LOS ANGELES – California State Assembly Member Tom Ammiano’s proposed legislation putting the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control in charge of the State’s medical cannabis collectives has come under fire by patient advocates stating the bill, AB 473, has forgotten The Compassionate Use Act. The bill heads to the California Assembly’s public safety committee for a hearing on Tuesday, April 16, 2013, at 9 a.m. PST.“This bill sends a confusing message to patients and communities by expecting patient collectives and compassion centers to be more like bars or night clubs,” states Degé Coutee, president of Patient Advocacy Network, a charitable education and advocacy organization for medical cannabis patients. “Lobbyists have fabricated a ‘medical marijuana wild west’ in California and Ammiano’s bill wants to see it come true,” Coutee continues.
San Francisco patient activists in Ammiano’s District 17 called his office last week as well as members of the public safety committee to voice concerns about the bill. Shona Gochenaur, director of Axis of Love SF, a community center providing social service programs to low-income, disabled medical cannabis patients in San Francisco. “Patient activists were told by Ammiano’s staff they had already met with key stakeholders. The primary stakeholder is the patient. The California model should be health and compassion based not about for-profit, marijuana mega stores,” states Gochenaur.
Elise Cleveland, former co-chair of the San Francisco Medical Cannabis Taskforce
Patient Advocate Committee and peer HIV consultant with women of color is confused by the proposal and fears a lack of accountability to voter-approved Proposition 215. “So many HIV activists devoted their time and energy to pass Proposition 215, because our lives and wellness depended upon access to medical marijuana and our providers having a legal defense,” states Cleveland. “Why would Assemblyman Ammiano want this?," she asks.