So Cal Cannabis Outlets Surpass 400 Rosenthal Victory
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FREE www.OaksterdamNews.com Vol. 3 # 2 Spring 2007 510-836-NEWS (6397) Presidential candidate from NM signs nation’s 12th MMJ law So Cal cannabis NM law sets stage for new outlets surpass 400 federal drive in Congress Flurry of openings seek a By Bruce Mirken Presidential candidate and New Mexico foothold ahead of new rules Gov. Bill Richardson signed the nation’s By Jaime Galindo 12th state medical marijuana law April 2 in a move advocates said will likely jump- With a moratorium on new Los Angeles start efforts to reform federal policy. cannabis outlets on the horizon, the num- ber of SoCal retailers has now risen to The signing came in the wake of new more than 400. The DEA raids of last research documenting marijuana’s medical January have not slowed the increase in value and public outrage at the Appeals cannabis availability in the nation’s second Court’s rejection of Angel Raich’s medical largest city. marijuana due process claim. Police Chief William J. Bratton sub- New Mexico joins Alaska, California, mitted a report to the Los Angeles City Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Planning Commission a year ago, identify- Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont ing issues associated with medical mari- and Washington in protecting medical juana dispensaries. This report included a marijuana patients from arrest. total of 41 recommendations to regulate Democrat Richardson, the first presi- existing and future medical marijuana dis- dential candidate to have supported med- pensaries, carrying specific emphasis on ical marijuana by signing it into law, has GREENING OF AMERICA — Map of medical marijuana states is superimposed over the win- hours of operation and land use issues. consistently voiced his strong support for dow sign of a Los Angeles dispensary. Passage of New Mexico’s law gives more Americans The report recommended that an ICO safe access. Arizona’s law is invalid due to its wording. Oaksterdam News photo by Jaime Galindo the bill and was a major proponent in (Interim Control Ordinance) be imposed ensuring its passage. and no dispensary be granted grandfather “Gov. Richardson is showing his com- status and that dispensary operators be passion for seriously ill people, and he is State board wants taxes from cannabis sales required to register with the department also reflecting the will of the majority of within 60 days of the ordinance taking New Mexicans and the American people,” By Richard Lee does allow sales under state law but since effect. These proposals were dropped after said Drug Policy Alliance NM director medical marijuana only requires a doctor’s the Planning Commission held a public Reena Szczepanski. The California Board of Equalization announced in February that cannabis prod- recommendation it is not a prescription hearing on March 22 regarding the pro- “I hope other elected officials take ucts are subject to sales tax, including medicine and therefore not exempt from posed Interim Control Ordinance (ICO). note: Americans will stand behind those medical marijuana. sales tax. Van Nuys Courthouse was filled with sup- that believe in compassion and mercy for porters of the proposed moratorium, With as many as 500 outlets in the state Since cannabis is still illegal federally, our most vulnerable, our sick and dying “retailers may decline to provide informa- including medical marijuana patients, patients struggling for relief.” generating two billion in sales, the state advocates, and dispensary operators. could collect $175 million in 2007 on tion on products sold due to concerns Added Rob Kampia, director of the cannabis drinks, baked goods, confections, about self-incrimination,” according to a Although the majority of dispensary Marijuana Policy Project, “The American ice cream, plants, herb, concentrates, topi- Board of Equalization Special Notice. operators seek regulation, it can be a dou- public, too, is solidly behind medical mar- cal ointments, and oral spray formulations. For 2007, revenues could be even ble-edged sword. While regulation is need- ijuana. An October 2005 Gallup poll found ed to ensure safe access, the proposed The Board determined that SB 420 greater than $175 million due to many Continued on page 13 retailers paying tax that was collected in moratorium may force a number of dispen- 2006 before the policy was finalized. saries to shut down or relocate due to land Some companies have been collecting use issues, such as its proximity to a sales tax on cannabis products since 2002, church, school, or another dispensary. Rosenthal victory: Most of grower’s Continued on page 12 Continued on page 19 charges thrown out as ‘vindictive’ By Martin Williams to school children or others in order to Federal judge tells DEA to stop San Francisco’s federal US Attorney entrap them into violating a law. George Bevan survived a