Americans for Safe Access
(ASA)
Advancing Legal Medical Marijuana Therapeutics and
Research
Steph Sherer, Executive Director
Benjamin Bronfman
ASA’s Mission & Vision
The mission of Americans for Safe Access is to ensure safe
and legal access to cannabis (marijuana) for therapeutic
uses and research
 Ending discrimination
 Building on current means of access
 Building on the available therapeutic use of cannabis
 Creating safe, affordable and legal access models
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Obstacles to ASA’s Goals I
 Federal law:
 Marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug; “no accepted medical
value”
 State law:
 Criminal and civil penalties
 Public confusion of recreational vs. medical use
 Pervasive stigma and discrimination create
roadblocks to public advocacy
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Obstacles to ASA’s Goals II
 Doctors fearful due to lack of education and product
information
 Issue bias – the “third rail issue”
 Immature industry
 Only average of $4million/year spent on advocacy
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Moving Issue Forward – Plans for the
Future I
 Gain mainstream buy-in
 Regulate medical cannabis production like herbal
medicine industry
 Regulate medical cannabis distribution like restricted
medical devices
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Moving Issue Forward – Plans for the
Future II
 Pass more state laws
 Change federal marijuana scheduling
 Pass federal legalization allowing states to regulate
production and distribution
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State of the States
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New ASA Campaign:
Alignment with CAM Movement
 Goal: To change public perception and ‘legitimize’
cannabis for therapeutic use
 Providing credibility and professionalism to world of
medical cannabis
 Complementary or Alternative Medicine (CAM) is
already an established and regulated movement in US
 40% of Americans utilize CAM in their treatment regimens
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Partnership with American Herbal
Products Association (AHPA)
 Working together to create ‘recommendations for
regulators’ in the areas of:




Manufacturing, packaging and labeling
Analytics
Dispensary operations
Cultivation practices
 Opportunity to create a sustaining revenue source
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ASA Certification Program
 Create a recognizable ‘certification’ program based
on AHPA guidelines
 Promote the certification to governments, consumers
and doctors
 Use as public education tool
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Impact of Campaign & Program
 Improve education to policymakers, doctors, and
regular people alike
 Reduce stigma around medical cannabis
 Broaden institutional support for ASA’s policy agenda
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Invest in the Future
AHPA ‘recommendations’ will be ready to launch midJuly, ASA is seeking 326k to:
 Position ASA to better harness new exposure
 Create and implement a powerful media strategy
 Hire the staff needed to implement the certification
program
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ASA Expenses and Revenue Projections on Per Month Basis
$600,000.00
$500,000.00
Dolllar
$400,000.00
Expenses
$300,000.00
Revenue
$200,000.00
$100,000.00
$Month
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Start Up Costs
Paid media ,
$30,000.00
Retainers Inspectors contracted,
$20,000.00
Project Director (6 months
salary) , $40,000.00
Logistics Coordinator (6 months) ,
$20,000.00
Hotline operator (6 months) , $15,000.00
GR (6 months) , $60,000.00
ASA admin (6 months) , $30,000.00
ASA overhead , $36,000.00
PR support (6
months) ,
$30,000.00
Promotional
website and
materials
created,
$35,000.00
Start Up Costs Total to $326,000
Hotline number created ,
Equipment , $9,000.00 $1,000.00
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Thank You!
Americans for Safe Access
www.americansforsafeaccess.org
Headquarters
1322 Webster Street,
Suite 402
Oakland, CA 94612
Phone: (510) 251-1856
Fax: (510) 251-2036
National Office
1806 Vernon Street NW,
1st Floor
Washington, DC 20009
Phone: (202) 857-4272
Fax: (202) 857-4273
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