Pot Politics on Capitol Hill

[decarboxylator]

when i say a kid, i dont mean 9 years old smoking a doob with grandpa out in the barn. anything past 14 is in the realm of acceptability. i mean, who didnt experiment with marijuana as a kid?

and if
the first time i got high, i knew i was in love. went inside and ate half a cake, then went into my bedroom and listened to music for 5 hours... was effin unreal.

my mom knew instantly when I started smoking herb. I was 14, and had just come home from work (yeah, hustling since birth) all high. Mom said "are you high?". I said "yeah, this is my new thing." Mom said "are you sure?" I said "yeah, I need water". That was it. I didn't realize that I had just told my mom I smoke weed now until I sat down on my bed and started changing out of my work clothes. About an hour later she came up to check on me in my room where I had attempted to see what playstation was like high. I was just sitting there staring at the screen. lol

I said "mom, I'm not angry at the world anymore.". She said "good, I guess it works for you, don't grow dreds".

 

[Newd]

the first time i got high, i knew i was in love. went inside and ate half a cake, then went into my bedroom and listened to music for 5 hours... was effin unreal.

Same here.

I was 15, went to my room and beat "it" like it owed me money

Ate everything I could find in the fridge and I remember music sounding better than I had ever heard it.

A day I will never forget.

 

[Growdsix]

IF 99.999 of the population voted for legal marijuana....The .00009 petrcent would say no.

that .00009...WELL THEY are the enforcers of the current laws against marijuana...prison unions..lawyers...etc..etc..soooo..

what happened to OBAMA saying there are more important things for dea..police to go after...they listened to him...NOT.

 

[imadoofus]

i feel you decarb and newd.

love at first contact(buzz).

 

[mean mr.mustard]

We certainly can't let just anyone set an age for consumption when it's legal.

Hundreds of men are getting shot and blown up that can't even buy a drink from the freedom they're fighting for.

I don't see too many people suprised that college kids drink before they're 21.

They would probably be suprised if they didn't.

Talk regulations all you want, just please don't get carried away.

 

[decarboxylator]

We certainly can't let just anyone set an age for consumption when it's legal.

Hundreds of men are getting shot and blown up that can't even buy a drink from the freedom they're fighting for.

I don't see too many people suprised that college kids drink before they're 21.

They would probably be suprised if they didn't.

Talk regulations all you want, just please don't get carried away.

SO... 18 like cigs? or 21 like alcohol? Somewhere in the middle? 16 like driving? What about the kids who benefit from Cannabis? There must be legal access to for them. Age restriction was one of the big questions for the folks drafting 19 as well.

"Won't somebody please think of the children?!" mrs lovejoy

 

[mean mr.mustard]

My point exactly.

Age is not a ruled out acceptable measure of maturity.

I think 18 should be the age for everything under the sun, but that's just me... I'm sure some archaic members of Congress would argue that point.

If you can die for your country you should be able to enjoy living in it.

 

[decarboxylator]

This is one of the most informative and well written pieces on cannabis and medical cannabis to date. From the exec director of ASA. I know we are not supposed to double post, but this seems worthy.

Hello everyone,
The MT development is frightening and should not be ignored. I was in MT
organizing against the repeal a few weeks ago and was there when the DEA
raids happened. The following is my assessment of what happened, lessons we
can learn from the situation, and suggested next steps for MT, the medical
cannabis movement, and its allies.

The Montana Situation:

Putting a repeal bill on the Governor’s desk may be a better solution than
the “fix it” bill that the Senate committee developed. The Governor may
find the process appalling and may have felt more pressure to sign a fix it
bill. There is still a real possibility that the voters will be asked to
vote on a repeal bill (the house is planning to put it on the ballot through
referendum). Even though polling is good for support of medical cannabis, MT
is dealing with some major issues on how they want to move forward and there
will need to be a major effort to retain the law.

In order to develop successful campaigns in MT and to avoid a spread of this
situation, we need to take a good look at what got us here. The
proliferation of dispensaries raised very real community concerns that were
mostly ignored by our community. So, those community concerns got louder and
louder until they were heard by the State legislature and more importantly
medical cannabis’ opposition namely CNOA and Partnership for Drug Free
America.

I do not have “smoking gun” evidence of their involvement but the group most
responsible for the repeal, Safe Communities Safe Families, was well
organized and their efforts included a lobbyist that CNOA hired for the
anti-Prop 19. Their messages were measured and rationale. They did a great
job finding the right messengers for their message. This is not the only
place we are seeing our opposition strengthen. SCSF has also been negligent
in filing proper lobbing forms which raises suspension of funds.

