Stop the Federal Assault on Patients, Clinics & Providers of Medicinal Marijuana

[ReformMaryJaneLaws]

ALERT: #260 Stop The Federal Assault On Patients, Clinics & Providers! is
also on line at http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0260.html

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #260 - Tue, 28 Jan 2003

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As federal prosecutions against medical marijuana patients and
providers escalate, a coalition of patients, care givers, doctors and
public officials have united to launch an outdoor advertising campaign
throughout California. But the billboards are just the start of the
campaign by the Coalition for Medical Marijuana.

Your support is needed to build on this effort. Today the Coalition
(see list below) is asking you to contact your elected representatives
at all levels of government to ask them to support the compassionate
access to medical marijuana by patients in need.

You can write to your Member of Congress through
http://www.MedicalMJ.org. It has a page that allows you to send faxes
and emails see:
http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/aler...00506&type=CO. A
particular focus of your letters should be Senator Barbara Boxer. She
is up for re-election in the next election cycle in what will be a
tight race. She need to know that her failure to lead on medical
marijuana -- especially her failure to stand up for voters in
California is going to lose her votes.

Please also contact your local and state media - write letters to the
editor to newspapers - contact broadcast media and ask them to cover
the issue.

Is there any doubt that the federal government determined to undermine
the will of the people on this issue? The buyers clubs are being
closed or run underground one by one. Federal prosecutors won't
permit court testimony concerning why marijuana was used, even though
marijuana is permitted as medicine under the laws of California and
eight other states. And because juries have no way of knowing
otherwise, Federal prosecutors accuse patients and the Good Samaritans
who help supply them with their medicine of being "Drug King Pins."

The media stories about what happened to Bryan Epis
http://www.mapinc.org/people/Bryan+Epis and what is happening to Ed
Rosenthal http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ed+Rosenthal are glaring
examples of how the federal government is working to end the
compassionate use of medicinal cannabis.

Thanks for your effort and support.

Will You Act? It's not what others do - it's what YOU do.

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LINKS YOU CAN USE TO CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS

Some of these links have pre-formatted letters you may modify and
send. But don't forget that other contacts like phone calls and office
visits may have even greater impact.

Letters you can send to your Congress members by going here
http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/aler...100506&type=CO

Contact information for all your elected officials at every level
http://capwiz.com/norml2/dbq/officials/

You can send a Fax about pending legislation in Congress by going here
http://mpp.org/USA/action.html

Another letter you can modify and send to your Congress members
http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/a...ep=2&item=1213

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CONTACT LINKS FOR THE MEDIA

Use the dropdown at this link to obtain Letter to the Editor email
addresses for the press in your state
http://www.mapinc.org/resource/email.htm

Contact information for many media outlets, including broadcast media
http://capwiz.com/norml2/dbq/media/

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SAMPLE LETTER TO MEMBER OF CONGRESS

(PLEASE NOTE: If you choose to use this letter as a model please
modify it so that your members of congress do not receive multiple
copies of the same letter. The letter should be addressed to the
member by name.)

Dear Senator/Congressman

In 1996 the people of California voted to allow seriously ill patients
to use marijuana as a medicine. Many local jurisdictions worked with
patients to develop methods of safe access through community-based
dispensaries. The state Supreme Court upheld the law and these
programs of safe access. But the federal government is doing its best
to thwart these efforts.

In recent months the Ashcroft-led Justice Department has made medical
marijuana enforcement a high priority -- over thirty federal cases
have been brought in California. When these cases are brought to trial
it results in the jury being told it cannot consider evidence of
medical use and the judge forbids the defendant to tell his side of
the story. As a result statutes designed to incarcerate drug kingpins
like Pablo Escobar with lengthy mandatory minimum sentences are being
used against Good Samaritans who are trying to provide medicine to the
seriously ill. While the actions of these providers is consistent
with California law under federal law they are receiving mandatory ten
year sentences.

Please use your office to defend the rights of seriously ill
Californians. Medical marijuana is supported by 80 percent of
Californians according to recent polls. Even though President Bush
spoke in favor of states rights when he was running for office his
administration is now violating states rights by prosecuting medical
marijuana cases.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

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FOR ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts please
See: Writer's Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/

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The Coalition for Medical Marijuana http://www.medicalmj.org/

Sponsors Include:

American Alliance for Medical Cannabis http://www.letfreedomgrow.com/

Americans for Safe Access http://www.safeaccessnow.org/

California NORML http://www.canorml.org/

CannabisMD http://www.cannabismd.org/

Cannabis Consumers Campaign http://www.cannabisconsumers.org/

Common Sense for Drug Policy http://www.csdp.org/

DRCNet http://www.drcnet.org/

Drug Policy Alliance http://www.drugpolicy.org/

DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/

Green Aid http://green-aid.com/

Human Rights in the Drug War http://www.hr95.org/

Patients Out of Time http://www.medicalcannabis.com/

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Prepared by Richard Lake, DrugSense FOCUS Alert Specialist

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