ASA CA Weekly Alert

**ASA Chapter Meetings

**1) Sundays, May 14th & 21st, Chico: Butte County ASA Meeting
2) Thursday, May 18th, Santa Rosa: Sonoma ASA Meeting - CANCELED
3) Saturday, May 20th, Hollywood: LA ASA Meeting
4) Saturday, May 20th, Yuba City: Yuba-Sutter ASA Meeting
5) Tuesday, May 23rd, San Francisco: SF ASA Meeting
6) Thursday, May 25th, Sacramento: Sac ASA Meeting
**
City & County Hearings

**1) Monday, May 15th, Mission Viejo: City Council Hearing to Extend
Dispensary Moratorium
2) Monday, May 15th, Galt: City Council Hearing to Extend Dispensary
Moratorium
3) Tuesday, May 16th, Visalia: Tulare County to Vote on Medical
Marijuana ID Card Program
4) Tuesday, May 16th, Palm Springs: City Council Hearing to Extend
Dispensary Moratorium
**
Court Support
**
1) Monday, May 22nd, Sacramento: Court Support for Bryan Epis
2) Friday, May 26th, San Francisco: Court Support for Dispensary Raid
Defendants

*Special Events*

1) Wednesday, May 17th, Santa Rosa: Candidates Forum on Medical Marijuana
2) Friday-Sunday, June 2-4, Marysville: Music that Matters Festival -
Benefit for ASA!
**
**
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*ASA Chapter Meetings*
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**1) Sundays, May 14th & 21st, Chico: Butte County ASA Meeting

**
Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the largest political, medical, legal
support organization in the U.S. upholding medical marijuana laws and
patient rights, now has a local chapter in Butte County! We meet every
Sunday at Mountain Mike's Pizza Parlor on the corner of 5th St. and and
Walnut in Chico at 2:15. This meeting is largely social and
informational.

Find out how you can make a difference in our county, state, country,
and world via peaceful, yet vital, activism on the part of legitimate,
seriously ill patients and their caregivers. There are flyers, info
booklets, and local satellite meetings are being formed to help patients
better deal with their disabilities and improve the quality of their
lives with medical marijuana.

Please join us in our efforts toward safe access. Together we can make
a difference!

Contact: Eileen: nannienan2 [at] peoplepc.com
<mailto:nannienan2 [at] peoplepc.com>********

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**2) Thursday, May 18th, Santa Rosa: Sonoma ASA Meeting - CANCELED

**This meeting has been canceled, and all Sonoma ASA members are
encouraged to attend the Sonoma County candidates forum on Wednesday,
May 17th (see below for details).

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**3) Saturday, May 20th, Hollywood: LA ASA Meeting

**Saturday, May 20th 2-4pm
Hollywood Lutheran Church
1733 N. New Hampshire Ave., Hollywood
just N. of Hollywood Blvd. & W. of Vermont Ave.

meeting focus:
Party planning, Summer tabling & Security Culture

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**4) Saturday, May 20th, Yuba City: Yuba-Sutter ASA Meeting

**Our regular Yuba-Sutter ASA Meetings will now be held at Clark Avenue
Coffees of Yuba City. The ASA meetings will be held on the back patio
area. Plenty of parking too! (Weather permitting, the meetings may be
moved inside due to heat or cold)

Our regular, ongoing meetings will now be held on the first and third
Saturday of each month. The meetings will begin at 2:15 PM and end at
4:20 PM. The address is 101 Clark Avenue, Yuba City, CA 95991

For further information please call: 530-531-5592 or email us at:
cannabisadvocate [at] gmail.com

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**5) Tuesday, May 23rd, San Francisco: SF ASA Meeting

**It's more important than ever that San Francisco patients join
together to ensure regulations that protect patients' access, rights and
privacy. Join SF ASA to plan for the future of medical cannabis in San
Francisco.

7:00 p.m
San Francisco Woman's Building
3543 18th Street #8
Room B

For more info, call Alex: 415-794-1543

****
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**
6) Thursday, May 25th, Sacramento: Sac ASA Meeting

**Sacramento ASA has begun meeting again and they're busy strategizing
on ways to effect local, state and national policies.

The Sacramento medical marijuana community was once extremely active
with Americans for Safe Access. Sac ASA met regularly, organized a huge
rally for Bryan Epis at the Capitol, and did all they could to protect
patients' rights.

Patients and advocates in the Sacramento area are coming together again
to reinvigorate ASA. Please join them at their bi-weekly meetings:

Thursday @ 6:00 p.m.
Capitol Wellness Collective
2400 14th Street, Sacramento

Patients and non-patients are welcome. This is a great opportunity to
get involved with ASA and to work on both local and national campaigns.

