From my friends at DRCnet:
http://ga0.org/campaign/hinchey2006/kdignd4p5k36xi?
http://ga0.org/campaign/hinchey2006/kdignd4p5k36xi?
This July, the US House of Representatives will vote again on the Hinchey-Rohrabacher medical marijuana amendment, which if passed will forbid the US Dept. of Justice from interfering with state medical marijuana laws. Your help is needed -- it is crucial that more members of Congress vote for medical marijuana this year than did last year. Please visit:
http://stopthedrugwar.org/medicalmarijuana/ to e-mail your member of Congress today!
When you're done, please call him or her on the phone to make additional impact -- use the talking points appearing below and to the right in this e-mail to prepare for your phone call. If you still live at the same address (zip code 95134 in San Jose, CA), then your US Rep. is Zoe Lofgren, whose phone number is (202) 225-3072. (If you've moved, you can get the new number through the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or using our lookup tool at http://stopthedrugwar.org/lookup.html.)
Please also tell your friends about this important action alert -- we need for everyone who cares about this to take action, and sending them to our web site to do so will also help to grow our list for the next time.
Again, please visit http://stopthedrugwar.org/medicalmarijuana/ to lobby Congress and help medical marijuana patients today! Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
David Borden, Executive Director
Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)
P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036
http://stopthedrugwar.org
Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Your Congressperson
Below is the sample letter:
Subject: Vote YES on Hinchey-Rohrabacher Medical Marijuana Amendment
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
On June 6, 2005, the US Supreme Court made a ruling upholding the power of the federal government to ban medical use of marijuana. While this ruling does not change law in the states that have passed medical marijuana protections, it does mean that the federal government -- unfortunately -- will still have the power to use its resources to undermine the will of the voters or legislatures of those states.
I think that is wrong, and I urge you to take an important opportunity coming up to set things right. The Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment, to be considered this July, 2006, in the debate over the Science-State-Justice-Commerce Appropriations bill, would prohibit the federal government from arresting, raiding or prosecuting patients who are abiding by state medical marijuana laws.
Please vote YES when the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment comes to the floor. Medical marijuana patients and their providers should not have to live in fear that police will break down their doors and take them to jail because of their choice of medicine, certainly not in states whose voters or legislators have voted to protect them. That is a horrendous state of affairs, and it is irrational to divert federal resources to attacking patients that could otherwise be used to protect the nation from terrorists who want to attack us.
Voting YES on Hinchey-Rohrabacher is the only rational or responsible choice that you can make on this amendment.
Sincerely,
[your name]
What's At Stake:
Since medical marijuana initiatives were first passed nine years ago, the DEA has conducted raids against medical marijuana clinics in California, recently with increasing frequency, forcing hundreds if not thousands of patients to procure marijuana in the black market instead. In a ruling issued on June 6, 2005, the US Supreme Court upheld the government's power to do this.
While this doesn't change anything -- state laws protecting medical marijuana patients and their providers still are binding upon state and local law enforcement authorities -- it is a missed opportunity for the Court to rein in federal overreaching and help some of our society's most vulnerable members.
Fortunately, Congress will have a chance this July, 2006, to set things right. The Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment, to be considered during the debate on the Science-State-Justice-Commerce Appropriations bill, would prohibit the federal government from arresting, raiding or prosecuting patients who are abiding by state medical marijuana laws.
Your help is needed to get it passed. Please visit http://stopthedrugwar.org/medicalmarijuana/ to send an e-mail to your US Representative asking him or her to vote YES on the Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment. When you are done, please call your Rep. on the phone as well to make even greater impact -- call the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to be connected, or use our lookup tool at http://stopthedrugwar.org/lookup.html to get the direct number.
TALKING POINTS FOR YOUR PHONE CALL OR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment, which will come up during debate on the House Science-State-Justice-Commerce Appropriations bill this July, would forbid the Dept. of Justice from using funds to undermine state medical marijuana laws.
More than three out of four Americans think medical use of marijuana should be legal, according to polls, and eleven states -- Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Washington -- have all enacted medical marijuana laws in recent years.
Despite such strong support, the federal government continues to block even research to determine marijuana's medical benefits. Yet the 1999 Institute of Medicine report determined that marijuana does have medical benefit.
Medical organizations such as the American Nurses Association and the American Academy of Family Physicians support legal access to medical marijuana with a doctor's recommendation.
Blocking patients from receiving needed medicine -- threatening them with arrest, prosecution and incarceration -- is senseless and cruel.
Congress should respect state's rights and not used armed federal agents to threaten patients and providers who are in compliance with state law.
Take action this month!
