.

Don't worry, I'm not concerned with criticizing Obama today. This is a more complex issue than "yay, Obama!" or "boo, Obama!" You can relax. I am not attacking the golden one.

[randome]

20. I wouldn't say he's golden, either.

[Quantess]

21. Oh, sorry for the heap of sarcasm.

BBI threads bring out some heated arguments, so I figured maybe you were going to call me an Obama hater next. I misunderstood. Have a good day.

[Comrade Grumpy]

31. The continued apologetics for Obama on this issue are astounding.

EVERY dispensary is violating federal law since federal law doesn't recognize medical marijuana. The Obama administration pretty much lived up to its promises and laid off dispensaries until last fall, but it has been going after them with a vengeance since then.

They have gone after long-lived and well-respected dispensaries that were not in violation of state laws, such as the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, which has been forced to close under threat of prosecution and long-term imprisonment. They went after Oaksterdam University, which is not even a dispensary.

The US Attorneys seem to be selecting dispensaries based, among other things, on whether they're within a 1,000 feet of a school, but there is no federal law that sets that limit for dispensaries (since the feds don't recognize medical marijuana). There is a federal law that provides a sentencing enhancement for drug crimes committed within 1,000 feet of schools. Dispensaries within 1,000 feet of schools don't violate California state law, so it's just the feds looking for an excuse.

Yes, some dispensaries have had the feds sicced on them by reactionary Republican county sheriffs and boards of supevisors in Red areas of the state like the Central Valley and the Inland Empire. Patients have extremely limited access there.

There are indeed hundreds of dispensaries operating in California, a state with 38 million people, but there are dozens, if not hundreds, fewer than there used to be because of the administration crackdown.

The Obama administration is losing friends over this. I'm starting to hear increasing angry talk about voting for Gary Johnson. That won't be much of an issue here in California, but could hurt Obama in Colorado, which is a toss-up state, which has also seen federal raids on dispensaries, and which will be voting on marijuana legalization in November.

[sabrina 1]

23. Me too, can't stand it, but think it should be legalized.

And especially for sick people. Makes no sense to deprive anyone of something that releives them of pain. In fact, it's downright cruel.

[bvar22]

15. bvar22 joins the San Francisco Democratic Party ...

...and Calls on Obama to End Medical Marijuana Attacks!

[font size=7]DURec![/font]

--bvar22


You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their bullshit excuses.
[font size=5 color=green]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/center]

[WillyT]

17. K & R !!!

[1620rock]

22. I think (hope)...

..after January this (and many other umm 'issues' will be taken care of.

[ProSense]

24. Just read

the resolution. Looks like Pelosi is on board.

Resolution of the San Francisco Democratic Party in Support of AB 2312

Whereas, San Francisco has been a Safe Harbor City for medical cannabis since 2000 and its citizens have continually supported and voted for regulated safe and ethical access to medical cannabis. The Democratic Party, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Mayor Ed Lee, and the Board of Supervisors remain fully committed to the San Francisco Medical Cannabis Program, the people of San Francisco and the medical cannabis community at large during this new Federal campaign of intimidation and attacks on safe access in California.

- more -

http://americansforsafeaccess.org/downloads/DCCC_Resolution.pdf

It's good to see the Democratic Party making this an issue. The party can work to pull the agenda to the left. Cool!

[Canuckistanian]

25. Well, it's about bloody time

Myself, I blame Holder for this crusade against a harmless leaf that brings relief to so many. I have no idea why he's being such an asshole about MJ.

And WHY hasn't there been a credible court challenge to these raids on a "state's rights" basis? God knows the Republicans know how to motivate court challenges on state's rights.

[DeSwiss]

26. They forgot to add:

''As he promised."

- K&R

"As for medical marijuana ... I'm not familiar with all the details of the initiative that was passed, but I think the basic concept of using medical marijuana for the same purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate. ... I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue." ~Barack Obama, The Mail Tribune March 23, 2008

[anti-alec]

28. Hell, it's TIME to end the war on drugs. Way past time.

Cost has gone way up on the war on drugs, and it needs to be terminated right now.

Legalize marijuana and remove it from FDA's Schedule I list.

Regulate it like alcohol and tobacco.

And remove the stupid regulations on how far away it has to be from a school. 500 feet is fine, 1,000 is not.