Steph Sherer

As a medical marijuana patient advocate, I see the world through the eyes of a patient. Patient advocacy means integrating the patient into every part of society. Achieving this for medical cannabis patients requires addressing legal issues, creating criminal and civil protections and creating safe distribution models and regulations --...

Last night, the medical cannabis advocate community defeated a second anti-medical marijuana candidate in a state Attorney General race. In Oregon, Dwight Holton, a former US attorney, lost in a landslide after medical cannabis became a campaign issue. In 2010, we defeated Steve Cooley in a...

One month ago I traveled to California for an event in San Francisco. The morning before the event, I awoke to the news that the DEA was raiding Blue Sky, a dispensary in Oakland. It was heartening to see an outpouring of support for medical marijuana patients, but the dispensary...

In February, Oakland City Attorney John Russo asked the Obama Justice Department whether his city's plan to regulate large-scale medical marijuana cultivation would get the approval of the federal government. As expected, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag responded to Russo with a declarative "No!" Little did patient advocates realize,...

The federal government has maintained for decades, even over the objections of its own Administrative Law Judges, that marijuana (cannabis) is a dangerous drug with no medical value. However, something happened in March to draw attention not only to evidence of marijuana's beneficial effect on people living with...

This past November, Arizona became the 15th state to adopt a medical marijuana law. Even with medical marijuana laws in nearly a third of the country, ever-increasing scientific evidence of efficacy, and popular American support at over 80 percent, patients' rights are still threatened. As long as medical marijuana remains...

The most important race for medical marijuana patients in California on November 2nd is for the State Attorney General's office. The Republican candidate Steve Cooley is just "Not Cool" for patients and those who support medical marijuana. In fact, Cooley's not just bad for patients, he's also bad for the...