ACLU Sues Walmart

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart for the termination of a Michigan employee whose doctor verified his illness qualified for medical marijuana use.

Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, fired Joseph Casias in November 2009 after he failed an on-the-job injury-related drug test. Casias suffers from a rare form of cancer in his nasal cavity and brain, and he relied on his doctor's medical marijuana prescription to alleviate the daily pain. Casias is one of about 20,000 legal medical marijuana users in Michigan.

"Medical marijuana has had a life-changing positive effect for Joseph, but Wal-Mart made him pay a stiff and unfair price for his medicine," said Scott Michelman, staff attorney with the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project.

MORE at CNN.com >>

In an amazing coincidence, the same CA government that brought you SB420 to regulate medical marijuana now brings you Proposition 19, bearing the exact same name as the 1972 proposition to legalize marijuana.

I hope you saved your campaign buttons!

Here is a message from Richard Lee:

Friend,

I have some breaking news to share:

The Control & Tax Cannabis initiative was assigned proposition number 19 by the California Secretary of State.

This is a huge moment for our campaign -- and there's no better time than right now to make a contribution. Can you help us keep the momentum going and educate voters about our brand new prop number?

Please contribute $19 or more today to the Yes on 19 campaign -- and help us legalize marijuana in California!

When we officially got our proposition number, it really hit home for me: This campaign is now real. In four months, we'll be on the ballot, and millions of Californians will have the chance to vote to tax and legalize cannabis.

As we approach the election, we've got all the momentum. Whether you look on TV, Facebook, or in your community, it seems more and more folks realize we've got to seize this opportunity to legalize, control, and tax cannabis.

But do they all know yet that they can vote for it -- by voting YES on Prop 19 in November?

Chip in $19 or more today to the Yes on 19 campaign -- and help us educate voters about our new prop number.

I couldn't be more excited about our new prop number. Say it with me: Yes on 19!

http://www.TaxCannabis.org


Related: Richard Lee Wiki

PROP 19 - Today's News:

NAACP Endorses Proposition 19
The California State Conference of the NAACP was scheduled Tuesday to back Prop. 19, the November ballot initiative that would fully legalize marijuana in California, according to a statement from the Drug Policy Alliance.

"We are joining a growing number of medical professionals, labor organizations, law enforcement authorities, local municipalities, and approximately 56% of the public, in saying that it is time to decriminalize the use of marijuana," said Alice Huffman, president of the NAACP state conference.

More Here >>

Hazy pot policy prompts renewed talk about enforcement

Written by Ashley Archibald, The Union Democrat June 28, 2010 05:23 am

Local law enforcement officials and county leaders may finally be forced to clear up hazy policies related to medical marijuana use and distribution in Calaveras County.

The need for a coherent policy, according to medical marijuana advocates and authorities, comes as officials investigate a sting its officers performed on a medical-pot cooperative, a dispensary opens in Valley Springs, and a new sheriff prepares to take office.
Helping spur current debate was the January arrest of a medical-marijuana collective member Jay Smith, 36, of San Andreas, in the parking lot of a San Andreas Subway restaurant.
Medical-marijuana proponents claim Calaveras County Sheriff’s Department deputies crossed legal boundaries in setting up Smith for arrest.
According to testimony from Smith’s preliminary hearing, Deputy Steve Avila used a medical marijuana prescription — called a “recommendation” — taken from another man in an unrelated arrest to join Smith’s collective and buy marijuana.
A second Calaveras County deputy, Robert Huffman, then posed as the patient during a sting operation which resulted in Smith’s arrest.
The recommendation belonged to Robert Shaffer, of Ione. Deputies used Shaffer’s name and medical recommendation with one small change — Avila altered Shaffer’s date of birth by one digit.
He then called Smith at the K Care Alternative Collective, a medical marijuana collective based in San Andreas.
According to Avila’s testimony, he sent Shaffer’s medical information to Smith via the collective’s Web site in December 2009 and asked to join the collective.
Smith demurred until Shaffer’s identity could be verified through his doctor.
Two weeks later, Avila recontacted Smith to check on the status of his request. Smith, having verified Shaffer’s identity, agreed to sell the undercover deputy an ounce of “White Widow” marijuana for $270.
The sale occurred in the Subway parking lot. Deputy Huffman posed as Shaffer and initialed documents Smith brought that made him a member of the collective.
It wasn’t until money exchanged hands that Huffman executed what Avila referred to in his testimony as “the takedown signal.”
Undercover officers swarmed Smith, and arrested him on drug sales charges.
Since the arrest, the real Robert Shaffer has filed complaints with the Calaveras Grand Jury and California Attorney General’s Office.


More at the Union Democrat>>

Calaveras deputies' ethics questioned

By Dana M. Nichols

Stockton Record Staff Writer

June 09, 2010 12:00 AM

SAN ANDREAS - Jay Smith says Calaveras County is waging a war against medical marijuana and is doing so using unethical means.

Smith operates K Care Collective, a medical marijuana vendor. He and several others involved in medical marijuana pleaded for help this week from the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors.

Smith was arrested Jan. 4 on drug transportation and sales charges in the Valley Oaks Center parking lot in Valley Springs. He told supervisors he was tricked by a deputy who stole the identity of Robert Shaffer, a medical marijuana user from Ione.

Shaffer tells the same story, and says Deputy Steve Avila of the Calaveras County Sheriff's Department violated his privacy by using the document in the sting operation.

"I also fear my identity is being used in another of Avila's illegal ruses," Shaffer told the supervisors.

Dr. Philip A. Denney of Carmichael, who issued Shaffer's medical marijuana recommendation, said his office received a call from Smith, and that his staff confirmed that Shaffer had a valid medical marijuana recommendation, not knowing that someone else was using Shaffer's identity.

"It just smacks of entrapment and sleaziness to me. I think the cops have better things to do," Denney said. "It was completely deceptive, because they never did talk to me. They did not have Mr. Shaffer's authorization for any of this."

Full Story >>

Sheriff Dennis Downum said after Smith's appearance before the supervisors that the Sheriff's Department has no beef with legitimate medical marijuana users who follow the law.

"For you to provide medical marijuana to someone, there has to be a caregiver relationship," Downum said. "You are totally outside the guidelines when you are meeting somebody in a parking lot and selling them drugs."

Note by Calaveras Cannabis: The above statement by Sheriff Downum is completely inaccurate and at odds with the Attorney General's guidelines and existing case law.

Hopefully Sheriff Kuntz gains a little more insight on this subject.