Department of Justice attorneys filed six civil lawsuits to shut down several of California’s largest medical marijuana clubs. The lawsuits, announced by Northern California U.S. Attorney Michael Yamaguchi this past Friday, target the San Francisco Cannabis Cultivators’ Club, the Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Club, San Francisco Flower Therapy, the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, the Santa Cruz Cannabis Buyers’ Club, and the Ukiah Cannabis Buyers’ Club.
“California’s medical marijuana statute … has no effect on the applicability of federal drug laws,” Yamaguchi said. “The issue is not the medical use of marijuana; it is the persistent violation of federal law.”
California NORML Coordinator Dale Gieringer denounced the U.S. government’s action and proclaimed that the organization will do everything possible to support legal efforts to keep the clubs open. In addition, an emergency legal defense fund to help support medical marijuana patients, caregivers, and dispensaries against federal litigation has been established at The NORML Foundation.
“These federal lawsuits presents the greatest peril to medical marijuana patients [in recent memory,] Gieringer said. “These six clubs serve over 10,000 patients. To close them down now would be an intolerable public health and safety disaster.”
Gieringer said that the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution limit federal powers and protect Californians’ right to medical marijuana under Proposition 215. “The federal government is trying to turn the Constitution on its head,” he argued. “Nowhere does the Constitution give the federal government power to tell the states what kind of medicine their citizens may use.”
The clubs have 20 days to reply to the government’s lawsuits in court. Should the court grants the injunctions, the clubs will risk federal criminal charges if they continue to operate.
NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup, Esq. said that cannabis buyers’ clubs serve a vital role in the lives of many seriously ill Californians and called efforts to shut them down unconscionable.
“Cannabis buyers’ clubs remain the only viable source of medical marijuana in California short of home cultivation or purchasing marijuana on the street,” Stroup said. “To close these clubs would force thousands of seriously ill patients to suffer needlessly and force many patients to enter the black market or go without the medicine they need to survive.”
For more information, please contact either Tanya Kangas, Esq. of The NORML Foundation at (202) 483-8751 or Dale Gieringer of California NORML at (415) 563-5858. Those wishing to contribute to the Medical Marijuana Patients’ and Caregivers’ Fund may send donations to The NORML Foundation.