Take Action Now:Tell the MS Society to Stop Playing Politics with Patients

[ReformMaryJaneLaws]

An email from Kris Krane at NORML.





Take Action Now!
http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/aler...130936&type=CU

Last September, a coalition of patients and drug policy organizations including NORML, Americans for Safe Access, Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the Drug Policy Alliance, converged in Washington, DC for two days of intense lobbying for medical marijuana.

One of the key events of this two day action - known as the Cheryl Miller Memorial Project (www.cheryldcmemorial.org) in remembrance of longtime multiple sclerosis patient and medical marijuana activists Cheryl Miller - was a visit to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, in which patients urged the organization to change their official position on medical marijuana. Despite endorsements of medical marijuana from the MS Societies in Canada and Great Britain, the U.S. National MS Society is playing politics with the lives of seriously ill patients, and refuses to acknowledge marijuana's therapeutic value in the treatment of MS.

Therefore, the participants in the Cheryl Miller Memorial Project demanded three actions by the MS Society:

A) Conduct a survey of its members to identify if they have ever used cannabis therapeutically.

B) Actively lobby for and fund clinical trials in the United States on the efficacy of inhaled marijuana on MS-related symptoms.

C) Post a pro/con debate on the National MS Society website regarding the therapeutic use of cannabis.

So far, the MS Society has refused to take action on any of these demands. In fact, the only information posted on the MS Society website after their meeting with the patients clearly states:

"It is the opinion of the National MS Society's Medical Advisory Board that there are insufficient data at this time to recommend cannabinoids in any form as a treatment for MS."

In light of the MS Society's refusal to act on the medical marijuana issue, we are asking all medical marijuana supporters to write the National MS Society, and demand that they take medical marijuana seriously by implementing these three requests.

NORML has created a pre-written letter that you can send to the MS Society urging them to take a realistic look at the existing evidence surrounding medical marijuana as a treatment for multiple sclerosis. Please be sure to check the boxes on the alert which will send a copy of your letter to the
Washington, DC chapter and to Ms. Jeanne Angulo, director of the Washington DC office who met with the group of patients in September.

Please take two minutes to send a pre-written letter to the MS Society by visiting:
http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/aler...130936&type=CU

Thank you for taking the time to speak out on this important issue.

Regards,

Kris Krane
Associate Director
NORML