Pubdate: Sun, 05 Feb 2012
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Tom Ammiano, Assemblyman, San Francisco

DEFEND CALIFORNIA'S MEDICAL POT LAWS

It is vital that cities throughout California remain defiant like
Oakland has in the face of the Obama administration's ongoing scare
tactics with regard to medical marijuana.

Proposition 215 is the law in California and has been for the past 15
years. I met with U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag this past December about
the recent federal crackdown and the tension between state and federal
law. Unfortunately, she is not using the discretion granted her office
to discriminate between the bad actors in the industry and the
responsible ones.

I fail to understand how marijuana dispensaries throughout Northern
California that are in complete compliance with local law are suddenly
a threat to public safety after so many years. This is simply bad politics.

What we need now is strong political leadership from our elected
officials to defend California state law. San Francisco has been a
leader on this issue and the mayor and the Board of Supervisors need
to be more prominent in their opposition to the U.S. attorney's
actions. Clearly, medical marijuana will eventually be decided by the
Supreme Court, but in the meantime we cannot allow the wholesale
dismantling of medical marijuana in the state by a rogue Department of
Justice.

Tom Ammiano

Assemblyman

San Francisco
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.