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KMCN history and volunteers
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Est. August 2009 |
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The Kansas Medical Cannabis Network was initiated in August 2009 by cheryl riley of Potwin. A prospective patient herself, riley had accepted a position as Kansas Director for the American Alliance for Medical Cannabis, a national medical cannabis organization. This led to the creation of this group.
After building and launching this website, riley sent an introductory message to contacts of the former Kansas Compassionate Care Coalition (KSCCC) to announce the creation of KMCN. Among the responses she received were a few from fellow volunteers for KSCCC who willingly became co-conspirators, and this loose-knit, informal cadre of advocates began working together to advance the medical cannabis cause in Kansas. When work on this project began riley did not foresee pursuing legislation before perhaps 2012. Her primary goal was to provide a primary place for everyone in Kansas interested in medical cannabis to find solid information and resources, and possibly to connect with one another to further the common goal.
History:
Several weeks later when KMCN chairman, Dan Dawdy, called from Topeka to inform riley that Rep Finney had that very day introduced HB 2610, or the Medical Marijuana Act, into the Kansas House riley was dumbfounded! The time for ACTION had suddenly arrived and caught her completely off guard. Several great volunteers had contacted KMCN by then, so the group sprang into action in the hope that HB2610 would receive a hearing before the close of the 2010 legislative session. After much uncertainty and dithering, Representative Brenda Landwehr (R-Wichita), chairwoman of the Kansas House Health and Human Services Committee, suddenly decided to give KMCN an "informational hearing," wherein members of the group would be allowed to present their testimony without rebuttal from opponents. On St Patrick's Day, 2010, in a packed hearing room (and hall) in the Docking State Office Building the group gathered and one by one presented their carefully prepared statements. Despite the group's excellent efforts, HB2610 did not progress any further during the 2010 legislative session. The 2011 bill is HB2330, but given the disastrous state of the state budget, we do not expect legislative action this year. We are determined, however, to repeat the process until it works. If you know of someone who needs medical cannabis, please tell them about this group.
Updated 11/22/2011
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Who Is KMCN?
We are an informal, grassroots group of advocates voluntarily working together for Kansas patients. We are not a formal non-profit group. We operate out of our own pockets plus any donations collected at outreach events. Donations are not tax-deductible.
We have appointed "officers" among ourselves as follows:
Meeting Info We have apparently overestimated the number of people who are willing to step up to bring medical cannabis to patients in our fair state. For this reason, we are doing away with local teams and meetings and concentrating instead on getting our speakers out to talk about MC and make presentations to small and medium-sized local groups such as Lions Clubs and other civic groups, church and senior groups, etc. If you are a member of or know of a group that might be interested in learning more about medical cannabis, please contact us at info@medcankan.org or 620-752-3280 and we'll see what we can put together. |
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home | about KMCN | FAQ | legislative info | MC links | newspaper links | patients' stories | printed materials | writing to editors | contact |
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