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refuses to acknowledge medical uses for cannabis, has meant that Americans have turned to state-based solutions. The laws vot- ers and legislators have passed are intended to mitigate the effects of the federal govern- ment's prohibition on medical cannabis by allowing qualified patients to use it without state or local interference. Beginning with California in 1996, voters passed initiatives in eight states plus the District of Columbia -- Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. State legislatures followed suit, with elected officials in Hawaii, Maryland, Rhode Island, and Vermont taking action to protect patients from criminal penal- ty, and the California legislature amending its voter initiative in 2003. Momentum for these state-level provisions for compassionate use and safe access has contin- ued to build as more research on the thera- peutic uses of cannabis is published. And the public advocacy of well-known cannabis patients such as the Emmy-winning talkshow host Montel Williams has also increased public awareness and created political pressure for compassionate state and local solutions. Twice in the past decade the U.S. Supreme Court has taken up the question. In the most recent case, Gonzales v. Raich, a split court upheld the ability of federal officials to prose- cute patients if they so choose, but did not overturn state laws. In the wake of that deci- sion, the attorneys general of California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Colorado all issued legal opinions or statements reaffirming their state's medical cannabis laws. The duty of state and local law enforcement is to the enforcement and implementation of state, not federal, law. HISTORY OF MEDICAL CANNABIS IN CALIFORNIA Local officials and voters in California have recognized the needs of medical cannabis patients in their communities and have taken action, even before voters made it legal in 1996. In 1991, 80% of San Francisco voters supported Proposition P, a ballot initiative which recommended anon-enforcement poli- cy for the medical use, cultivation and distri- bution of marijuana. In 1992, citing both the interests of their constituency and the endorsement of therapeutic use by the California Medical Association, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors adopted a res- olution urging the mayor and district attorney to accept letters from recommending physi- cians (Resolution No. 141-98). In 1993, the Sonoma Board of Supervisors approved a res- olution mirroring a Senate Joint Resolution passed earlier that year, noting that a UN committee had called for cannabis to be made available by prescription and calling on "Federal and State representatives to support returning [cannabis] preparations to the list of available medicines which can be prescribed by licensed physicians" (Resolution No. 93-1547). Since 1996 when 56% of California voters approved the Compassionate Use Act (CUA), public support for safe and legal access to medical cannabis has only increased. A statewide Field poll in 2004 found that "three in four voters (74%) favors implementation of the law. Voter support for the implementa- tion of Prop. 215 cuts across all partisan, ideo- logical and age subgroups of the state." (field.com/fieldpol Ionl ine/subscri bers/RIs2105.pdf) Even before the release of that Field poll, state legislators recognized that there is both strong support among voters for implement- ing the safe and legal access promised by the Compassionate Use Act (CUA) and little direc- tion as to how local officials should proceed. This led to the drafting and passage of Senate Bill 420 in 2003, which amended the CUA to spell out more clearly the obligations of local officials for implementation. WHAT IS A CANNABIS DISPENSARY? The majority of medical marijuana (cannabis) patients cannot cultivate their medicine for themselves or find a caregiver to grow it for them. Most of California's estimated 200,000 patients obtain their medicine from a Medical For more information, see vwvw_AmencansForSafeAaess.org or contact [he ASA office at 1-888-929-4367 or 510-251-1856_ 4