recent adminis- The US Supreme Court held in 2001 tration purge of prosecutors who were not that deputies are immune only if they obstructing cannabis research “Bushy” enough in pursuing the presi- attempt to trick people into breaking a law, By Dale Gieringer Enforcement Administration (DEA) dent’s partisan political agenda. Part of his and not when they try to help sick and In response to a lawsuit brought by med- Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen assignment has been to undermine Califor- dying people under state law. ical cannabis research advocates, Drug Bittner ruled Feb. 12 that the agency nia state laws by aggressively pursuing Rosenthal continued to be a thorn in should stop blocking approval of a private those who work within the state’s develop- federal prosecutors’ sides, and Bevan cannabis research production facility at the ing legal medical cannabis infrastructure. announced last year he would retry University of Massachusetts. Rosenthal on the charges, only to be told In an 87-page ruling, Judge Bittner by Judge Charles Breyer that it was a found that the public interest would be A juror cannot be punished for waste of time because, if Rosenthal was served by ending the government’s voting to acquit a defendant, convicted, the judge had already passed a monopoly on marijuana supplies. regardless of the ‘facts’ presented. sentence and would not add to his one day The lawsuit was sponsored by the for time served on the night of his arrest. Multidisciplinary Association for Bevan responded with a flurry of sub- Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), which is “Guru of Ganja” Ed Rosenthal was poenas for Rosenthal’s acquaintances and sponsoring the U Mass project, with legal prosecuted by Bevan and convicted of filed new charges of tax evasion regarding assistance from the ACLU. drug charges in 2003. In 2006 he saw his less than $2000 worth of money orders “This is a major step to getting us to do conviction overturned because one of the Rosenthal had once purchased. the scientific research that the government jurors had been intimidated from exercis- has been blocking for the past 30 years,” ing her right to vote “not guilty” when she Americans for Safe Access attorneys said MAPS Director and NORML board realized the case involved medical use. (see story on page 2) argued that this amounted to vindictive prosecution and the member Rick Doblin. A juror cannot be punished for voting charges should be tossed out. On March “For decades, politicians have said that to acquit a defendant, regardless of the 14, Breyer agreed that “it is apparent that marijuana has no proven medical value facts that are allowed into evidence; this (the US prosecutor) decided to re-evaluate while scientists have been denied the abil- power to vote “not guilty” is known as jury its strategy in response to Rosenthal’s pub- ity to prove otherwise,” nullification when applied to unjust laws. lic criticism of the trial. In other words, the At present, the only legal source of Rosenthal had been deputized by the Continued on page 12 marijuana in the US is the government’s City of Oakland in an effort to give him the FLOWER FROM A PATIENT — Juries research farm at the University of same immunity for providing cannabis to cannot be punished for their verdicts. LA Dispensary Reviews Mississippi, controlled by the National patients for medical use that an undercov- This issue patient garden is on page 7. — Inside — Continued on page 4 er narcotics agent has when selling drugs Oaksterdam News photo by Jaime Galindo PAGE 2. OAKSTERDAM NEWS SPRING 2007 Americans for Safe Access: ASA played key role in Rosenthal charge dismissals; victory is relief for community By William Dolphin his sentence. Noted cannabis author Ed Rosenthal had Dismissal of the new charges meant a the majority of the federal charges against sigh of relief for many in the Bay Area him dismissed on March 14, thanks in medical marijuana community. More than large measure to the legal work of 70 witnesses had been subpoenaed by the Americans for Safe Access’Chief Counsel, government to testify against Rosenthal, Joe Elford. The judge in the high-profile beginning with the federal grand jury in case made an extraordinarily rare ruling August 2006. Throughout the process, that the government was engaging in an ASA staff worked to protect the rights of illegal “vindictive prosecution” when it the subpoenaed members of the communi- expanded the charges against Rosenthal ty, many of whom were reluctant to testify. upon re-indicting him. During the grand jury phase, at least Convicted in 2003 on three felony four witnesses were subpoenaed, two of SMILES — Attorneys Omar Figueroa and Shari Greenberger of Pier 5 Law Offices cannabis counts in a case that received whom refused to testify and were close to flank a happy Ed Rosenthal after most of his charges were dismissed. worldwide media attention, the 62-year- being jailed for contempt.