Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project 760.799.2055

Hello Supporters,

This is one of the most difficult, frustrating and even heart wrenching emails I have ever written as there will be another delay in the opening of the Collective, but trying to get everything right before opening is proving to be way more complex and problematic that I ever imagined.

Everyone is very excited about the idea of having a Collective open using a farmer’s market model for distribution of medicinal marijuana to members. It is definitely fully complaint with state law, provides patients who grow the opportunity to recoup some of the expenses of growing, works to bring the cost of medicine down and certainly fosters a sense of community.

The optimism that this collective model has inspired in many patients has been wonderful to behold. It is very gratifying that so many people have come down and volunteered their time to get the Collective up and running. Patients need access to their medicine reliably, safely, locally and affordably and the Collective is a sincere attempt to try and make that a reality in the Inland Empire.

Outside of a patient growing their own, and even that is fraught with problems, any kind of distribution system of marijuana is controversial. This controversy has become the newest media sensation with newspapers running front page stories across the nation from the New York Times to the Los Angeles Times including our local papers the Press Enterprise, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and the San Bernardino Sun.

The health benefits of marijuana are significant and this is not news to most of you reading this email. Although you know how beneficial it is to your health, the general public is only vaguely aware that it is beneficial and I imagine they are bewildered by this mountain of controversy. Patients are bewildered too as the law is in a state of flux changing almost daily with different court opinions, government pronouncements and elected officials pontifications.

Our collective is trying to open up in the middle of this almost perfect storm and it makes navigating very difficult. We have to be mindful of the public’s perception and right now I am not sure that perception is positive mainly due to the problems in Los Angeles with the proliferation of collectives where there are at least 600 and maybe as many as 1,000 operating collectives.

A number of these are former dispensaries that have reorganized as collectives to comply with changes and refinements of the law. Considering all the problems and uncertainties that are part of any collective operation, why so many people want to run a collective is mind-boggling. It certainly can’t be the money as collectives must be not-for-profit so although a collective operator can certainly pay themselves a good salary, they should not be able to buy a Lexus for cash.

Law enforcement, which for the most part has always been opposed to medicinal use of marijuana, is using the money angle as their newest weapon to challenge the legitimacy of medicinal marijuana. Claiming that all collectives are profit making enterprises and that the exchange of any money is verboten, they are attempting to close down collectives using both criminal and civil prosecutions.

The one bright side of this is that everyone seems to agree that individual patients growing their own medicine is legitimate. In the Inland Empire we have had numerous accounts of patients who grow their own having encounters with police and being left alone after police verified they were legal patients.

That is a significant improvement over the former arrest and prosecute philosophy that use to be par for the course for Inland Empire law enforcement. There is even progress being made in Riverside County with the Sheriff’s Department on recognizing collective grows, but just how that is going to turn out remains to be seen.

Unfortunately, most patients cannot grow their own medicine and they must rely on some kind of distribution system to obtain it. Many continue to obtain their marijuana the old fashioned way – they buy it from criminals. More and more are opting to obtain their marijuana from what they see as legitimate sources whether it be from collectives with store front operations or from local delivery services.

As more and more people rediscover the health benefits of cannabis use, the number of legal patients is increasing almost exponentially. The estimates of the number of legal patients in California now range from 300,000 to half a million. To provide medicinal marijuana to that large a population is going to require a distribution system of significant size, but rather than a coordinated and well reasoned response, we get a hodgepodge of ordinances, bans and moratoriums.

SB 420 was supposed to solve this problem as it specifically stated that the intent of the legislation was to “promote uniform and consistent application of the act among the counties within the state” and “enhance the access of patients and caregivers to medical marijuana through collective, cooperative cultivation projects.” That this has not happened is apparent and the fault lies both with patients and our elected officials.

Most patients have not been involved in working to solve this problem. This should not be surprising as most people are not involved in solving any of the problems that beset us today whether it is the environmental crisis of global warming, the financial meltdown of our economy or the high cost of health care. People are aware of the problems and how it affects them, but they don’t become active to solve them. They just get on with their lives as best they can and sit on the sidelines and watch what unfolds.

Although we might hope to expect more from our local elected officials, they have for the most part chosen to bury their heads in the sand. Whether it is municipalities passing bans and moratoriums so that no one can open up or doing nothing while collectives multiply like rabbits, the situation has become intolerable for patients and the general public.

This what makes opening our collective so difficult. Unlike operating any other business, be it for profit or non-profit, it is very difficult to obtain all needed government permits and licenses when what you are trying to open is in legal limbo land. This is especially critical when one is also concerned that law enforcement is looking for any excuse to squash any kind of medical marijuana distribution system.

When I first started the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project in December 1999, the major goal was to stop the arrest of medical marijuana patients. Back then if a patient had any encounter with police, they were arrested, their medicine confiscated, jailed and prosecuted. With the advent of the ID card program and the recent string of court victories, individual patients no longer have to fear arrest or seizure of their medicine.

Access to medicinal marijuana has now become the focal point and although progress has been made, it is very apparent that there is a long, long way to go. Those who provide access to patients are still being arrested, their medicine confiscated, jailed and prosecuted. It is impossible to open up a collective without this Damocles sword of fear hanging over our collective heads and trying to minimize the situation is daunting and full of pitfalls.

Those of us who are working to get the Collective opened in Riverside are mindful of these problems and are doing our best to come up with solutions that are realistic and effective. It is our freedom that is on the line here and I hope you understand the caution and care we must take in opening the collective – especially one with a new model of distribution that has never been tried before. In one form or another, we will get this Collective open, but we ask for your patience and understanding while we navigate through these uncertain and potentially treacherous waters.

Lanny