Wayne
Justman, with wisdom, called a meeting of city supervisor Mark Leno's
task force on medical marijuana on May 9th. Attended by pot activists,
city officials, law enforcement, growers, and dispensary operators,
urgency ran the meeting and overcrowded the usually ample San Francisco
City Hall conference room due to recent threats to and actions against
the movement.
The
recent Supreme Court ruling against the Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Cooperative
has many concerned about the future of California's present dispensary
systems and safe access to medical marijuana. The probability that
the DEA will use the ruling as a "green light" to escalate
their actions against medical marijuana by increasing federal raids
on , closures of, and injunctions against our existing medical pot
clubs was noted. Justman then voiced the room's collective passion
declaring the vital importance of maintaining safe access to patients
because of their dire needs.
Michael
Aldrich, Executive Director of CHAMP and 30 year activist, gave an
emotional account of the reasons for CHAMP's recent closure and the
painful considerations noted in making this decision. Although this
institution has always been poised to stand and fight if confronted
by law enforcement due to their history of strict adherence to prop
215 guidelines, recent federal decisions indicate that such a challenge
would be an arduous task even for CHAMP's top of the line legal team
and with uncertain outcome to say the least. The energies of CHAMP's
staff, all devoted to our cause, will be best used in more productive
ways than having to struggle for their individual freedoms in a federal
court that prohibits any mention or reference to prop 215, medical
marijuana, or California's Compassionate Use Act in their efforts
to hide reality. Those at Thursday's task force meeting and those
in the medical marijuana movement at large expressed complete support
and utter respect for this difficult decision to cease operations
and for those involved.
With
lives, freedoms, and relief in jeopardy, the purpose of this meeting
of minds was clearly to formulate a plan of action for the near and
long term future. Feasibilities of various approaches were addressed
by local officials with California's voters' demand that patient's
have their weed stressed as an absolute must. San Francisco's city
attorney expressed apologetically that continuing to function as we
successfully have been by declaring a state of emergency is a legal
impossibility at this point. SFPD's Captain Cashman and Inspector
Halloran stated that inviduals providing for even 20 to 30 patients,
too few for the feds to want to bother, would not be tolerated as
legal on a local level. The only legally acceptable suggestion at
present, as per the city attorney, to provide basic affordable urban
indoor grow kits and seeds to patients was abruptly decried as "Not
enough!" with the unreality of expecting seriously ill cancer
and AIDS patients to find comfort in this gesture pointed out.
The
table then became flooded with eye opening accounts of the persecution
endured by many patients, growers, and providors who have tried to
function within the voter given right to relieve suffering with medical
cannabis. Inspector Halloran's challenging declaration that SFPD cops
are following proper procedure when handling medical marijuana cases
was loudly disputed by those present who's rights under prop 215 had
personally been violated. Unfairly outnumbered by pot activists, the
SFPD representatives defensively argued that only judges can issue
or reverse court orders and avoided agreeing that it was the police
department that requests these actions by a judge. After being proven
mistaken by a sign in roster of 47 LAMPS members who heard Captain
Cashman present the SFPD's stance that confiscated medicinal marijuana
would be returned with a court order, a statement which he has since
denied and claimed was taken out of context, the arguments against
these officers seemed much like an ambush, leaving an air of defensiveness
and a lack of productive interchange in the room. Unfortunately, there
was no chance to express gratitude to the officers for the increasing
number of calls to LAMPS by patients who were treated properly and
graciously by San Francisco police officers around the issue of medical
marijuana.
Supervisor
Leno calmed the room with tact reminding that all present were friends
and working on the same side while encouraging the police to promote
more local support for our cause.
An
alarming account of California's tax board continually seizing all
funds from one dispensary operator's bank accounts because of lack
of clarity over how to tax sales of what is considered illicit federally
was presented. Staff members of 350 Divisadero urged letter writing
campaigns to legislators noting their own ongoing efforts. Views that
responsibility for prop 215 compliance falls on local officials were
countered with opinions that changes had to be made federally before
Bay Area law enforcement could live up to the wishes of California
voters. Much was discussed but few solutions were presented.
By
the meetings end, a stategy for proceeding had not been discovered
but there was notably more acknowledgment than in meetings past of
unacceptable handlings of medical cannabis cases by local, state,
and federal officials. The need for clarity and agreement around these
issues was noted and plans to allow marijuana to relieve suffering
were vowed. The task force also made plans to meet again.
