This could be a very important hearing -- I urge you to attend if at all possible. If you can't attend, please take a minute to send a message by phone or email! What is most importantly at stake:
(1) Whether people are able to get marijuana on their own, with only their doctor and their dispensary knowing about it, or whether they have to obtain a government-issued ID card in order to have access
(2) Whether government will have a vehicle, the state-issued ID card, with which to easily raise taxes on medical cannabis users whenever they want to by raising the fee to obtain or renew a card
(3) What kind of precedent will be established on the above points for other counties across California
San Francisco, an early-adopter of trends and legislation in the area of medical cannabis, is the only place where recently passed current law *requires* patients to use the state ID card. This is a hearing to get this law amended to drop this requirement and make other positive changes! Under state law, use of the state ID is voluntary, since Proposition 215 which was passed by California voters in 1996 to allow medical cannabis use did not mandate any such card, only a doctor's recommendation. But naturally the government is seeking more control and more money out of peoples' pockets, and if this requirement is not overturned in San Francisco, other counties may follow suit in requiring patients to obtain the state-issued card, soon making it de facto mandatory for cannabis users across the entire state.
If you live outside SF and do not want to see a future statewide tax hike, please call or email Supervisor Jake McGoldrick (contact info below), whose vote is needed to get these vital changes to the law out of committee! If you live outside SF, I would not mention that unless asked, since politicians listen more to constituents. Please pass along this message.
Love & Liberty,
<<< starchild >>>
Vice Chair / Outreach Director
Libertarian Party of San Francisco
Message from Axis of Love:
Support Verifiable Recommendation Legislation to be Introduced Thursday, July 26!
Supervisor Mirkarimi will introduce Verifiable Recommendation language to medical cannabis amendment legislation at the Neighborhood Services Committee this Thursday, where they will also be considering the current amendments taking police out of the permitting process, extending the deadline for dispensaries to become permitted, and creating exceptions to the New Construction ADA standards for dispensaries unable to afford extensive remodeling.
Currently, all permitted dispensaries are required to only allow people with state ID cards entrance to dispensaries in San Francisco, requiring patients who need access to register with the state and pay a costly yearly fee. With these amendments, patients could use their verifiable recommendation to get access to their medicine, and not be forced to purchase an otherwise voluntary state ID card.
Please email jake.mcgoldrick@... , or call 415-554-7412 and ask him to support Mirkarimi's Verifiable Recommendations amendment at the Neighborhood Services Committee.
Come to the meeting and speak out in support of verifiable recommendations, taking police out of the permitting process, extending the deadline for dispensaries to become permitted, and creating exceptions to the New Construction ADA standards for dispensaries unable to afford extensive remodeling.
Neighborhood Services Committee
1:00 pm, Thursday July 26, City Hall, Room 263