They Send Strong Warning to Assembly Public Safety Committee: “AB 390 is a Direct Threat to Public Health and Safety and We will Defeat It” With President Obama leading the charge against legalization of marijuana in what he calls a “new era of responsibility,” a cultural change is taking place in California as more and more community activists join law enforcement officers, former drug addicts and faith-based leaders in support of the anti-marijuana cause. Braving rain and wind, many of them appeared on the steps of the State Capitol today at a rally to protest AB 390, which was to be voted on by the Assembly Public Safety Committee. Ironically, the chair of this committee is the author

Standing outside of a Sacramento medical cannabis dispensary, you might detect something in the air. No, it's not secondhand THC vapor — public medicating is prohibited in the county. What you sense is a shift in perspective. Public pressure is building for the legalization and regulation of one of the oldest cash crops in America: the plants of genus Cannabis. The US federal government has held since 1970 that cannabis is a danger to public health and safety and listed the annual flowering herb under US code as having "high potential for abuse" and "no accepted medical potential." "A lot of people are thinking that federal drug laws are arbitrary and now we're starting to see the transl

Medical cannabis in California wouldn't be what it is today if it wasn't for Ryan Landers. The Sacramento activist helped to develop the laws, policies and realities of medical marijuana in a career of activism that spans more than a decade. He was there to help roll Proposition 215 into motion in 1996 and had a significant hand in crafting SB 420 in 2003. "I live the cause," he said. "When I'm not out testifying or counseling or negotiating for the cause, I'm just home and sick." He's a 15-year survivor of HIV/AIDS, a personal fact that he doesn't usually publicize partly due to prior experience. Landers, now 37, became a member of Californians for Compassionate Use in 1995. CCU is the