For more information, please call 916-325-9000.

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**City & County Hearings**
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*
1) Monday, May 15th, Mission Viejo: City Council Hearing to Extend
Dispensary Moratorium*

The Mission Viejo City Council has enacted a moratorium and will be
voting to extend it.

If you are a patient or advocate in the area, please go to speak out
against the extension of this moratorium. For talking points, click
here: http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/moratorium.talking.points.pdf

Please join us in protecting safe access!

5:00p.m.
Council Chamber, City Hall 200 Civic Center Mission Viejo, CA 92691

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*2) Monday, May 15th, Galt: City Council Hearing to Extend Dispensary
Moratorium*

The Galt City Council has enacted a moratorium and will be voting to
extend it.

If you are a patient or advocate in the area, please go to speak out
against the extension of this moratorium. For talking points, click
here: http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/moratorium.talking.points.pdf

Please join us in protecting safe access!

7:00 p.m
City Hall Council Chambers, 380 Civic Drive., Galt, CA

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*
3) **Tuesday, May 16th, Visalia: Tulare County to Vote on Medical
Marijuana ID Card Program
*
>From Aaron Smith (fa_smith [at] yahoo.com <mailto:fa_smith [at] yahoo.com>):

Next Tuesday, May 16th, the Tulare County Board of Supervisors will be
voting on the implementation of the medical marijuana ID card program.
The ID cards would be voluntary for patients and caregivers to obtain
through the county and serve to further protect them from detainment,
arrest or seizure of their medicine by state and local law enforcement.

This is a major step in the right direction towards securing safe and
legal access to medical marijuana in Tulare County. It is also extremely
important that we fill the board chambers with patients and advocates
backing the program. Please attend Tuesday's meeting to show your
support for safe, legal and hassle-free access to medical marijuana.
Feel free to contact me for meeting details.

Board Meeting Time and Location:
Tuesday, May 16th -- 9:00am
(this is the first item on the agenda, please show up early)
County Administration Building
2800 West Burrel Avenue
Visalia, CA 93291
Map: http://tinyurl.com/rsdac

*This is a professional meeting; please dress in business or
business/casual attire.

Here are some talking points that you can use when addressing your
county supervisor on the ID card issue:

* The ID card protects patients and caregivers from lengthy detainment,
arrest, seizure of property or unnecessary court proceedings. While
patients are not required to participate in the ID card program, many
choose to because they cannot afford the personal risk of wrongful
prosecution that those without ID cards face.
* The ID card program will greatly assist law-enforcement in
distinguishing patients with legitimate medical marijuana
recommendations from those who are using false or counterfeit
documentation. The county-administered ID program clarifies the current
patchwork of patient documentation and frees our law enforcement and
judicial system to focus on genuine criminal activity.
* Voters' support of safe and legal access to medical marijuana has only
grown stronger since the passage of the Compassionate Use Act (Prop.
215) in 1996. According to an independent field poll conducted in 2004,
74% of Californians believe that patients should not be arrested for
using marijuana as medicine. The statewide Medical Marijuana ID card
program simply provides additional protection to qualified patients and
further solidifies our state law and the will of the voters.
* The county will not incur any additional costs by implementing the ID
card program because the county is allowed to set its own fees to recoup
the start-up and operating costs. For example, the Oregon Medical
Marijuana Program, implemented in 1999, was able to realize a $986,000
budget surplus after two years of operation. This also allowed the state
to significantly reduce the fees imposed on patients.
* The county has a legal responsibility to the State of California to
implement the program.
Thank you for your support of this important program. Once implemented,
not only will it reduce patients' risk, it will also further strengthen
California's decade-old medical marijuana law.

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*
4) Tuesday, May 16th, Palm Springs: City Council Hearing to Extend
Dispensary Moratorium*

The Palm Springs City Council has enacted a moratorium and will be
voting to extend it.

If you are a patient or advocate in the area, please go to speak out
against the extension of this moratorium. For talking points, click
here: http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/moratorium.talking.points.pdf

Please join us in protecting safe access!

6:00p.m.
Council Chamber, 3200 East Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs, California
92262

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*Court Support*
****
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****
*1) Monday, May 22nd, Sacramento: Court Support for Bryan Epis*

Non-evidentiary status hearing at 9:30am before Judge Frank C. Damrell,
Jr. in U.S. District Court, 15th Floor at 501 "I" Street in Sacramento.
Bryan Epis was the first medical marijuana patient convicted in federal
court after the passage of California's Proposition 215. Epis was
arrested June 25, 1997, after Butte County sheriff's officers discovered
marijuana plants growing in the basement of his home in Chico. Epis was
released on bail August 9, 2004, pending his appeal.