The messages from our community focused on two areas Patients who need
access and economic benefits of this new industry. Our messengers included
patients, doctors, dispensary owners, growers and a mayor (he was not at the
hearing I attended but I was told that he testified on behalf of
dispensaries at a previous hearing).

The political situation also created an invitation for the Federal
government to come in and intercede. This happened without any public
outcries from MT elected officials.

What we can learn from this situation:

1) In the post-Prop 19 era our opposition is raising funds quickly and with
the public announcements of the Legalization movement’s plans to put
legalization on the ballot in several states they garnering diverse support.

2) Our opposition knows that medical cannabis is not a stepping stone for
legalization, but that it is the cornerstone of US drug policy reform. They
are using the legalization debate to intensify their efforts and they are
focusing their battle on medical cannabis.

This is an observation. I am not suggesting that the legalization movement
change course. However, I do urge allies to be mindful of the situation and
to keep their efforts as separated from medical cannabis as possible. This
means not putting out the messages that legalization will solve all of
medical cannabis patients problems and that medical cannabis is a stepping
stone for legalization. It also means avoiding ballot language that builds
on the infrastructure that patients have built.

3) While economic arguments are good talking points and make for interesting
conversations, they are not a winning message. The general public does not
want to put America back to work though selling medical cannabis.
Furthermore, the economics have been greatly exaggerated with the exception
of a few new reports. Our opposition is a moral opposition, they can not be
bought.

4) Public policy requires implementation and public review. Access models
have risen up in a public policy vacuum that did not address access.
Patients have found away to fill that vacuum and brave individuals have
stepped up to help that model by committing state and federal civil
disobediences.

In order for this type of model to be successful it requires community
support and buy-in. This has only worked in areas where communities have
embraced them. This didn’t just happen because of tolerant communities. It
happened though patient advocacy. Though patients meeting with elected
officials explaining why they need these centers, showing up at community
meetings, reaching out to other community organization, thoughtfully
responding to community concerns with data and reports, and developing a
diverse group of spokespeople.

6) Following raids our community always speculates that people must have
been doing something wrong. I don’t understand this, but as someone who has
been monitoring federal interference for 9 years, raids usually have more to
do with the political environment than with the individuals involved. When
the feds see an opportunity, they take it.

Suggestions on moving forward:

1) In MT, if the repeal measure moves to the Governors desk, a campaign must
start immediately for his veto. This should include not only our community
but reaching out and mobilizing other communities that will baulk at this
process. ASA has created the following flyer for broader outreach and has
reached out to other organization that have passed initiatives in MT and
national organizations that support ballot projects
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/MT Letter Lawmakers are Consi
dering.pdf

2) Engage Governor Schweitzer to create regulations for access through
administrative channels and pass more city regulations. These two projects
will take the hysteria out of the debate which will be crucial in winning a
ballot campaign.

3) As a movement and allies of the medical cannabis movement we must
strengthen our messaging. Debates are healthy but false statements about
medical cannabis and our movement are detrimental. For example:

A) There are some really amazing, compassionate individuals providing
medical cannabis patients medicine. I have personally visited close to a
thousand of the facilities. It is not helpful to have allies say that these
are all just a bunch of people swinging weed or to have allies repeat the
messages of our opponents. It blows my mind that movements that know that
police lie and that the media gets it wrong most of the time would embrace
these stories and worse, repeat them.

B) It is true that some of the most visible supporters for medical cannabis
are people who are just “getting legal”. This group may be the first to try
to become a part of the programs. Furthermore, this group is most likely the
group that interacts with drug policy reform organizations. But this group
is a minority of people participating in the program. Numbers do not lie.
The average age of people participating in the programs are in their 40s and
the conditions for which they are qualify are very real.

Repeating assertions that everyone or a majority of those participating in
medical cannabis programs are just people getting legal is false and
offensive. Patients are dealing with real issues outside of the criminal
justice system and these assertions are exacerbating discrimination. Child
custody battles, loss of public housing, insurance and healthcare issues,
employment issues… When the public, employers, landlords and policy-makers
believe that these people are just getting legal the impact on the lives of
patients is detrimental.

The continuation of these stigmas also makes it hard for patients and their
families to speak out; making it difficult to organize patients that aren’t
associated with broader legalization. It makes it harder for the medical and
scientific communities to fully embrace the science and clinical data
publicly. And it makes it harder for organizations with shared
constituencies to join our movement.

