One Big Union of Collectives

ONE BIG COLLECTIVE: A Collective of MediCannabis Collectives

Let's begin with the assumption that every road to elsewhere starts in Mendocino County--a marijuana-friendly county by history and tradition, where voters approved 25 plants for personal use in Nov 2000, years ahead of the curve, and medical cannabis regulation via land use designations is on the formal agenda in the 2009 County General Plan Update (the first in 27 years).

One example of the Mendo tradition is the Emerald Cup at Area 101, the annual medical cannabis growers' competition in the heart of the Emerald Triangle, where local farmers submit their best bud and hash for judging and prizes -- a gutsy expression of our resourceful community. The Cup is known as a unique gathering, a virtual ritual, of 500+ expert cannabis gardeners, organizing legally as qualified patient-growers over the past five years but largely unknown to the broader public. The community has learned how to survive by cultivating medical grade marijuana for ill people in need, despite conditions of borderline prohibition.

The Emerald Cup has flowered into a medical cannabis crossroads and safe haven for free speech and free association, sharing of sinsemilla tips, an irrepressible marketplace of ideas in tough times.

In order to stay safe and legal, we need to create medical cannabis models that work for us here and now--for individual patients, for small family caregivers, for larger collectives and cooperatives, and for the county as a whole.

COLLECTIVES & COOPERATIVES are California's protected legal model as stated in the text of Senate Bill 420: "to enhance access of patients & caregivers to medical marijuana through collective cooperative cultivation projects."

State law has evolved over 12 years--under Senate Bill 420 (2003), People v Urziceanu (2005), and California Attorney General Guidelines (2008) to grant additional legal protections to collectives and cooperatives of two or more people, as an organized alternative to the traditional individual profit-making approach to medical marijuana production. Collectives can be self-defined since there are no legal requirements, as there are with cooperatives, which have financial disclosure requirements.

Collectives are the universally accepted safest new model for the patient majority.

MMMAB is encouraging the formation of small collectives with written or oral agreements, i.e. formally adopt a collective agreement based on what you're already doing in your small family or group unit, that everyone can stand by and that will stand up in court (in compliance with guidelines).

MMMAB and Area 101 are urging that we join together and form One Big Collective: A Collective of MediCannabis Collectives. This would by necessity include a thorough email list of conscious qualified patient-growers and small gardens of family and friends. The only condition is willingness to work together collectively and grow organically for the betterment of the whole, as an alternative to traditional profit.

Please sign below and return to the Mendocino Medical Marijuana Advisory Board (MMMAB) if you are interested in joining or getting more information about collectives for community advancement and self-protection. We support working within the legal framework under state and local law and challenging--in court & at the ballot--what we don't support.

There are 3 separate state authorities backing the formation of medical cannabis collectives & co-ops with none against:

1) Senate Bill 420 (Health & Safety Code 11362.7) has a special clause in the text that points to the future of medical cannabis production in California: "collective cooperative cultivation projects"..."to enhance access...to medical marijuana."

2) People v Urziceanu, 3rd District Appeals Court precedent, interprets that clause as granting five additional protections and outlines a pathway to the future, including the right to sell and distribute under collective or cooperative operations.

3) The Atty General Guidelines of 2008 specify that collectives & cooperatives are to be based on membership in private associations, without the same restrictions for collectives as there are for caregivers in relation to out-of-county patients. A collective in Mendo County could legally sell their medical cannabis to a Bay Area dispensing collective with whom they have a collective arrangement.

This is a drastic paradigm shift from unaccountable profit-driven head honcho to transparent collectives being run for the good of the whole with individuals being equal and accountable to one another--as fundamental a paradigm shift as it was in 1996 when marijuana for medical purposes became a right rather than a crime.

The ultimate issue is how the medical cannabis community, under fair and reasonable policies, will become fully legal & equal in society's eyes, integrated into the social and economic fabric of the county, without discrimination or criminal stigma attached to bona fide medical marijuana under state and local law. Now is the time to claim a stake in the future of cannabis medicines and the people who use them.

NAME _______________________________ ADDRESS ___________________
TOWN _____________ ZIP _____

EMAIL ________________________________ PHONE ____________________
INTEREST __________________

EXISTING COLLECTIVE __________________________
NEED FURTHER INFORMATION ____________________

MMMAB POBox 2555 Mendocino CA 95460 (707)964-YESS http://www.mmmab.net / info [at] mmmab.net