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*2) Friday, May 26th, San Francisco: Court Support for Dispensary Raid
Defendants*

Motions hearing at 11am before Judge Susan Illston in U.S. District
Court, 450 Golden Gate, San Francisco. On June 22, 2005, less than three
weeks after the Gonzales v. Raich decision, three dispensaries were shut
down in San Francisco by the DEA, with full cooperation of the San
Francisco Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies.
Twenty people were indicted on charges ranging from marijuana
cultivation to money laundering. The DEA also worked collaboratively
with media to sensationalize the raid by referring to the arrestees as
part of an "Asian Mafia." Defense attorneys are currently arguing
selective prosecution motions, and seeking discovery.

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*Candidates Forum*
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*
1) Wednesday, May 17th, Santa Rosa: Candidates Forum on Medical Marijuana*

May 17th (Wednesday), 6:30 - 8:00 pm, Santa Rosa Library (3rd & E
Streets) Santa Rosa. Sonoma Alliance for Medical Marijuana (SAMM) is
sponsoring a Candidate's Forum on medical marijuana issues in Sonoma
County. The June 6th election is an opportunity to vote for District
Attorney and for Supervisor of Districts 2 and 4.

DA Stephan Passalacqua and his challenger, Jill Ravitch, will speak.
>From District 2 (Southwestern county including Petaluma and Cotati)
Supervisor Mike Kerns has declined to attend but his challenger Mervis
Reissig will speak. From the District 4 (Northeastern county including
Windsor and Healdsburg) Paul Kelley has not yet responded to our
invitation and his challenger, Windsor City Council Member Debora Fudge
has a council meeting that night. Candidates not attending are invited
to submit statements which will be read at the forum.

This is a question/answer forum, not a debate. Two issues of concern to
all candidates are the Sonoma's Possession and Cultivation Guidelines
(currently under review and to be adopted by the Board of Supervisors
soon), and the county's cannabis dispensary ordinance. The Board
recently extended it's moratorium on new dispensaries to allow more time
to work on the ordinance. Wheelchair accessible. Info: (707) 522-0292.

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*
2) Friday-Sunday, June 2-4, Marysville: Music that Matters Festival -
Benefit for ASA!*

Leon Russell, Elvin Bishop, Lydia Pense + 25 bands play community
festival supporting CA NORML, Americans for Safe Access and The Dr.
Stephen Banister Legal Defense Fund; June 2-3-4th

Marysville, CA: The 4th Annual California Music That Matters Festival
held June 2-3-4th 2006, is a 3-day family music and camping festival on
the confluence of the Yuba and Feather Rivers at the Mervyns Riverfront
Pavilion in Marysville and features 28 bands, a Health Fair and
Education forum, Community Tent, Special Kids Entertainment Arena,
International Arts and Crafts Vendors, Food Vendors and special guest
speakers.

The robust 2006 Entertainment line-up headlines Leon Russell, Elvin
Bishop, Particle, guitar great Leo Nocentelli and a total of 28 bands
spanning a variety of decades and musical genres offering something for
everyone. This year's festival will also present a special midnight
showing of the highly acclaimed documentary film "AKA Tommy Chong."

Guest Speakers include California Physician Dr. Stephen Banister, Dale
Gieringer of CA NORML, Medical Marijuana Defense Attorney Zenia Gilg,
and other experts seeking to define responsible practices, policies and
legislation surrounding medical marijuana issues in California since the
voter approved Prop. 215 The Compassionate Use Act of 1996.

Proceeds from the 4th Annual California Music That Matters Festival
benefit California N.O.R.M.L. (National Organization to Reform Marijuana
Laws) Americans For Safe Access, and The Dr. Stephen Banister Legal
Defense Fund.

The California Music That Matters Festival is a volunteer driven event
dedicated to insuring a safe, friendly, family event offering music,
entertainment, kid's entertainment and education in a relaxed
environment. Media Headlines of last year's event reported "Atmosphere
Could Not Be Better".

Glass, Alcohol, and Dogs will NOT be allowed within the festival site.
Dogs will not be permitted to stay in cars or at the
campground. The beautiful Mervyn's Riverfront Pavilion is located in
Marysville California about 45 minutes north of Sacramento

Ticket: $60/3 Days Includes Camping. $30/One Day with no camping. . For
festival information and ticket outlets, visit
http://www.camusicthatmatters.org or telephone. 530/346-2763

--
Rebecca Saltzman
Field Coordinator
Americans for Safe Access
p (510) 251-1856 x 308
f (510) 251-2036
http://www.safeaccessnow.org