Richard Alan Smith
1963-2012
Our Fearless Cannabis Soldier who lead a small yet extremely capable army to change the laws in a State that changed the views and conversations around the world for the medical use of cannabis.

Ric asked for permission to take his leave of the body that needed to rest. With heavy hearts, Rics family and friends helped him into everlasting peace. The last week has been filled with the evidence of what love is and can do for the soul.

The city of Seattle has a proposed ordinance that will restrict the production, processing, or dispensing of cannabis, cannabis products, or usable cannabis that involves more than 45 plants, 72 ounces of usable cannabis, or an amount of cannabis product that could reasonably be produced with 72 ounces of usable cannabis. The ordinance will create zones where multiple collectives are not allowed to operate in conjunction with any business establishment or dwelling units. All single family zones, all multifamily zones, NC1 Neighborhood comercial 1, Pioneer square mixed, international district mixed, Downtown harborfront 1 and 2, and Pike Market mixed will all be excluded zones for collectives over 45 plants and 72 ounces of usable cannabis.

Our thanks to member Cannabis Reverend who prepared this map. He has posted a map at http://cdc.coop/sites/default/files/smallzonemap.pdf showing the effect of the ordinance on the city of seattle Here is a key:

Red represents residential zones in the city that would be limited to one collective garden.
Green represents zones were you could locate multiple collective gardens up to 10,000 sqft total.
Orange is a mix of Neighborhood Commercial and may represent a property zone that is restricted to one collective garden.
Purple represents the downtown zones that may only house one collective garden

The map is not perfect and could use some help but conveys quite a message.

Here are some links to the city documents:

Cannabis Zoning Restrictions Report: http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/cms/groups/pan/@pan/@plan/@cannabis/documents...

Cannabis Zoning Restrictions Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/cms/groups/pan/@pan/@plan/@cannabis/documents...

Cannabis Zoning Restrictions DRAFT Ordinance: http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/cms/groups/pan/@pan/@plan/@cannabis/documents...

Cannabis Zoning Restrictions SEPA Checklist: http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/cms/groups/pan/@pan/@plan/@cannabis/documents...

Cannabis Zoning Restrictions SEPA Determination: http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/cms/groups/pan/@pan/@plan/@cannabis/documents...

Fager Trial Closes: Update from Steve Fager

"Well its finally done. Closing arguments were brilliantly presented by both attorney's Michael Haas and James Dixon. If any of you need a great attorney, they are absolutely the best. Jim's office is in Seattle and Mike's is in Port Townsend and Bainbridge Island. I can't thank them enough for the incredible job they did. We have given the Judge numerous reasons to grant our motion. We hope to get a ruling in the next couple of weeks.I want to thank all of the CDC members that made the huge effort to come across the water and support us. We are forever indebted. We will let you know when the decision comes in.

Again thank you all”.

Steve Fager


CDC Cleans the Highway

updated 10/14/2012

Thanks to all of you showed up on August 8th to help us clean our “Adopt a Highway” mile in Maple Valley. This is the 4th year we have worked to keep our mile of beautiful Maple Valley clear of trash. The State has replaced the missing sign on the northern end of our mile. Wonder why people would want to steal our sign???? Stay tuned for the next clean up date, which will be for our Adopt-a-Street, in Sodo/Pioneer Square. See the website for a picture of the southern sign directly in front of the Qwest Event Center and facing Safeco field. This has got to be the most visible “Cannabis” sign in the world. Help the community continue to keep a visible “Public Service” profile.

Cannabis Defense Coalition sponsored a debate about Initiative 502 on April 20, 2012 at Seattle City Hall. Nick Licata moderated the event, and the Seattle Channel recorded it for broadcast. Below is that recording.

Thursday is Cannabis College night.

This week our cannabis college presents Cloning and Genetic proliferation. In this class we will share information on cloning technique and will have a collective garden for a patient clone exchange. The class will be held at the Greenwood Cannabis Resource Center. Patients only please bring valid documentation and identification.

• What: Cloning and Genetic proliferation
• Who: Patients only with valid documentation
• When: Thursday, July 19, 2012 7-9pm
• Where: Cannabis Resource Center 519 N 85th Street Seattle, WA 98103
• Map: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=519+N+85th+Street+Seattle,+WA+98103&hnear...

Every Thursday night is Cannabis College Night at the Cannabis Resource Center. All classes are $20, with a $10 discount for CDC members, unless otherwise noted. For more information you can visit http://cdc.coop/college. If you have any ideas for classes, please let us know at http://cdc.coop/contact

Some members of the CDC have been working on a bill proposal for patient arrest protection. Citizen lobbying of the bill proposal will be critical, and we hope to have bipartisan support for cannabis patient arrest protection. On Wednesday night there will be a strategic planning event with nationally-recognized advocacy expert Nancy Amidei. Ms. Amidei taught at the University of Washington School of Social Work and is currently the director of the Civic Engagement Project, which helps non-profit organizations become more effective advocates. She served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Education and Welfare in the Jimmy Carter administration, and was also the director of a national anti-hunger group. This event is free, and will be held at Access 4 Washington Wednesday, June 13, 2012 at 7pm.

A copy of the June 10, 2012 version of the bill is available.

The City of Kent is voting on an ordinance to effectively ban medical cannabis access points within the city, and to ban collective gardens in most zones. The City Council meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at Kent City Hall. Kent has at least two medical cannabis access points at risk of city-sponsored raids, and those access points are praying that people stand up and be heard before the city calls in those raids.

* What: Kent medical cannabis moratorium vote
* When: June 5th, 2012, 7 p.m.
* Where: Kent City Hall, 220 4th Ave S, Kent, WA 98032
* Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=220+4th+Ave+S+98032
* Details for the previous hearing: http://www.kentreporter.com/news/150977755.html

The bulk of the agenda packet (pages 7-30) relates to medical cannabis, and can be found at:

* http://kentwa.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1676

Snohomish v. Sledge sentenced to 51 months

In 2010, medical cannabis patient Brian Sledge was raided in Everett after his teenage daughter informed school officials about his pot grow in retribution for parental discipline. Sledge and his wife Jenny were forced to turn their four children over to state Child Protective Services because of the raid. The judge in the case refused to allow a medical cannabis defense to be raised because four patients were growing together in the same house and collective gardens did not exist in law at that point. Brian unfortunately was convicted and was sentenced to 51 months on last Thursday afternoon. This injustice is another reason to rise up and fight for the freedom of cannabis and encourage people to do as Brian did and tell the judge and jury "NO PLEA FOR ME!". Brian was denied bail and was taken into custody immediately.

Jenny Sledge, Brian's wife has set up a fund to help her family with the many costs associated with defending against and being convicted of growing your own medicine. If one wishes to they may donate for Brian's Defense fund/family via their PayPal account sledgejenny1@gmail.com. He is going for a new trial and they should know soon if he will be able to get out on bail pending that trial.

Cannabis Defense Coalition meets the first non-holiday Monday of the month. Our next public meeting is Monday, June 4th, and will be held at 519 N 85th St, Seattle, WA 98103. The meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. and is open to the public.

* What: Cannabis Defense Coalition Monthly Session
* When: Monday, June, 4th, 2012, at 7:00 p.m.
* Where 519 N 85th St, Seattle, WA 98103
* Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=519+N+85th+St+98103

Free and open to the public; your presence is requested.

Audio archives from past meetings can be found at cdc.coop/session_audio. Meeting agendas are often here: http://cdc.coop/wiki/index.php/Meetings