Re: Act To Protect Medical Marijuana Patients Now!

John Ashcroft's Justice Department continues to spend millions of
dollars arresting cancer, AIDS, and MS patients who use medical
marijuana - even in states where access to medical marijuana is legal.

Congress intends to vote on an amendment Wednesday or Thursday that
would stop the Ashcroft outfit from arresting the terminally ill and
people in pain who use medical marijuana on the recommendation of a
doctor.

This is one of the critical votes on reform of drug laws and policies
in this Congress, and support for the amendment continues to grow. At
least ten of our organization's activists are working on the ground
with the Drug Policy Alliance, the Marijuana Policy Project, and NORML
to garner support for the amendment, and tens of thousands will
benefit from its enactment. Please act to protect medical marijuana
patients and their providers!

ACTIONS TO TAKE:

1) FAX YOUR REPRESENTATIVE for free:
http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=19658&ms=hincheyssdp

2) PHONE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE for free

- Log on to http://www.house.gov to identify your Representative.

- Call the Capitol Switchboard at 1.800.839.5276 to be connected to
your Representative.

- Tell the staffer who answers the phone that you want your
Representative to support the Hinchey/Rohrabacher amendment that the
House will offer to the Commerce Justice Spending bill this week. The
amendment would stop the Justice Department from wasting human and
monetary resources on the arrest and prosecution of cancer, AIDS, and
MS patients who use marijuana as a medicine on the recommendation of a
doctor. To vote yes is to protect patients and save our country's
citizens money.

3) FORWARD THIS ALERT to friends and family!

MORE INFORMATION:

Responding to growing conflict between the states and the federal
government over the issue of medical marijuana, Rep. Hinchey (D-NY)
and Rep. Rohrabacher (R-CA) will again offer an amendment to the
Commerce-Jusitce-State spending bill that would prevent the U.S.
Justice Department from undermining state efforts to provide
terminally ill and chronic pain patients access to doctor- recommended
medical marijuana. The amendment would prohibit the Justice Department
from spending any money on arresting or prosecuting medical marijuana
patients in states where medical marijuana is legal. 152 members of
Congress voted for a similar amendment last year.

Since 1996, 11 states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii,
Maine, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington) have adopted
medical marijuana laws. The U.S. Justice Department, however,
continues to spend millions of dollars arresting medical marijuana
patients and their caregivers - even in states where medical marijuana
is legal. At a time when violent drug cartels remain at large and
threats of terrorism continue to emerge, it is irresponsible for the
Justice Department to jeopardize public safety by wasting scarce law
enforcement resources conducting raids on hospice centers and medical
marijuana patients.

The Hinchey-Rohrabacher medical marijuana amendment would not prevent
the Justice Department from arresting people using, growing, or
selling marijuana for recreational use. Nor would it prevent the
Justice Department from arresting medical marijuana patients in the
states that have not approved the drug for this use. It simply
prevents the federal government from arresting cancer, AIDS and MS
patients that use marijuana for medical reasons in states that have
adopted medical marijuana laws.

Substantial majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents
support medical marijuana. A 2001 Pew Research Center poll found that
73% of Americans support medical marijuana. A 2002 Time/CNN poll found
that 80% of Americans support it. The Institute of Medicine has
determined that nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety "all can be
mitigated by marijuana." Allowing cancer, AIDS, and MS patients legal
access to medical marijuana is supported by the American Nurses
Association, American Public Health Association, American Bar
Association, the Whitman-Walker Clinic, and Kaiser Permanente, among
other groups.

 

How I wish I was old enough to vote right now...

 

and if it helps with all these diseases, it cant be as damn bad as the DEA says, obviously.

 

Marijuana is still schedule I in the U.S., which means it has no registered medical use...

 

which is complete bullshit. off the top of my head I can name 3 medical uses:

it can bring back the appetite for AIDS patients, thus prolonging their life as they wont die of AIDS wasting, and

it can do the same for cancer patients, and

it relieves pressure in the eye in glaucoma patients, which means that if they smoke enough and every day they wont go blind.


there is more but i dont remember what they are right now.


but of course John Ashcroft doesnt see how it can help people. Its the "devil's herb" and he needs to protect our Christian government

 

Exactly; I can't believe the bullshit he spread to get marijuana banned. Yet, some people don't even recognize medicinal use, I hate those people.

 

Isn't that somwhat of a compromise for california, i mean the feds must recognise all legitimate patients. aids, cancer, and chrinic pain are definetly good medical reasons. but what about anxiety diorders and lesser(if ya wanna call it that- pretty serious to me though) diseases it is prescribed for in california. Are they gonna have to quit messing with ALL Legal patients, or just what they consider the more serious reasons?.
Im gonna grow what i need, and she has osteoporosis, so we'll grow ours, and if the feds mess with me i'll just have to take it to court i guess.

personally i think the medical issue is the wrong angle- WE NEED TO END PROHIBITION- completely- anyone 18 or even go 21, should be able to decide for themselves if it is right for them to smoke cannabis. Ive never heard of a stoned driver killing someone because they were driving out of control- because it does not happen.
And yet alcohol is perfectly legal and available everywhere.

I think what you ae doing is great, im just sad that we didnt get started on the right foot. ending prohibition.

 

Wait!

They're trying to stop the Supreme court from deciding a question in the winter. If this Law passes, the court will rule the question moot. This is what they are going to decide:

Does the federal gov have the right to tell a patient to ignore a Doc recomendation and not smoke grass?

I think the ruling will be "NO!".

The implications of that would far, far, surpass any law but a Constitutional Amendment. Including the UN TREATY that is the legal root of the legal marijuana problem.
It would be REAL advace for the Cause.

 

"but of course John Ashcroft doesnt see how it can help people. Its the "devil's herb" and he needs to protect our Christian government"

For God's sake, STOP equating Christians with the oppression of of government. I am a Christian, have been a minister, am still ordained, still believe, and I smoke everyday. Does taht make me a hypocrite? No. It means I don't agree with some of the OFFICIAL tecahings of teh traditional church. The drug laws have NOTHING to do with religious preference (although many see ANY drug use as a sin). The drug laws are rooted in much more evil things such as racism and elitist hatred of the lower classes. Many people on this board are still young teens and are already parroting the lies that Christians are oppressing their right to smoke. Take a look at the government instead of parroting the same old lies. Religious convictions are constantly being stripped and removed from governmental policies. If teh ban on marijuana was religious in nature, the ACLU would be all over it and this would have ended a long time ago. Try embracing your Christian brithers and sisters who smoke instaed of setting them up as part of the evils of society.

 

Spelling is horrendous, sorry. Trying to get out of the office and was typing in a hurry.