Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "ab 390"

Religious Faithful, Law Enforcement and Citizen Activists Rally on Capitol Steps to Protest Potential Legalization of Marijuana

2010-01-12T18:21:50Z

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 of AB 390 to legalize the sale, production and use of marijuana in California.

“How hypocritical is it to have the head of the Assembly Public Safety Committee wanting to increase access to a harmful, highly carcinogenic drug that is clearly a danger to society and our youth,” said John Redman, executive director of the non-profit Californians for Drug Free Youth. “Plain and simple, pot is bad for the brain, especially young brains, and if our elected officials allow us to continue down this path of destruction, there will be no turning back.”

The rally spawned a cultural anti-drug revival of sorts as the religious faithful came by the dozens to listen to a youth gospel choir sing of a return to a life in our communities, free of the ravages of drugs that begins with smoking pot. Sacramento’s “Kids for a Better Society” served as a youthful reminder that it is in the early teen years that marijuana is first tried.

At a time California is considering the legalization of marijuana, the federal government’s annual survey of teen drug use indicates a worrisome trend showing that while marijuana usage is down: eighth, 10th and 12th graders are softening their views on its harmful affects. The Obama Administration’s drug czar sees this as a “warning sign.”

“When beliefs soften, drug use worsens,” said Gil Kerlikowske, who also stated emphatically in earlier remarks that he and the President are against legalization of marijuana and making weed accessible, where it can find its way into the hands of impressionable youth.

Proponents of legalizing marijuana contend that if pot is bought and sold out in the open, it can be regulated and taxed, and law enforcement could keep a better watch on kids to keep it out of their hands. As they made these claims, top law enforcement including members of the California Police Chiefs Association, California Peace Officers Association and the California Narcotics Officers Association joined in the rally to vehemently protest what they see as an ill-conceived piece of legislation that they say will only lead to more crime, violence and truancy in schools.

“As the government studies attest, marijuana usage is down among youth because it remains illegal,” added Redman. “There’s a reason why cigarettes, alcohol and prescription medications are more prevalent among young people because these substances are legal and therefore, perceived as being more socially acceptable. Legalizing marijuana and encouraging the manufacture and sale of dope will follow this same course and effectively lead to more widespread usage among teens.”

For Bishop Ron Allen who is the founder and president of the International Faith-Based Coalition, the battle against the proliferation of marijuana sales and use is not just a religious calling for a better society but a personal crusade as well. A former addict, he knows first hand how marijuana almost ruined his life and his hopes for the future.

“I grew up in Oak Park and when a bag of pot and a pipe were handed to me, I could not resist the temptation and I fell into a life of drugs and battling addiction,” said the Bishop. “By the Grace of God, I followed a better path. And now that I am clean and sober, I see it as my calling to ensure that our youth do not slip down the dark path of drug addiction as I once did. That is why I am on a crusade to muscle all the strength of our 3,600 member International Faith-Based Coalition to ensure bad public policy like this never sees the light of day.”

Contacts: Lori Aldrete, (916) 552-2650 or (916) 501-2654 (cell), laldrete@acsquantum.com or Corinne Chee, (916) 552-2650, cchee@acsquantum.com

Support for the legalization of cannabis grows

2009-11-01T06:04:02Z

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 translation of public sentiment into political will,” Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D - San Francisco) told The Sacramento Press.

In 1996, California voters passed a ballot initiative, Proposition 215, which allowed the possession, cultivation and use of cannabis for patients with a doctor's recommendation. Since then, voter majorities in Alaska, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington have passed ballot initiatives to allow seriously ill Americans to use cannabis.

In 2003, after numerous rewrites, the California Legislature recognized and further protected medical marijuana uses with SB 420. State legislatures of Hawaii, Vermont, Rhode Island, and New Mexico have passed bills that do mostly the same. SB 420 is unlike other bills in that it also allows for the formation of patient collectives — not-for-profit businesses that provide medical cannabis to qualified patients.

