Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2007
Source: Eureka Reporter, The (CA)
Copyright: 2007 The Eureka Reporter
Contact:  http://www.eurekareporter.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3289
Author: Renee Gusching
Photo: Founder of a new chapter of Americans for Safe Access, Arcata 
resident David Lawlor discusses some of the issues the organization 
hopes to address. Daniel Solomon/The Eureka Reporter 
http://www.mapinc.org/images/humboldtasa.jpg
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Proposition+215
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

RALLYING FOR MEDICAL CANNABIS

A week and half ago, a small group of people met in an Arcata coffee 
shop. Its purpose was to discuss a topic that gets a fair amount of 
attention in such places.

But this group didn't convene to exchange erudite ideas about medical 
marijuana; at the first meeting of the Humboldt County chapter of 
Americans for Safe Access, the group met to talk action.

Seated on the floor in his apartment last week, David Lawlor, the man 
behind the chapter's establishment, fired up his laptop and opened a 
presentation outlining the group's objectives.

The initial items on the chapter's agenda are lofty and threefold. 
The first is to get the California State University system to allow 
the use of medicinal marijuana on its campuses, the second to address 
what Lawlor said is a lack of access to physicians and marijuana 
dispensaries in the area and the third to work with city of Eureka 
officials and law enforcement to ensure state law in the city is 
being followed.

Lawlor, a 28-year-old Humboldt State University graduate student 
working to finish his a Master of Arts in Social Science, spoke 
enthusiastically on the topic he feels strongly enough about to start 
not just one advocacy group, but two.

When Lawlor arrived in Arcata in 2005 after completing a journalism 
degree at San Francisco State University, he and HSU student Eric 
Leonhard co-founded HSU's chapter of the National Organization for 
the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

NORML was "pretty successful right away," Lawlor said. The chapter 
grew rapidly.

Lawlor served as chapter vice president the first year and as a 
special events planner the second year. Some of the group's early 
accomplishments included planning the first NORML Day 2006. Another 
conference, "Race and the War on Drugs," was held this past March.

The ASA chapter, Lawlor said, is his way of continuing to advocate 
for marijuana reform professionally as he nears the end of his 
university career.

Originally from Central California, Lawlor credits both his lifelong 
interest in politics and his deep sense of compassion for those 
suffering as contributing factors to his activism.

"Ever since I was a young kid, I was into politics," Lawlor said. He 
recalled being fascinated by political debates on television as a 
junior high student.

The death of his father when he was 14 years old, however, has 
perhaps had a stronger influence on Lawlor's character. His father 
had suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and osteosclerosis.

"My whole life as a kid was centered around helping out my dad," Lawlor said.

As a result, Lawlor said he has always been "more in tune to sick 
people or people who are suffering."

It was years later that Lawlor found out his father had used 
marijuana medicinally to help ease the pain associated with his condition.

Lawlor himself began smoking marijuana when he was a college student, 
he said. "In San Francisco, I was exposed to more of the cannabis 
scene. I became aware of the whole medical side of it."

Following an accident that left him with a broken right hip and 
forced him to take a break from college, Lawlor said, it was six 
months before he could limp around and a year before he was walking 
again. It was during that period of recovery that Lawlor became a 
Proposition 215 patient.

California voters recognized cannabis for its medicinal qualities, 
Lawlor pointed out. Once a physician makes a marijuana recommendation 
for a 215 patient, that person has the right to get it. The challenge 
is how a person goes about doing that, he said. If a patient can't 
grow it themselves or find a caregiver to grow it for them, they're 
"kind of stuck."

"Safe access to quality-controlled medicine is essential," he said.

Dispensaries play a critical role in providing marijuana to patients, 
Lawlor added. Humboldt Country has three dispensaries, all of which 
are located in Arcata.

The challenge lies in the federal government's classification of 
marijuana as a schedule 1 drug with no legitimate medical use, Lawlor 
said. As a result, the Drug Enforcement Administration has raided 
marijuana clinics, most recently getting media attention following 
the July 25 raids of 10 Los Angeles-area clinics.

According to its Web site, "promoting safe and legal access to 
cannabis for therapeutic use and research" is ASA's mission. It's a 
mission Lawlor and a new group of local ASA members have fully embraced.

"It seemed cheap or lazy to have this law exist and reap the benefits 
and not become involved with the movement (to) assure that what 
people had started would stay strong," Lawlor said.

The next meeting of the Humboldt County chapter of Americans for Safe 
Access will take place at 7 p.m. on Sept. 20 at Mosgo's. Mosgo's is 
located at 180 Westwood Centre in Arcata. ASA meetings will take 
place regularly each third Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. For more 
information, e-mail humboldtasa[AT]gmail.com. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake