The Compassionate Coalition

From: Lanny
Subject: Indio time change & dispensary reopens

Hi Everyone,

If you are planning on coming to the Indio City Council meeting this
Wednesday, you don’t have to come till 6 p.m. Although the meeting
will start at 5 p.m., the Public Hearing portion of the meeting, in
which the mmj dispensary ban is the first item of business, begins at
6 p.m.

If you would like to speak with me about testifying before the City
Council, I will be there beginning at 5:45.

If you haven’t heard, a federal judge lifted the injunction against
the dispensary in Cathedral City today. This means that the dispensary
can reopen for the time being. The reason given by the judge for
lifting the injunction was that the city had no standing to file for
one. I am not sure exactly what the significance of the ruling is on a
broader scale, but it sure seems to say something. When some lawyerly
type tells me, I will pass it onto you.

We have multiple dispensaries in the Coachella Valley now and we have
to fight to keep them here. They are not causing any problems and they
are an important source of medicine for a large number of patients.

If cities do not like dispensaries, then it is incumbent upon them to
develop alternative programs for patients to obtain their medicine.
Patients are entitled to obtain this medicine under state law and the
function of local governments is to help people comply with state law.
Banning dispensaries while not providing other viable alternatives
violates the patient’s right to obtain legal medicinal marijuana.
Negatively impacting a person’s health is not what local governments
are all about.

The question, of course, is who is telling our local elected
officials this. Who is telling them to comply with state law? Law
enforcement sure “ain’t” telling them that. The Riverside County
DA and his local henchmen keep telling them to ignore state law and
the state constitution and enforce federal law. If we don’t tell
them to follow state law, no one is going to tell them. That is why it
is important for you to come before the Indio City Council this
Wednesday and speak out about following state law and/or the rights of
patience and/or why marijuana is such good medicine.

If you don’t do it, who will?

And now that you don’t have to be there until 6 p.m., it should
make getting to the Indio City Council meeting that much easier.

Of course, if you just can’t make it, you can still send an email.
So far, three people have emailed me a copy of the email they sent to
the Indio City Council. We have got to do better than that and we
could if you take the time right now and send an email to the Indio
City Council. Send your email telling them not to ban dispensaries to:

CityClerk@indio.org
.

Just say “Don’t ban dispensaries” if you don’t have time to
write anything else. But if you want to add a thought or two of you or
own, go for it. Please send me a copy of the email that you send.

I have printed at the end of this email the information from the last
email on the location of the Indio City Hall.

BTW, an oped that I recently authored about the medical benefits of
cannabis was printed in last Sunday’s Press Enterprise. If you would
like to see it, go to this link:

http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/localviews/stories/PE_OpEd_Opinion_D_op_0302_swerdlow_loc.2281744.html

Lanny

The Wednesday, March 5 meeting starts at 6 p.m. and is located in the
Indio City Hall Council Chambers at 150 Civic Center Mall in Indio.
Here’s a link to a map of the location.
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&addtohistory=&address=150%20Civic%20Center%20Mall&city=Indio&state=CA&zipcode=92201%2d4434&country=US&geodiff=1

Please let me know if you are going to be at the meeting. If you send
an email, could you please send a copy to me as well at:
lanny@marijuananews.org.

If you have any questions or need more information, give me a call at
760-799-2055 or send me an email.