[ASA Field]

ASA California Weekly Alert: January 18, 2008

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*Make Sure We Stay On Top of It:* If you wish to have a medical cannabis event, meeting, federal trial, and/or city or county hearing listed in the ASA CA Weekly Alert, please send information to Sonnet@AmericansforSafeAccess.org no later than Thursdays by 3:00pm.

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*Weekly Round Up Special Feature
*1. Medical Marijuana and the 2008 Presidential Candidates
*
Chapter and Affiliate Meetings*
2. Saturday, January 19, Los Angeles: LA ASA Meeting
3. Tuesday, January 22, San Francisco: San Francisco ASA Meeting
4. Wednesday, January 23, Oakland: East Bay ASA Meeting
5. Tuesday, January 29, Sacramento: ASA Affiliate Compassionate Coalition Meeting

*City and County Hearings**
*6. Tuesday, January 29, Martinez: Contra Costa County Planning Commission to
Vote on Dispensary Ban

*Court Support
*7. Monday, January 28, Sacramento: Sentencing Hearing for Jeff Sanderson and
Alice Wiegand

*Special Events*
8. Save the Date: April 4-5, 2008: Patients Out of Time Fifth National Conference

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Weekly Round Up Special Feature CA

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*1. Medical Marijuana and the 2008 Presidential Candidates

*Next Tuesday, January 22, marks the deadline for Californians to register to
vote in the 2008 Presidential Primaries, which will be held on February 5,
2008. The California Primaries will give voters the chance to choose which
candidate they want to have represent their party in the 2008 general
elections. Over the past several months, the medical marijuana community has
interacted with many of the candidates in both the Republican and Democratic
parties. Activists, patients,and supporters throughout the country have
targeted the candidates, asking them to take a stand for patients and support
safe access and an end to DEA raids. While ASA has not endorsed a candidate,
ASA activists, chapters, and affiliates
<http://www.AmericansforSafeAccess.org/08PresidentialCandidates>participated in
bird-dogging events throughout the country, asking the candidates the tough
questions about medical marijuana, DEA raids, and research. Granite Staters for
Medical Marijuana <http://granitestaters.com> out in New Hampshire spent the
majority of 2007 focusing on the candidates' positions on medical marijuana and
educating voters, with the culminating event being the New Hampshire primaries
two weeks ago.

Several organizations including the Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana
<http://granitestaters.com/candidates> and Pro/Con.org
<http://www.2008electionprocon.org/medicalmarijuanalegal.htm> released report
cards on the primary candidates and medical marijuana. The website 10
Questions.com <http://www.10questions.com/> went so far as to include a question
about medical marijuana and the DEA raids in their presidential forum. ASA's
Chief of Staff, Rebecca Saltzman wrote up a review on the candidates' answers to
the 10 Questions forum. Rebecca Saltzman's blog features video answers from
several candidates and highlights the strongest positions. Check out Rebecca's
blog at: www.AmericansforSafeAccess.org/CandidateBlog

With the deadline to register to vote less than a week away, we encourage you to
consider registering to vote in time for the primary elections. All
registration applications must be postmarked by Jan. 22nd to qualify in time for
the primaries. As many of the reports mentioned above point out, the candidates'
policies on medical marijuana vary greatly and it is up to us, the medical
marijuana community, to vote for who we consider is the strongest candidate.


To register to vote visit: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm
To find out where your polling place is visit:
http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_ppl.htm
For general information about the primary elections visit:
http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov


* *

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Chapter and Affiliate Meetings meetings*
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*2. Saturday, January 19, **Los Angeles**: LA ASA Meeting*

We will be back on our regular monthly meeting schedule beginning this Saturday,
January 19. I want to ask everyone to make a special effort to attend this
month’s meeting and bring some friends, as there are some very important things
on our agenda. Some of the items on the agenda for Saturday include: (1) DEA
raids and letters threatening landlords, (2) beefing up our emergency response
to raids, (3) the status of local regulations and collectives, and (4) 2007
accomplishments and 2008 strategy to defend safe access!

Here are the details. Please forward this message to your friends and mailing lists.

*January LA-ASA Meeting*
1:00 PM * Saturday, January 19, 2008
Patient ID Center, 470 S. San Vicente Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90048
(Cross street is Drexel, between Wilshire & 3rd St.)

Visit http://www.ASAaction.org for a map to the Patient ID Center.
Visit http://www.metro.net/default.asp for public transit information.

