The Compassionate Coalition

[b]Judge rules against San Diego County's challenge to California's
medical marijuana law; prevent an appeal [/b]
----
As you probably know, in January San Diego County filed a lawsuit
trying to overturn California's compassionate medical marijuana laws,
which protect sick and dying patients from being thrown in jail for
relieving their suffering. Yesterday, the unpopular and meritless
lawsuit was rejected in court by Judge William Nevitt.

Your help is needed to make sure that San Diego doesn't pursue its
heartless lawsuit with an appeal. Please take a few minutes to call
each county supervisor to ask him or her not to appeal the ruling.

The county supervisors' names and numbers are:

Supervisor Greg Cox (District 1): (619) 531-5511
Supervisor Dianne Jacob (District 2): (619) 531-5522
Supervisor Pam Slater-Price (District 3): (619) 531-5533
Supervisor Ron Roberts (District 4): (619) 531-5544
Supervisor Bill Horn (District 5): (619) 531-5555

Here are some talking points to guide your call:

*A recent poll showed that 71% of Californians support our state's
medical marijuana laws. Please do not appeal Judge Nevitt's ruling on
the medical marijuana case; do not waste any more resources trying to
overturn the will of the people.

*Nearly 80% of San Diego County residents believe the lawsuit is a
waste of tax dollars. Please respect your voters and do not appeal
Judge Nevitt's ruling.

*It is time for the county to follow the law, rather than wasting
time in a futile and cruel legal challenge.

*Supervisor Horn told the Associated Press, "All we wanted was
guidance from the court telling us where we're at ..." Now that you
have the guidance, please abandon that cruel and wasteful suit.

San Diego County filed its lawsuit after refusing to implement the
medical marijuana ID card program, which patients are not required to
obtain, but counties are required to implement. The supervisors voted
3-2 to flaunt the state law requiring it to implement ID cards.
Despite a Marijuana Policy Project-commissioned poll showing that 78%
of voters oppose the suit and more than 1,000 constituent calls and e-
mails, the board voted 4-0 to challenge California's medical
marijuana law. The lawsuit claimed that federal law invalidates the
state medical marijuana law. Two counties -- Merced and San
Bernardino -- joined the lawsuit. Twenty-three others followed state
law and implemented ID cards.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the Drug Policy Alliance, and
Americans for Safe Access all became parties opposing the lawsuit,
representing several medical marijuana patients, a caregiver, and a
doctor. Along with Attorney General Bill Lockyer, they argued that a
state is free to exempt patients from that state's own criminal
penalties for marijuana and to issue ID cards to those patients. One
of the patients, Pamela Sakuda, has since succumbed to cancer.
Medical marijuana stopped her appetite loss and nausea, allowing her
to continue chemotherapy treatments.

Please, don't forget to call the board of supervisors. Let them know
that voters expect them to find something better to do than to try to
lock up sick and dying patients.

Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. Please forward
this alert to other San Diego County residents, so that more voices
for compassion will be heard.
____________________________________________________________________
Provided by Safe Access Now
Aaron Smith, Statewide MMIC Coordinator
Ph: (866) 287-6792
Fx: (866) 204-1341
safeaccessnow@gmail.com
www.safeaccessnow.com