In response to grassroots pressure from ASA members like you, a California Assembly committee quickly rejected a bill this morning that would have made it harder to open legal medical cannabis associations in the state. The Assembly Public Safety Committee rejected AB 1588 by Assembly Member Connie Conway (R-Visalia), which would have increased the minimum distance between patients’ associations and schools from 600 to 1,000 feet statewide and increased the fine for violations to as much as $10,000. Well done, ASA members!
This is a big victory for patients and advocates, but we still have a lot more to do in the Capitol this year. Can you help make sure that ASA has the resources we need to keep fighting this year for safe, legal, and dignified access to medical cannabis in every community? Make a special donation of $35, $50, $100, or whatever you can afford to support ASA’s work today.
We cannot afford to be silent this year in Sacramento. AB 2500 by Assembly Member Jim Frazier (D-Antioch) will make it a crime to drive with any detectable amount of medical cannabis in your blood – even if there is no evidence that you are driving impaired. We helped stop a similar bill last year, and with your support, we will do it again.
There are also two important bills on the table to regulate commercial medical cannabis activity in the state – something that matters for patients who rely on storefront cooperatives and collectives for access to their medicine. ASA is working with lawmakers and stakeholders to be sure that patients have a voice in the ongoing conversation about AB 604 by Assembly Member Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) and SB 1262 by Senator Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana). If adopted, these bills will have a dramatic effect, both for better and for worse, on how legal patients get medicine in California.
We are off to a great start this year in California with the defeat of AB 1588. Make a generous one-time of affordable monthly donation to ASA today, so we can keep it up!
Thank you for helping,
Don Duncan
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/