American Association for Medical Cannabis state director Ryan Landers had a hand in the shaping of 420. "Originally, 420 started out as 187, a bill that was more conservative and, I felt, would help less people. It was sent to the suspense file and I had this feeling it would be coming back, so I helped to rewrite it for greater patient coverage."

Before 420, several bills entered debate that would contravene Proposition 215. In 2000, two of these bills emerged. Former state Senator Maurice Johannessen authored SB 2089, a bill that would have limited the recommendation of cannabis and restricted patients to two indoor plants. It failed in the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, its first committee.

SB 848, authored by former state Senator John Vasconcellos, would have placed harsher regulations on medicinal cannabis and was refused passage in the Assembly.

"I testified to kill those bills to ensure that there would be no misunderstanding," Landers said. "I want to provide freedom for the most patients possible."

According to a 2004 survey by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), over 75,000 Californians have become cannabis patients under the provisions of the Compassionate Use Act (215) and the Medical Marijuana Program (420).

Physicians and medical professionals have been a vital source of support for the medical cannabis movement. Dr. Frank Lucido, a 30-year private practice doctor and respected medical cannabis spokesman, estimates that 1,500 doctors in California recommend cannabis to chronically ill patients. He said that significant stigma still surrounds the drug, however.

"There are two reasons doctors are hesitant to prescribe cannabis," he said. “First, a lot of doctors don't know the value of the drug because they simply weren't taught that in medical school. Second, many are afraid of the California Medical Board and federal law enforcement, even though they're protected by Supreme Court rulings."

Lucido believes that medical cannabis, despite its enduring taboo in the medical sector, has wide applicability.

"Every doctor knows they have about 20 slam-dunk patients that could benefit greatly from medical cannabis."

Full legalization is a completely different animal and Ammiano knows it. The state representative introduced AB 390 in March to a blaze of attention. Since then, the bill has failed to move through the legislature. However, Ammiano planned for AB 390 to be a two-year bill.

"The debate we're having is sustainable, it has legs," Ammiano said. "And it's way bigger than just me."

AB 390 is a bill of a rare breed: It is both a full decriminalization of cannabis for adults over the age of 21, and a plan to enforce systems of taxation to tap into the drug's booming commercial value.

This would work twofold by would generating tax receipts and reducing state expenses. The bill planned to institute a tax of $50 per ounce of dried marijuana sold by official retailers, who would pay no more than $2,500 for an annual sales license and $1,000 for a renewal. Further, the bill would free up state resources in law enforcement, no longer regarding cannabis users as a criminal priority.

"It's California's biggest cash crop and right now we're hemorrhaging money to prosecute and imprison minor drug offenders,” Ammiano said. “With the current budget crisis, this is looking like the perfect storm."

Cannabis activists largely support AB 390, though the seasoned Landers objects to some points.

"The bill started out ahead of itself," he said. "The profits and tax numbers it projects are based on the illegal price of cannabis. Once legalization gets through, supply will increase and prices will have to settle. A $50 tax on an ounce that costs $25, which is the final pre-tax price most people hope for, would be ridiculous."

The age limit in the bill -- that Ammiano modeled after alcohol regulations -- is also contentious.

"The age limit of 21 is entirely a concession," Landers said. "Putting cannabis into the same category of regulation as alcohol opens up a host of problems. Eighteen-year-olds could take the state to court and force them to explain why cannabis is more dangerous than alcohol, even though marijuana alone has never killed a soul."

Ammiano's bill has the support of San Francisco Sheriff Mike Hennessey, although law enforcement has historically been extremely critical of legalization. "I think marijuana should be decriminalized," Hennessey told SFWeekly in February. "I'd like to give more thought to heroin and methamphetamines and that kind of stuff."

The California Police Chiefs Association disagrees, having issued a 2009 White Paper that rebuked even the medicinal use of cannabis. The white paper characterizes medical cannabis dispensaries as "multi-million dollar enterprises" which are "often used as a front for organized crime" where "many violent crimes have been committed," fostering "generally unhealthy conditions."

