Letter: New law violates Prop. 215

To the community,

The American Medical Marijuana Association has announced that it is filing a lawsuit over the violation of Proposition 215 by the California Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown. The recent adoption of the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act attempts to modify a voter initiative, Prop. 215, something specifically forbidden by the California Constitution.

Our medical cannabis rights, protected for nearly 20 years by Prop. 215, have been hijacked and Prop. 215 is under attack like never before. The new law is an unacceptable and illegal infringement on our rights under Prop. 215.

Steve Kubby

These are the four areas that were of the greatest concern to patients and their physicians:

1. Patient gardens now limited to 100 square feet.
2. It is now a crime to share a joint from your garden with anyone.
3. Must now use your regular doctor for recommendations, most of whom have no experience with the medical use of cannabis
4. Allows city, county or both to ban cultivation, storage, manufacture, and transport.

I’m getting calls from frightened patients who fear their own state government is planning on going after cannabis doctors as if they are some sort of dangerous threat that must be carefully supervised. Sick people cannot handle this kind of stress. Thousands of patients will die because of this calculated attempt to thwart the will of the people and deprive them of medical cannabis and the doctors who write recommendations to use the healing herb.

David Allen, a retired heart surgeon and expert on cannabinoid medicine, warns against the unintended consequences of the new Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act. According to Allen, the proposed law “will create more crimes of cultivation, processing, storage, transportation, sales, and possession. It will create an army of bureaucrats that will increase the police state and create super drug task force solely for cannabis and no other drug,”

Steve Kubby, American Medical Marijuana Association executive director and South Lake Tahoe resident