C) Repeating our oppositions’ assertions that CA or any other medical
cannabis state figuring out access are out of control. These are experiments
in democracy and they take time. The impact of these misconceptions is
leading to reactive policy-making that is threatening patient access
including a frightening trend toward the elimination of patient cultivation.
When these issues get confirmed by our own community, our opposition takes
note. Case in point, quotes from this community are being used in DEA
lobbying materials and reports. ASA would be happy to work with any of our
allies to craft more helpful talking points. We must be strategic, if our
opposition is already condemning safe access, aren’t there better messages
our allies can come up with?

D) References to medical cannabis being a stepping stone for legalization
are harmful and false. While support for medical cannabis may be a part of
your legalization strategy, the legalization movement did not make cannabis
medicine. The proper implementation of medical cannabis is showing the
nation that this plant can be regulated. This will certainly help those
campaigns but patients, providers, policy-makers and voters do not see
their efforts for the last 15 years as being pawns in a greater plan. If the
public is going to support legalization, it will have to be on its own
merits.

E) Bring back the patient focus to the medical cannabis issue. Talking about
the industry separately from the patients is backfiring. The political
ground we have won on this issue has come from the public’s sympathy and
empathy with patients, scientific support of those patients experiences and
their growing distrust of the US healthcare system’s ability to address the
health needs of Americans (38% of Americans are using complimentary and
alternative medicines). Economic arguments are interesting and are good
talking points but they do not create the level of support we need to create
policies that protect patients.

The passage of ADA in 1990 created thousands of jobs in construction,
government bureaucracies and legal industries. These industries were no
doubt a part of the behind-the-scene lobby that ultimately passed this
historic, comprehensive legislation but they were not the face of that
movement. This does not mean that there is not a role for industry to play
in the medical cannabis movement and certainly media coverage that
demystifies the industry, illustrates innovation and highlights
self-regulation help to take away stigmas. But it does mean bringing the
stories back to individual patients.

4) Take community concerns head on. Addressing community concerns can only
happen by reaching out to community members and finding a space for their
concerns. This means being a part of the communities where access is being
provided. And most importantly it means self regulating. The public doesn’t
follow the nuances of our movement, nor do they go looking for a second
impression. We must be mindful and help members of the community (whether we
like them or not) come into compliance. Looking the other way is not helping
and neither is admonishing them in public forums.

5) Providers need to organize their patient-base. Providers are committing
federal civil disobediences for their patients and their patient base needs
to know this. They need to be asked to support facilities in the case of a
raids and in civic meetings. Patients wouldn’t protest the raid of a CVS or
Walgreens. It is important to engage members and not simply treat them like
customers. The feds have only prosecuted a small precentage of the
individuals that have been raided. Community outrage has undoubtedly played
a role. ASA has several tools to help providers with this.

6) Focus on real Federal solutions. I would love to write a book called the
lies my marijuana told me. On the top of the list would have to be the
misconception that federal cannabis laws will never change because of
Pharmaceutical, Big Tobacco, and Alcohol beverage lobbyists. ASA is on
capitol hill every week and we have never seen or heard of any such efforts.

The real problem is that our movements are not meeting with Congress at
home. The only reason a member of Congress will stand up for these issues is
if we ask. Since ASA opened its office in DC, members of Congress from
medical cannabis states have told us repeatedly that they are not hearing
about our issues from their constituents. At first I thought this was a
gross exaggeration so I started asking crowds that I was speaking to how
many of them had met with their Congressional reps, to my shock and dismay
constantly only about 5-15 percent raise their hands.

It is good to have lobbyist, but lobbyist are more effective when their is a
constituency supporting them. The Congressional Management Foundation in a
recent report found that visits from Congressional constituents have a
greater impact on their decision making than lobbyists
http://www.cmfweb.org/

But their are people lobbying against us. The DEA, partnership for Drug Free
America, and police lobbies all have active and effective lobbying
campaigns. If you are not meeting with your reps then the only information
they are getting on these issues is coming from our opposition.

The current medical cannabis landscape is built on sand until we change
federal laws. While there has been a 40% drop in raid activity since the
Obama Administration was seated, this admin has introduced new tactics which
are much more difficult for us to fight including banking closures and IRS
audits. We have to intensify our national efforts.

7) Focus on building broader support from state officials by creating
workable programs they want to protect: We will need states behind us to
ultimately change federal laws. This will only happen if state and city
representatives support our laws and feel compelled to protect them. Proper
implementation engages elected officials and makes medical cannabis programs
a part of the community they represent.

Conclusion:

We have a lot of work to do. I hope this information is helpful. I am hoping
it can be used to foster much needed discussion and action among our
movements.

Sincerely,

Steph Sherer
Executive Director
Americans for Safe Access

 

[CANNATOPIA]

Thanks for the info VTA!