BREAKING NEWS – JANUARY 18th, 2012
California Supreme Court Takes Long Beach Medical Marijuana Case
“Long Beach’s medical marijuana ordinance will go before the California Supreme Court – which may eventually bring legal clarity to how cities are able to regulate the issue.
The California Supreme Court announced today (Wednesday) that it will grant Long Beach’s petition for review in the case Pack v. City of Long Beach. An appeals court had struck down different parts of Long Beach’s 5.87 ordinance that sought to regulate medical marijuana collectives – including rules for a lottery and permitting system – late last year…”
MORE INFORMATION…
From KUSH Magazine:
Is Prohibition Over? California Medical Marijuana Laws vs. Federal Prohibition Come to a Head
Wednesday, January 18 – The California Supreme Court announced today that it will hear two important cases from two separate appellate districts in California regarding city’s abilities to regulate and ban medical marijuana dispensaries.
The court granted the City of Long Beach’s petition for review in the Pack case, which has caused cities statewide to question their ability to regulate medical marijuana collectives. The Second Appellate District, Div. 3, ruled several months ago that parts of the Long Beach 5.87 ordinance, regulating medical marijuana collectives within the city, were federally prohibited.
Pack’s attorney, Matthew Pappas also filed an emergency application for a temporary order prohibiting the City of Long Beach from banning collectives while the case is pending with the California Supreme Court. The court denied this request, which leaves the city of Long Beach in flux as the Pack case is being determined. According to Joe Elford, Chief Counsel for Americans for Safe Access, the Pack ruling contradicts three other Appellate Court decisions that have rejected Federal Preemption. The California Supreme Court’s determination can take months and sometimes up to a year before a decision is rendered…
URGENT – The fate of the entire medical marijuana community throughout the nation depends on the decisions made by the City of Long Beach.
City Attorney Shannon wants to BAN medical marijuana collectives in Long Beach and leave thousands of patients without legal access to their medicine as well as:
- Eliminating much needed revenue to our City’s essential services.
- Increasing crime by forcing patients back to the streets for their medicine.
- Overwhelming our police force with a flood of unregulated dispensaries that do not pay taxes or fees to the City.
We need you to call your city council member and ask them NOT TO BAN the lawfully controlled and regulated dispensaries on Tuesday January 17, 2012 at the Long Beach City Council meeting.
How Can You Help?
Sign Our Petition – Find out what council district you are in on our District Information Page, and then go to the Take Action page for your district and sign the petition!
Long Beach Residents – Send a message or make a phone call right now!
Click here to sent the following letter to your councilperson:
Subject: Don’t Ban Safe Access to Medical Cannabis in Long Beach!
Dear Council Member,
I am writing to urge you to reject a ban on medical cannabis patients’ cooperatives and collectives in the city, and to work with stakeholders to find a regulatory solution that works for legal patients and the community at large. Most of the legal medical cannabis patients in Long Beach rely on cooperatives and collectives for safe access to the doctor-recommended medicine they need to treat the symptoms of cancer, HIV/AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis, chronic pain and other serious conditions. Closing these facilities would deny medicine to legitimate patients, and may place them at unnecessary risk in the unregulated illicit market for cannabis.
Research conducted by Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the nation’s leading medical cannabis advocacy organization, shows that sensible regulations reduce crime and complaints around medical cannabis cooperatives and collectives. The City of Long Beach has already adopted an ordinance to facilitate safe access to medical cannabis. Some provisions of that ordinance may be overturned, if the California Supreme Court upholds the Appellate decision in Pack v. City of Long Beach. However, this decision does not entirely bar the city for exercising appropriate oversight, not does it require the city to ban patients’ cooperatives and collectives outright.
The adverse decision in Pack v. City of Long Beach may provide an opportunity to revisit the city’s medical cannabis ordinance to find solutions that work for all of the stakeholders in the community – legal patients, neighbors, medical cannabis professional, law enforcement, and other. Please reject calls for a ban on medical cannabis patients’ cooperatives and collectives and work with us to find a better solution.
Thank you,
Click here to sent the letter above to your councilperson.
Call Your Council Person – Now that you know who you council member is, give them a call and ask them to consider “The Third Option” and cooperate with the collectives to find a better path to tomorrow together (or something like that.)
Council Person By District
- District 1 – Robert Garcia – 562.570.6919 – Go To Action Page
- District 2 – Suja Lowenthal (Vice Mayor) – 562.570.6684 – Go To Action Page
- District 3 – Gary DeLong – 562.570.6300 – Go To Action Page
- District 4 – Patrick O’Donnell – 562.570.6918 – Go To Action Page
- District 5 – Gerrie Schipske – 562.570.6932 – Go To Action Page
- District 6 – Dee Andrews – 562.570.6816 – Go To Action Page
- District 7 – James Johnson – 562.570.6139 – Go To Action Page
- District 8 – Rae Gabelich – 562.570.6685 – Go To Action Page
- District 9 – Steven Neal – 562.570.6137 – Go To Action Page
Here’s A Sample Call Script To Get You Started…
Hi, my name is ____________ and I am registered voter from the City of Long Beach.
I am calling to encourage Council Member ____________ not to vote for a ban against medical marijuana collectives in the City of Long Beach.
I am a current patient at ______________ ,and I suffer with ___________. I appreciate the safe access to reliable medical marijuana that I get there, and am proud that Long Beach has an ordinance that allows this.
If the council bans collectives, I will be forced to get my medicine in an unsafe and inconvenient manner.
Please support ordinance language that allows the collectives you authorized to remain open.
Thank you.
Tell Your Friends – Facebook, Twitter, Email, word of mouth, a simple phone call… so many ways to share with your friends and neighbors – You can use the social sharing tools below and start right now!
Thank you for your time, and best of health,
The LBCA Staff