By: Terrie Best, San Diego Americans for Safe Access Legal cannabis patient Dexter Padilla was in court last week in front of Judge Albert T. Hartunian III as he and his attorney, Michael J. McCabe, of the Davidovich victory, fought it out with Prosecutor Ramin Tohidi over whether there was enough prosecutorial evidence to bind the case over for trial. The...

Jul 3, 2011

By: Eugene Davidovich, San Diego Americans for Safe Access On July 1, 2011, Mother Earth’s Alternative Healing Cooperative Inc. received their final permit the “Medical Marijuana Collective Operations Certificate”, signed by Sheriff Gore himself, allowing the coop to operate in full compliance with the law. Located at 8157 Wing Avenue, El Cajon, CA 92020,...

Justice Department policy “clarification” pushes legal patients into unregulated, illicit markets Washington, DC — Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole issued a controversial memorandum Wednesday in an apparent attempt to clarify federal policy with regard to medical marijuana. Calling marijuana “a dangerous drug,” Cole’s...

Jun 28, 2011

By: Terrie Best, San Diego Americans for Safe Access Monday, June 27, 2011 in San Diego Superior Court, the faulty search warrant obtained by a misleading affidavit was upheld in the medical cannabis case of Jason and Sarine Gastrich. All morning, Deputy DA Ramin Tohidi and attorneys for the defense argued the legitimacy of the warrant which led to felony...

Jun 26, 2011

The California Assembly Committee on Local Government will vote on a bill that will make it much more difficult to establish a legal medical cannabis patients’ cooperative or collective on Tuesday, June 29. Senator Lou Correa’s (D-Santa Ana) SB 847 will require that all cooperatives and collectives be located at least 600 feet from residential zones or use...

Jun 23, 2011

By: Terrie Best and Eugene Davidovich Co-defendants Jason and Sarine Gastrich, recent victims of Bonnie Dumanis’ fierce fight to eradicate medical marijuana in San Diego, were in court this week for their preliminary examination in Judge Hanoian’s courtroom. On the prosecution side was Deputy DA Ramin Tohidi and for the defense on behalf of Sarine was Public...

Jun 13, 2011

By: Eugene Davidovich and Marcus Boyd Imperial Beach, CA – On June 15, 2011 at 7pm, the Imperial Beach City Council will discuss and vote to enact an outright ban on medical marijuana dispensaries and all collective cultivation efforts in the City of Imperial Beach. Although the staff report compiled for the June 15th meeting states, “the ordinances...

Jun 7, 2011

*UPDATE* June 9 – After publishing the following in this article: “At the conclusion of the meeting, Kiwanis members voted informally 10 to 1, in support of medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits.” we found out there was in fact no vote taken, formal or otherwise during that meeting. We apologize for the incorrect information...

Jun 5, 2011

By: Eugene Davidovich Mother Earth’s Alternative Healing Cooperative Inc., the first medical marijuana dispensing center officially permitted by San Diego County and in full compliance with the County Ordinance adopted almost a year ago, will open its doors in July 2011. In order to truly grasp the importance and magnitude of the first permitted Coop opening...

Jun 4, 2011

Americans for Safe Access (ASA) has been working since 2006 to protect medical cannabis patients from workplace discrimination. We represented medical cannabis patient Gary Ross in his appeal to the California Supreme Court in Ross v. Rangingwire Telecommunications. When the court failed to protect patients like Gary Ross from discrimination, we sponsored...

May 30, 2011

Patients, friends, advocates, Join us in Oceanside on Tuesday, May 31, 2011 from 7-9pm at the Fish Joint (514 South Coast Hwy Oceanside, CA) for our chapter’s monthly North County Americans for Safe Access meeting. That evening we will be discussing the City of Oceanside’s plan to ban medical marijuana collectives as well what the community is doing to...

May 27, 2011

40,000 Signatures in Less than 30 Days; Referendum on City Council’s Medical Marijuana Ordinance Enters Signature Verification Process Eugene Davidovich, May 26, 2011 In April of this year, the San Diego City Council passed an ordinance that effectively denied safe access to thousands of patients in the city. If left as is, it would have negatively impacted...

May 26, 2011

Three new bills in Congress and three new and improved programs at ASA Here at ASA we fight hard for patients’ rights, and this year we’re taking a whole new approach. We’re calling it ASA 3.0. We’ve been holding stakeholders’ meetings across the nation, and we designed this approach based on what you – local activists and patients – want and...

Cultivation charges re-filed against legitimate medical marijuana patient after being previously dismissed in the same courthouse by different Judge. By: Terrie Best and Eugene Davidovich – San Diego Americans for Safe Access SAN DIEGO – In the summer of 2009, Benjamin Gasper, along with two other seriously ill medical marijuana patients rented a...

May 23, 2011

Writ filed today in DC Circuit Court for unreasonable delay in answering 9-year-old petition Washington, DC — A Coalition of advocacy groups and patients filed suit in the DC Circuit Court today to compel the Obama administration to answer a 9-year-old petition to reclassify medical marijuana. The Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC) has never...