Please join the Los Angeles County Brownie Mary Democratic Club (BM-LA) and the California Medical Cannabis Collective Association (CMCCA), along with Pasadena patients, residents and providers to regulate local safe access to medical cannabis!

In 2005, Pasadena's City Council outlawed dispensaries, with instructions to staff to review the matter in a year. The city has used this language to block the regulation of medical cannabis, which voters approved in 1996 and the legislature enforced in 2003. (SB 420, CA Prop 215). We are legally contesting the enforceability of City of Pasadena’s 2005 ‘ban’ in order to reopen the public debate which should have occurred in 2007. Pasadena City Council’s refusalto regulate medical cannabis collectives harms sick patients.

In 2013, the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously in theCity of Riverside v Inland Empire Patient's Health and Wellness Centerthat cities and counties have the right to regulate the activities of medical marijuana collectives within their borders. It's up to us to demand that City Council REGULATE medical cannabis to protect patient’s rights.

Cannabis is a well documented and non toxic therapeutic alternative for patients suffering from cancer, seizures, multiple sclerosis, neuropathic pain, AIDS and many other medical conditions. The voters based Prop 215 in 1996 on this truth.

Regulation is a benefit to communities, not a liability. Regulation provides medicine and education to sick patients, including a growing senior population, creates jobs, provides tax revenue and undercuts the black market while helping to reduce crime and an overcrowded prison system.

A recent New York Times article states that nearly three quarters of Americans, 72 percent, say government efforts to enforce marijuana laws cost more than they are worth. Regulation lowers the expense of this costly “war on drugs,” and creates a revenue stream for the City of Pasadena to use for productive purposes.

Last week, the NY Times wrote about a research doctor who actually moved to Canada in order to conduct medical studies on therapeutic uses for medical marijuana. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote that the states should be the laboratories of democracy to work out sensible regulations and procedures for permitting medical use. We shouldn’t slam shut the laboratory door, or send our brightest researchers to help our Canadian neighbors. We need the help at home.

Please (1) Sign Our Pasadena Petition, (2) Call or Email Your Councilmember, And (3) Share With Your Online Community! Thank you.