But actual instances of crime in and around dispensaries is fairly rare, according to Sacramento Police Department spokesman Norm Leong. "Service calls are generally uncommon, he said. “And when we do get calls, it's the dispensary owners that call it in."

Ammiano sees a gradual change of mind regarding cannabis in law enforcement.

"There's certainly a mindset there, but there are cracks in that as well. It's not as monolithic as it used to be."

He also cited the late conservative economist Milton Friedman, who supported cannabis legalization and taxation toward the end of his life.

Outside of Ammiano’s efforts, activist groups are taking other routes. Two voter initiatives are circulating through California, both of which propose to legalize, regulate and tax cannabis.

The Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, introduced by Oaksterdam University, would enact largely the same legalization measures as Ammiano's bill. This would allow the pro-cannabis supporters to get legalization directly onto the ballot and circumvent any lack of political support.

"The cannabis regulating system we currently have in place has failed," said Salwa Ibrahim, spokesperson for the initiative. "We want to empower the state to benefit from something that's already existing."

Ibrahim cited other benefits that are frequently discussed in the cannabis debate. "We don't think consumption or crime would increase at all. Similar to prohibition in the '20s, the black markets [that] illegality has created would disappear."

Regardless of the outcome of any of these movements, it seems clear that the public dialogue on legal cannabis has taken a step forward.

"390 has done an amazing thing, and that's this: It ignited the conversation," Landers said.

With or without the blessing of the law, humans worldwide are planting the cannabis seed. The renewed question on everyone's mind is what to do with the harvest.

This story was written by former Sacramento Press intern Cheyenne Cary.

Medical marijuana activist Ryan Landers speaks

2009-11-01T06:01:56Z

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 group behind the successful Prop. 215 ballot initiative that won state medical legalization.

"When we got started, the public perception was really different," Landers said. "As we were collecting signatures, people were shocked. 'What do you mean you want to change drug laws?'"

As a volunteer, Landers ran information tables and collected signatures at California colleges, the Capitol, bookstores and food co-ops. “The press was giving us coverage every night, and I started appearing on TV,” Landers said.

Prop. 215 landed on the 1996 ballot and swept through into law on a 55.6% margin.

Landers is no stranger to news cameras and microphones. His media skills made public figures of his friends Steve Connell and Jacqueline Mahone, who testified beside him for years. He has also worked extensively with activists like East Bay resident Dr. Frank Lucido and Sacramento attorney Joseph Farina, to whom Landers says he probably owes his life.

Getting a tattoo at 16 changed his life forever. He was diagnosed HIV positive in 1995.

He started medicating to help deal with the nausea and pain that the HIV virus and medication brought with it. Cannabis helps relieve his neuropathic pain and allows him to eat and keep food down once a day, even though he hasn't been hungry in 15 years.

Landers' activism reads like a history of medical pot. He testified in the California State Legislature against SB 535 (1997), SB 847 (1999), SB 848 (1999), and SB 187 (2001). He helped to author a revised version of SB 187, which went on to become the successful SB 420.

In appearance, Landers is not what you'd expect when you think of a cannabis activist. He keeps his hair cropped and short, reminiscent of his service with the Navy during the first Gulf War, and stays snappily dressed in three-piece suits on a normal day of business. He looks nothing like Tommy Chong.

The medical cannabis cause wound up making Landers a parent. As he was working with teens at risk of expulsion for cannabis use, he took two kids under his wing and eventually officially adopted them. David, 23, and Nate, 24, both graduated with their senior classes. More recently, they made him a grandfather at 37.

"In the end, that's why I could never walk away, when I thought about how many lives in the community could stand to benefit from this," Landers said. "If what I was doing was dangerous, or if it were wrong, I wouldn't be doing it."

(This story was written by former Sacramento Press intern Cheyenne Cary.)