The Oakland City Council has unanimously passed a resolution (#72516) endorsing Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-Mass.) federal medical marijuana legislation, supporting the activities of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Club, and declaring the arrest of individuals involved with the medical use of marijuana to be a low priority for the city of Oakland.
The main points of the resolution are as follows:
- Marijuana has been shown to help pain and discomfort in people suffering from a variety of illnesses including AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, and chronic pain when no other medications have been effective.
- The illegal purchase of marijuana by people already suffering with chronic illnesses subjects them to further suffering in the form of potential arrest and prosecution.
- The Oakland Cannabis Buyer’s Club provides a way for patients needing to purchase marijuana for medical use to do so with greater ease and less risk of arrest and prosecution.
- The City of Oakland wishes to declare its desire not to expend City resources in any investigation, detention, arrest, or prosecution arising out of alleged violations of state and federal law regarding the possession, cultivation, and/or distribution of marijuana for medical use.
- The Oakland City Council authorizes the City Manager to instruct the City’s federal lobbyist to work in support of H.R. 2618 — a bill in Congress that would amend the federal law to allow a physician to legally prescribe marijuana as a therapeutic agent to seriously ill patients.
For more information on Oakland City Council resolution #72516, please contact Attorney Robert A. Raich at (510) 420-1137. For more information on the Oakland Cannabis Buyer’s Club please contact Jeff Jones at (510) 832-5346.