ASA Responds in LA - Needs Your Support

Dear ASA Supporter,

This week, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raided eleven medical
cannabis collectives in Los Angeles and West Hollywood. Medication was
confiscated and patients were left without safe access once again. This a grim
reminder of recent raids in San Diego, Modesto, San Francisco, and other
California cities – and another major escalation in the federal attack on safe
access. Americans Safe Access (ASA) needs your help to fight this continuing
injustice.

What was different in Los Angeles this time was the remarkable grassroots and
media reaction to the raids. In less than one hour, protesters were gathering
in front of a popular San Fernando Valley collective. In West Hollywood, a
separate group of protesters gathered at a major intersection where three
simultaneous collective raids were under way. The ASA media team leapt into
action, sending reporters to the demonstrations and organizing a press
conference at West Hollywood City Hall – all before the DEA could even load the
stolen medicine into vans!

Our press releases were out before the DEA’s, and our spokespeople were on the
news statewide making sure these raids were reported from the patients’
perspective, not from the DEA’s. The patients’ protests, not the DEA lies, were
the story. Evidence of how effective this strategy was could be seen as far up
the media chain as the conservative talk show The O’Reilly Factor. Who would
have ever guessed that cable news reporter and mouthpiece of the Right Bill
O’Reilly would be on TV with me criticizing the DEA and calling for regulation
of collectives? I could not believe my ears when I heard Bill O’Reilly say that
he knows cannabis helps people!

Rapid response demonstrations and effective media work are only a part of what
ASA does – but it is a crucial part. Most Americans get their news from mass
broadcast media. That means they are making up their minds about medical
cannabis based on whet they see on network news or cable news programs like The
O’Reilly Factor.

In addition to responding to DEA raids like these, ASA provides legal training
for and medical information to patients, attorneys, health and medical
professionals and policymakers throughout the United States. We also organize
media support for court cases, and capacity building for advocates. Our
successful lobbying, media and legal campaigns have resulted in important court
precedents, new sentencing standards, and more compassionate community
guidelines.

We know you support this work, and we need your continued support to keep doing
it. Our tax money paid for these DEA raids; our donations to ASA will help stop
them!
Many of you have given generously to ASA in the past. We need you to renew your
commitment today. Some of you have been thinking about joining ASA. Now is the
time. I would like to ask everyone to take a moment right now to make a
sustaining monthly pledge to defending safe access. Your monthly pledge of $10,
$25, $50, or even $100 will let us know we have the resources to keep fighting
for you! Please visit
https://secure.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/asa/shop/custom.jsp?dona
te_page_KEY=1769&t=donate.dwt right now and make your pledge. We will put it to
work in the campaign for safe access today!

Thanks again for your support and assistance!

Sincerely,
Steph Sherer
Executive Director

________________________________________

Medical marijuana raids are criticized
by Tami Abdollah, Los Angeles Times
A day after agents raided 11 Los Angeles County marijuana dispensaries, local
officials and residents complained Thursday that the federal government was
trampling on state laws that allow the cultivation and sale of marijuana for
medical uses. "In truth, what people all over the state are saying is they want
dispensaries regulated. That's not the same as saying we want them closed
down," said Steph Sherer, executive director of Americans for Safe Access.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=4034

WeHo demonstrators protest pot raids
by Tami Abdollah, Los Angeles Times
About 100 people demonstrated outside West Hollywood City Hall this morning,
protesting a series of federal raids that shut 11 outlets for medical marijuana
in the county. "There are hundreds of thousands of patients in California who
need safe and reliable access to a medication that their doctors recommend they
use and these raids are an example of the federal government going out of its
way to interfere with the lives of patients," said Steph Sherer, founder of
Americans for Safe Access, a national advocacy group for medical marijuana use,
based in Oakland.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=4047

Activists Rally As Feds Raid Medical Marijuana Clinics
by City News Service, NBC 4 TV (LA)
About 100 people demonstrated outside West Hollywood City Hall Thursday to
protest Wednesday's federal raids on 11 medical marijuana dispensaries in Los
Angeles County, organizers said. William Dolphin, a spokesman for the
Oakland-based pro-medical marijuana group Americans for Safe Access, said the
gathering was an "angry and concerned protest."
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=4044

Medical pot dealers protest
by Rachel Uranga, Los Angeles Daily News
On Wednesday, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration raided 11 medical
marijuana clinics, seizing 5,700 pounds of pot and shaking up the pro-cannabis
community. "It looks like what they are trying to do is intimidate and use fear
to shut down the collectives," said Don Duncan, the Southern California
coordinator for Americans for Safe Access, a cannabis advocacy
grouphttp://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=4042

Medical Marijuana Activists To Protest Raids
by Associated Press, KFSN ABC 30 (LA)
Medical marijuana advocates plan to demonstrate outside West Hollywood City
Hall this morning, after raids by federal agents shut down eleven outlets
around L.A. County. Medical marijuana advocate Steph Sherer denounced the DEA
for denying seriously ill patients access to marijuana that they consider
medicinehttp://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=4040

Federal Agents Raid 11 Medical Marijuana Clinics
by City News Service, KNX 1070 (LA)
Medical marijuana advocates plan to demonstrate outside West Hollywood City
Hall in the wake of Drug Enforcement Administration raids that shut down 11
outlets around Los Angeles countyhttp://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=4039

Feds Raid 5 Of 7 Medical Marijuana Clinics In WeHo
by CBS and the Associated Press, CBS 2 TV (LA)
Federal agents raided five of the seven medical marijuana dispensaries in West
Hollywood Wednesday, along with six others throughout Los Angeles County,
authorities said. Supporters of the medical marijuana dispensaries said they
plan to stage a protest at West Hollywood City Hall tomorrow to condemn the
raidshttp://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=4046

Agents Raid West Hollywood Marijuana Dispensaries
by NBC 4 and City News Service, NBC 4 TV (LA)
Federal agents on Wednesday raided five of the seven medical marijuana
dispensaries in West Hollywood, a city councilman said. "The DEA continues to
say that they are not going after patients," said Steph Sherer, executive
director of Americans for Safe Access. "But every time they raid a medical
cannabis dispensary, hundreds of the most seriously ill lose their access to
medicine. http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=4045


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-

/*Americans for Safe Access *is the nation's largest organization of patients,
medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and
legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research./

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

* Special Membership Offer! *

Join today for $35 and receive your ASA Lapel
pin!<http://www.safeaccessnow.org/donate>

Make a gift of $50 or more and receive your new ASA
T-shirt<http://www.safeaccessnow.org/donate>

Click Here to request more information about ASA
<http://www.safeaccessnow.org/requestinfo>


On the Web:
* Join ASA <http://www.safeaccessnow.org/donate>
* Legal Info <http://www.safeaccessnow.org/section.php?id=100>
* Join ASA Email Lists <http://www.safeaccessnow.org/emaillists>
* Take Action <http://www.safeaccessnow.org/takeaction>
* Condition-Based Booklets <http://www.safeaccessnow.org/conditionbooklets>
* Join a Patients Union <http://www.safeaccessnow.org/section.php?id=80>
* Medical Marijuana News Summaries
<http://www.safeaccessnow.org/section.php?id=122>
* ASA's Campaigns <http://www.safeaccessnow.org/campaigns>
* ASA's Mission <http://www.safeaccessnow.org/section.php?id=129>


Americans for Safe Access
1322 Webster Street, Ste. 402
Oakland, CA 94612
Phone: 510-251-1856
Fax: 510-251-2036
Email us! <mailto:info [at] safeaccessnow.org>