For more information, contact Don@AmericansforSafeAccess.org
<mailto:Don@AmericansforSafeAccess.org>

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*3. Tuesday, January 22, **San Francisco**: **San Francisco** ASA Meeting

*Join us for our San Francisco ASA meeting. We will be discussing medical
marijuana week along with several other activities.

When: Tuesday, January 22nd at 7:30pm
Where: Bowzer's Pizza, 371 11th St in San Francisco

For more info, contact Alex: aaafranco@yahoo.com <mailto:aaafranco@yahoo.com>

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*4. Wednesday, January 23, **Oakland**: East Bay ASA Meeting*

The 23rd marks the first East Bay meeting of the year! We will be following up
on our 2008 goals and discussing Contra Costa County's proposed dispensary ban.
Please attend this meeting as we will be prioritizing our campaigns for 2008.

When: Wednesday, the 23rd at 7:00 pm
Where: ASA Headquarters Office
1322 Webster Street, Suite 402, Downtown Oakland
(Just 2 blocks from 12th St. Bart!)

For more information, contact Rebecca: 510-251-1856 xt. 308

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*5. Tuesday, January 29, Sacramento: ASA Affiliate Compassionate Coalition Meeting*

Please join Compassionate Coalition as we discuss our current upcoming campaigns
and pressing campaigns to ensure safe access.

When: Tuesday at 7:00pm
Where: Crusaders Hall
320 Harris Ave. Suite H in Sacramento

For more information, contact: Nathan@CompassionateCoalition.org

**
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City and County Hearings fap

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*6. Tuesday, January 29, Martinez: Contra Costa County Planning Commission to
Vote on Dispensary Ban**
*

The Contra Costa Planning Commission is holding a special session to vote on a
potential dispensary ban in the unincorporated areas of the county. If the
planning commission votes in favor of the ban, it will be up for a full vote by
the County Board of Supervisors. Please come out and show your support for safe
access!

When: January 29th, time T.B.D, call the County to find out the time the week of
1-21 at: (925) 335-1208
Where: Room 107 in the Administration Building
651 Pine St. in Martinez, CA

Download ASA talking points <http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2717> on dispensary regulations, moratoriums and bans.Download ASA talking points on dispensary regulations, moratoriums and bans.

Join the East Bay ASA chapter on Wed. the 23rd (details above in /Chapter and
Affiliate Meetings/ section) to find out how you can help.

For more information, contact Sonnet@AmericansforSafeAccess.org

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Court Support court support
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*7. Monday, January 28, Sacramento: Sentencing Hearing for Jeff Sanderson and
Alice Wiegand

*On August 14, 2006, a local-federal task force arrested Plumas County patients
Jeff Sanderson (who also serves as a caregiver for nine other patients) & Alice
Wiegand in a raid for allegedly growing more than 260 plants. Though they were
released from Plumas County jail within several days, on September 5, 2006,
Sanderson was rearrested by federal agents and is being prosecuted on federal
charges of *manufacturing and conspiracy to manufacture more than 100 marijuana
plants. Authorities confiscated all of the plants and medicine, and have
initiated asset forfeiture proceedings on their home and family farm. Sanderson
is currently out on bail and both he and Wiegand have agreed to accept plea
bargains.

When: Jan. 28th at 10:00am
Where: Before Judge Frank C. Damrell, Jr.
U.S. District Court (E.D., CA), 15th Floor
<http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?BFCat=&Pyt=Tmap&newFL=Use+Address+Below&ad dr=501+I+Street%2C+&csz=sacramento%2C+ca&country=u s&Get%A0Map=Get+Map>
501 "I" Street
<http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?BFCat=&Pyt=Tmap&newFL=Use+Address+Below&ad dr=501+I+Street%2C+&csz=sacramento%2C+ca&country=u s&Get%A0Map=Get+Map>
in Sacramento

For more information, contact Sonnet@AmericansforSafeAccess.org

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Special Event closer look

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*8. Save the Date: **April 4-5, 2008**: Patients Out of Time Fifth National
Conference

*Save the date for the Fifth National Patients Out of Time conference for April
4th and 5th. For more information and to register visit
www.MedicalCannabis.com/registration <http://www.MedicalCannabis.com>

The Patient Out of Time Conference will feature patients, activists, doctors,
and researchers gathering to discuss the latest research on medical marijuana.
This important conference only happens once every other year, so if you are a
patient, doctor, researcher, and/or supporter, we strongly encourage you to look
into attending the conference, which will be held at Asilomar Conference Center
in Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula.