cannabisnews.com: San Francisco Moves One Step Closer To Cultivation





San Francisco Moves One Step Closer To Cultivation
Posted by CN Staff on February 04, 2004 at 17:06:56 PT
For Immediate Release
Source: Common Dreams 
Washington -- Today, San Francisco moved one step closer to protecting patients’ access to medical marijuana. The city’s Office of the Legislative Analyst (OLA) released a groundbreaking report to the Board of Supervisors giving the green light to establish local cultivation and distribution collectives and cooperatives. The report presents various possibilities for city involvement, including grants for supplies and equipment and renting land at a discounted rate.
Today’s report is the result of Proposition S, passed by 62% of San Francisco’s voters in 2002. Prop S stated that “In light of the recent federal Drug Enforcement Agency crackdown on local medical cannabis clubs… [the City should] explore the possibility of establishing a program whereby the City would grow medical cannabis and distribute it to patients attempting to exercise their rights under Proposition 215.”“In passing Prop S, San Francisco voters wanted the city to find the best way to guarantee patients’ access to their medicine,” said Marsha Rosenbaum, Director of the San Francisco office of the Drug Policy Alliance. “This report is an encouraging first step. The vast majority of Californians support medical marijuana, and we look forward to working with the City and County to move ahead with these collectives.”Hundreds of patients, caregivers, cannabis club owners and their supporters joined forces with the Drug Policy Alliance, Marijuana Policy Project, Americans for Safe Access and California NORML to push for the implementation of Proposition S. Following a year of Prop-S related community meetings and a positive City Services Committee hearing in September, the Office of the Legislative Analyst was directed to study the cooperative model used by the Wo/men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) in Santa Cruz and analyze the feasibility and ramifications of implementing such a model in San Francisco. The OLA report states that with recent federal court rulings as well as the passage of SB 420 last year, which allows for patients’ collectives, there is now “greater legal flexibility for the establishment of non-profit medical marijuana collectives/cooperatives in San Francisco.” In finding the WAMM model for collectives can lawfully be implemented in San Francisco, the report considered the recent decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Raich v. Ashcroft, which held that the federal government does not have jurisdiction within the Ninth Circuit (including San Francisco) to prosecute medical marijuana patients or their caregivers under the Controlled Substance Act in cases in which a person cultivates, dispenses, or possesses marijuana for personal medical purposes as recommended by their physician.In discussing the role of the City in such efforts, the report points out that “City involvement would signal active support and legitimacy for medical marijuana, provide incentives for the formation of collectives/cooperatives in San Francisco, and could reduce the risk and cost of providing medical marijuana to chronic and terminally-ill patients in San Francisco.”The federal government has chosen medical marijuana as the battleground for their war on drugs and it’s important that cities like San Francisco stand up and take the first step in protecting patients.“San Francisco has a long standing commitment to medical marijuana and today marks a significant victory for the community.” Rosenbaum went on to say, “It is now up to the City government to work closely with patients and caregivers to put this plan into practice.”Complete Title: San Francisco Moves One Step Closer to Supporting Cultivation and Distribution of Medical Marijuana Contact:  Drug Policy AllianceTony Newman, 212-613-8026Elizabeth Mendez Berry, 212-613 8036 Source: Common Dreams (ME)Published: February 4, 2004Copyright: 2004 Common DreamsContact: editor commondreams.org Website: http://www.commondreams.org/Related Articles & Web Sites:WAMM: http://www.wamm.org/ASA: http://www.safeaccessnow.org/California NORML: http://www.canorml.org/Marijuana Policy Project: http://www.mpp.org/Drug Policy Alliance: http://www.drugpolicy.org/Medical Marijuana Activists Urge City Actionhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17998.shtmlProp. S: Challenging The Feds http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14669.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on February 04, 2004 at 23:19:44 PT
Related News Article from KPIX.com
SF Supes Get Report On Growing Medicinal MarijuanaSan Francisco (BCN) February 4, 2004San Francisco supervisors today received a report on prospects for growing medicinal marijuana within city boundaries, with a legislative analyst suggesting that voter-approved Proposition S could be implemented in a variety of ways. "The passage of state legislation (SB 420) in October 2003 and a federal appellate court ruling last month provide greater legal flexibility for the establishment of nonprofit medical marijuana collectives/cooperatives in San Francisco,'' wrote Adam Van de Water in his report to four supervisors who asked for guidance. Proposition S, which passed overwhelmingly in fall 2002, directs the city to look into ways to grow and distribute the weed that California Proposition 215 made it legal for seriously ill patients to use if their doctors approve but that federal law regards as contraband. Aside from security and civil liability issues, the report says the city would need to consider how to limit the risk that the federal government might retaliate, however, if it goes into the marijuana growing business or works closely with collectives that do. Major grants to police, in particular, could be threatened. Supervisors Bevan Dufty, Fiona Ma, Tom Ammiano and Matt Gonzalez requested the report following a committee hearing on the subject. Testimony that day from a group called Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz County described its 10,000-square-foot garden and assistance to patients who wish to grow their marijuana at home. Although the group was raided by the federal government in September 2002, Van de Water's report indicates that legal changes and rulings since then mean the collective would today receive greater protection from such action. A national group called the Drug Policy Alliance, which maintains representatives in San Francisco, applauded the report's findings and San Francisco voters' desire to set up better guaranteed mechanisms for people to receive their medicinal marijuana. "This report is an encouraging first step,'' said Marsha Rosenbaum, who directs the city's office for the alliance. To go ahead with new zoning rules, the supervisors would have to first pass legislation, according to the legislative analyst's report.http://beta.kpix.com/news/bcn/2004/02/04/n/HeadlineNews/MEDICINAL-MARIJUANA.html
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Comment #2 posted by Virgil on February 04, 2004 at 18:25:56 PT
We should be able to get prohibitionists committed
The Raich v. Ashcroft came on December 16th. Do they have 90 days to appeal that? It still does not demarcate the state v federal line. It took seven years for this ruling to come. Seven years after the election on Prop. 215, they cannot call the enacted law The Compassionate Use Act of 1996. They even have the DPA and CommonDreams speaking Prohibitionese.I bet the Spanish, Swiss, and Dutch think we all are just completely nuts. 
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Comment #1 posted by Max Flowers on February 04, 2004 at 17:48:59 PT
Groovy!
Let's see the feds try to bust the City of San Francisco! Ha! I can hear the hollow DEA threats already. If there's going to be a Fed-State showdown over this in SF, let's get it on.Any such attempts will result in massive gov't on gov't lawsuits and will inevitably result in the airing out IN COURT of all the feds' dirty prohibition laundry going back to the 1930s, including how it's illegal and unconstitutional and neat stuff like that.Let's get it on!
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