Staff Writer
About 50 people turned out at the First Congregational Church of Long Beach on Dec. 7th for a town hall meeting on the legal and health issues surrounding access to medicinal cannabis. Marijuana patient advocate association Patients First hosted the Wednesday event, which featured a variety of medical marijuana advocates, including a retired judge, doctor who specializes in pain management, representative from a patient advocacy group, and an attorney who represents two collective owners.
A number of advocates criticized both local and federal efforts to regulate marijuana.
“The policy of drug prohibition is the biggest failed policy in the history of the United States of America, second only to slavery,” said Judge James P. Gray, a retired Orange County Superior Court Judge. “And we’re going to bring it down. We’re going to end this policy. And I hate to tell you, but the Obama administration is doing us a great, big favor because the best way of getting rid of bad laws is to try to enforce them, and they are, and people are not going to stand for it.”
Gray emphasized the need to get an initiative on the November 2012 ballot that would decriminalize marijuana and regulate marijuana like wine. He disapproved of the way Los Angeles County had handled the regulations on marijuana, especially after dispensaries had been shut down.
“What we’re doing! in a sense, is instead taking the money away from medical marijuana dispensaries that are acting within the law, that are acting with the guidance and assistance of the local community and paying their taxes… and funneling that to juvenile gangs and Mexican drug cartels. I mean, what are we doing here?” Gray said.
The town hall was held one week before the Long Beach City Council was scheduled to hear further public testimony on marijuana dispensaries. The Council had earlier crafted an ordinance that would have allowed a limited number of collectives and cultivation sites to operate in Long Beach. Two collective owners sued the City of Long Beach, and in October a state appeals court determined that the city ordinance conflicted with federal law. The City has appealed the case. According to City Attorney Robert Shannon, the California Supreme Court could decide by February whether it will hear the case.
The Council will soon vote on another ordinance that would ban marijuana dispensaries altogether. The Council voted Dec. 13 to delay the vote on the ban until Jan. 10, 2012. Councilmember Robert Garcia was not present at last Tuesday night’s meeting, and Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal had made a motion to request the delay since Garcia had been deeply involved in the discussions.
Attorney Matthew Pappas, who represents the two collective owners who sued the City of Long Beach, framed the issue in terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was meant to eliminate discrimination against disabled people.
“But I think this is a civil rights issue, that the ADA does apply to the patients, and… when the cities come in and they decide they’re going to enact zoning regulations, they have to consider the impact, not just in a law that’s discriminatory on its face, but in a law that acts to discriminate by taking away the access of medication for patients, thereby depriving them of access to public services,” Pappas said.
The panel discussion’s broad range of topics included marijuana’s medicinal benefits and some of the legal challenges that individuals have faced. The town hall attracted a number of people affiliated with The Human Solution, another grassroots organization that supports medical marijuana use. Several people affiliated with The Human Solution said that they had earlier that day watched the courtroom proceedings for their leader, Joe Grumbine, who faces multiple charges of possession and sale of marijuana. Grumbine is the former co-owner of collectives in Garden Grove and Long Beach.
Many at the town hall pinned green ribbons to their clothing and cheered at panel speakers’ remarks.
Larry Sarver, a Long Beach resident, said that the meeting had given him a better understanding of federal and state legal issues. The 63-year-old said that he first started taking marijuana when he was 14 to address a muscle tension-related bed-wetting problem. He has since used cannabis to address anxiety issues, help with muscle relaxation, and achieve what he calls “homeostasis,” a holistic balance of body and mind.
“I came to this event to promote the idea that everyone should have safe access to cannabis so that they can understand the expanse of its healing nature,” Sarver said.
