Longtime cannabis activist Kathleen Chippi wants the state to agree that using medical marijuana is a constitutional right.

She also wants to see all criminal penalties removed for marijuana use — medical, or not — and the rules medical marijuana dispensaries must follow eased.

Saturday and Sunday, she used her shop to host a Cannabis Yard Sale and Swap Meet. The yard sale is the start of an ongoing fundraising effort, she said. The sale was a fundraiser and education effort, both for legal action against the state and the 2012 Colorado campaign to legalize marijuana. The goal was to raise $500.

The Patient and Caregivers Rights Litigation Project is a group of Colorado medical marijuana patients and caregivers unhappy with state laws. The law that regulates medical marijuana dispensaries requires dispensary owners to “give up their constitutional right to be a caregiver,” according to the group.

The law also creates a tracking system that violates patients’ rights to confidentiality, the group says.

Chippi said she closed her dispensary a year ago rather than meet the requirement of installing a video surveillance system that would be accessible to law enforcement. The letter sent by the state requiring her to register if she wanted to keep her business open threatened a $10,000 fine, she said.

“I followed all the rules,” she said. “I did nothing wrong. It’s shocking.”

As customers browsed the wares Sunday, they talked about the politics of pot.

Tammy, who declined to give her last name, brought several items to donate to the sale. She said she’s concerned about those who need medical marijuana, but can’t afford it.

“A lot of what’s been happening hasn’t been supporting those truly in need,” she said.

Items for sale, all donated, included jewelry, clothes, art, tools, books and housewares. A tie-dye shirt that drew laughs from customers had a slogan that read “Yes, I’m a local. No, I won’t get you a bag.”

While sales were slow Sunday afternoon, those who stopped all were supportive of the cause.

Nederland was the state’s second municipality to legalize marijuana, through a ballot issue approved last year. Still, it was largely a symbolic gesture because state laws continue to penalize non-medical marijuana use.

Laura Kriho, director of the Cannabis Therapy Institute and one of the sale’s organizers, said getting involved in politics is key.

“Every industry knows you have to be involved in your industry’s politics, or someone else will write the policies,” she said. “For us, the police are writing the policy. We should write our own law and make it so the state can’t subvert it.”