420 Warrior
Well-Known Member
Proposed local medical-marijuana initiative isn't a joint effort
The medical-marijuana-themed hospitality suite at California's Democratic State Convention last weekend was kicking-a DJ, movies, a gallery show of Chicano Park artists and a flowing contingency of prominent Democrats.
The suite was sponsored by the Patient Care Association ( PCA ), a growing organization of collective and dispensary operators that serves as a chamber of commerce for San Diego's medical-marijuana industry. The PCA partnered with Assemblymember Tom Ammiano and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union to bring in Democratic power brokers: Speaker of the Assembly John Perez made an appearance, as did San Diego County Democratic Party Chairman Jess Durfee and executive director Ryan Hurd. Altogether, it was a celebration that received an unusual amount of establishment support considering the medicalmarijuana movement's history of operating on the fringe.
"Afterward, someone told me we've gone a long ways to making this mainstream and acceptable," says Cynara Velazquez, a Democratic organizer who now coordinates PCA outreach.
Through its political committee, Citizens for Patients Rights, PCA has raised $70,000 and hired the La Jolla Group, a high-profile petition-circulation firm, to collect the necessary 62,000 signatures by June 20 to get new medical-marijuana regulations on the November ballot. The initiative was recently endorsed by Rep. Bob Filner, the only viable Democrat running in this year's San Diego mayoral race.
For all the new alliances PCA is creating, the group may find its greatest adversaries among other medical-marijuana leaders, who've either taken a neutral position or are outright opposed to the proposed Compassionate Use Dispensary Restriction and Taxation Ordinance.
San Diego's medical-marijuana community has long been plagued by warring factions and political undercutting, particularly between groups such as San Diego Americans for Safe Access ( SDASA ) and the San Diego Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws ( NORML ). Personal attacks regularly fly over email and Facebook; activists accuse each other of unprofessional conduct, harassment, secretly working for the Drug Enforcement Agency and conspiring to establish a medi-pot monopoly. Steve Elliott, who covers the medical-marijuana beat nationally for Village Voice Media's Toke of the Town blog, describes San Diego as the most contentious medical marijuana community in the country.
Read the remainder of this article at sdcitybeat.com
News Hawk - 420 Warrior 420 MAGAZINE
Location: San Diego, CA
Source: San Diego City Beat
Author: Dave Maass
Copyright: 2012 San Diego City Beat
Website: sdcitybeat.com
The medical-marijuana-themed hospitality suite at California's Democratic State Convention last weekend was kicking-a DJ, movies, a gallery show of Chicano Park artists and a flowing contingency of prominent Democrats.
The suite was sponsored by the Patient Care Association ( PCA ), a growing organization of collective and dispensary operators that serves as a chamber of commerce for San Diego's medical-marijuana industry. The PCA partnered with Assemblymember Tom Ammiano and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union to bring in Democratic power brokers: Speaker of the Assembly John Perez made an appearance, as did San Diego County Democratic Party Chairman Jess Durfee and executive director Ryan Hurd. Altogether, it was a celebration that received an unusual amount of establishment support considering the medicalmarijuana movement's history of operating on the fringe.
"Afterward, someone told me we've gone a long ways to making this mainstream and acceptable," says Cynara Velazquez, a Democratic organizer who now coordinates PCA outreach.
Through its political committee, Citizens for Patients Rights, PCA has raised $70,000 and hired the La Jolla Group, a high-profile petition-circulation firm, to collect the necessary 62,000 signatures by June 20 to get new medical-marijuana regulations on the November ballot. The initiative was recently endorsed by Rep. Bob Filner, the only viable Democrat running in this year's San Diego mayoral race.
For all the new alliances PCA is creating, the group may find its greatest adversaries among other medical-marijuana leaders, who've either taken a neutral position or are outright opposed to the proposed Compassionate Use Dispensary Restriction and Taxation Ordinance.
San Diego's medical-marijuana community has long been plagued by warring factions and political undercutting, particularly between groups such as San Diego Americans for Safe Access ( SDASA ) and the San Diego Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws ( NORML ). Personal attacks regularly fly over email and Facebook; activists accuse each other of unprofessional conduct, harassment, secretly working for the Drug Enforcement Agency and conspiring to establish a medi-pot monopoly. Steve Elliott, who covers the medical-marijuana beat nationally for Village Voice Media's Toke of the Town blog, describes San Diego as the most contentious medical marijuana community in the country.
Read the remainder of this article at sdcitybeat.com
News Hawk - 420 Warrior 420 MAGAZINE
Location: San Diego, CA
Source: San Diego City Beat
Author: Dave Maass
Copyright: 2012 San Diego City Beat
Website: sdcitybeat.com
