MediCann Supports Efforts to Keep Safe Access for San Diego Medical Cannabis Patients

Online, March 23, 2011 (Newswire.com) - MediCann announces its support of the Stop the Ban Campaign in San Diego and invites all members of the community to support the campaign to keep dispensaries open in San Diego. The City Council of San Diego is making a crucial decision on March 28th that could potentially negatively impact patients' access to medicine and treatment, by closing down all dispensaries in the City of San Diego. This action not only denies patients access to healthcare, putting their treatment in jeopardy, but puts the livelihood of as well as hundreds of medical marijuana industry employees at risk of losing their jobs. The economic impact of this decision due to lost tax revenue created by the medical cannabis industry could be significant.

The Issue: On March 28th at 2pm the San Diego City Council will be voting on an ordinance, that if approved, will close every legal medical cannabis dispensary in the city without the ability to reopen.

"I hope that the San Diego City Council shows compassion and considers the real ongoing needs of the many
law-abiding patients who choose medical cannabis as a legitimate treatment option."
- Dr. Mark L. Rabe, MediCann's Director of Health Services

... MediCann with its history of providing responsible, alternative healthcare therapies, including medical cannabis consultations, is an ideal coalition partner for this project. Invite your members and patients to join us in our efforts to protect patients from a city government that seeks to dismiss their very real need for safe access to medication as being unimportant. - Tres Watson, Canvass for A Cause

KEY ISSUES

• To take a stand for responsible and alternative medical care: On March 28th at 2pm the San Diego City Council will be voting on an ordinance, that if approved, will close every legal medical cannabis dispensary in the city without the ability to reopen. Without safe, legal access to medical cannabis, San Diego's most vulnerable patient-residents that have found pharmaceutical treatments unsuccessful would be forced to look elsewhere for relief from debilitating disease such as arthritis, cancer and AIDS. With an estimated 70,000 medical cannabis patients in San Diego County, this will have a lasting effect on San Diego and California, and the health and welfare of its residents.

• Patients First: San Diego's most sick and vulnerable patients will suffer if this ordinance passes. Although it's not clear what the City Council's reasoning is here, it could stem from the erroneous perception that medical marijuana use and recreational marijuana use are one in the same (and that dispensaries are part of the 'recreational drug problem'). The facts: Dispensaries exist to provide medicine to patients who carry medical marijuana cards and have been diagnosed with a condition for which they need medication. Instead of shutting down these establishments, perhaps San Diego should instead try to regulate these businesses to provide professional, health-oriented organizations to meet the thousands of patients in San Diego who benefit from medical cannabis. Do not attack the patients for misguided practices and marketing methods.

• Outcome: If this restrictive ordinance passes as currently written it would threaten the quality of life for some of the most vulnerable members of our community-medical cannabis patients, as well as deny safe access to their medicine.

• Economic Forecast: the loss of hundreds of jobs from the closing of legitimate businesses will have an economic impact not only on the employees of these establishments but also on the City of San Diego due to lost tax revenues.

FOLLOW MEDICANN

Follow: Facebook: MediCannInc
Twitter: @MediCAnn
YouTube: MediCannVideo
Site: http://www.medicann.com/
MediCann's Blog: http://medicann.wordpress.com/

Stop the Ban SD - Stop the Ban is campaign by Canvass for a Cause, a San Diego based non-profit that runs voter persuasion and public education efforts to help build support for important human rights issues ranging from the fight for marriage equality, to cannabis law reform, and other important progressive issues. Stop the Ban is a very important project that will affect the quality of life of thousands of people in San Diego, and could have long lasting impacts in municipalities across the state. http://www.stopthebansd.org http://www.canvassforacause.org

Contact: Stop the Ban SD: Eugene Davidovich, 619-775-2093
Canvass for a Cause: Tres Waton, Executive Director - 3705 10th Ave # 3 - San Diego CA 92103 -
619-630-7750

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