Citizen Lobbying Works

Do you remember AB 2312, a bill Assemblymember Tom Amminao (D-SF) in the California legislature last year? AB 2312 would have created a badly-needed regulatory framework for medical cannabis in California. The bill was ultimately withdrawn in the Senate by the Assemblymember, but something remarkable happened before then.

ASA Lobby Day

No one thought the bill had a chance of passing the Assembly. In fact, it was languishing in the Appropriations Committee “suspense file,” a place where bills often go to die. But then hundreds of medical cannabis patients, industry workers, and other stakeholders came to Sacramento on the same day last year to visit their representatives in almost every legislative office in the Capitol.

ASA’s first lobby day was a watershed moment for medical cannabis in California. Lawmakers and staff saw our community in a new light after we flexed some grassroots muscle that day – and they listened! The political establishment in Sacramento was shocked when, just a few days later, the grassroots support pulled AB 2312 out of suspense and through two tough votes in the Appropriations Committee and the full Assembly. No one thought a pro-medical cannabis bill would get that far in a hostile political climate, but ordinary citizen lobbyists working together made it happen.

We saw the same thing happen earlier this year, when a handful of dedicated activists rallied the base to stop a “drugged driving” bill that would have criminalized every cannabis and medical cannabis user in the state. Safe Access Sacramento and others brought speakers to committee hearings, visited lawmakers, wrote letters, and organized a peaceful protest to defeat the bill.

Citizen lobbying works. The researchers at the Congressional Management Foundation, experts of legislative advocacy, agree. Their 2011 survey, “Communicating with Congress,” determined that undecided Members of Congress are more likely to be swayed by concerned citizens who visit, write or call their offices than by the efforts of paid lobbyists. Don’t give in to the cynical belief that you cannot make a difference. Our experience and professional research show otherwise. Ordinary activists can make a big difference with elected officials!

It is time to do it again in California. We need to get more than one hundred patients and advocates back in the state Capitol for the California Summer Lobby Day on Monday, August 12, to support uniform statewide standards for medical cannabis. This is a chance to work together to make another big impact in the legislature. Get registered and meet me in Sacramento.

Reprinted with permission from Americans for Safe Access‘ Press Room.