Congresswoman Schmidt, I am writing this, to urge you to support HR 5843, the Act to Remove Federal Penalties for the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults. I know that you voted a nay on last year's proposed Hinchey Amendment for Medical Marijuana use, however, I would ask that you please vote according to the beliefs of your constituents and not according to your own personal beliefs (as Ohio has already decriminalized cannabis to a certain extent). In recent CNN polls over 70% of Americans support the legalization of cannabis, and though this is not an Act proposing legalization by any means, it is a step in the right direction. Somewhere around 40% of all Americans use or have used cannabis at some point(according to the White House's Office of National Drug Council and Policy), and my question for you is are all of these people criminals? I don't believe they are. Perhaps you will oppose this act because you believe that Cannabis is a "gateway drug," though i would challenge you to find a Heroine or Crack user that had gotten to that point without getting drunk on the way. Perhaps you oppose it because of the perceived health risks associated with smoking cannabis, however when you compare the amount of carcinogens in cannabis smoke to that of cigarettes, you will find that Cannabis is a much safer alternative. Annually there are over 450,000 deaths that are cigarette related, over 150,000 alcohol related deaths, and even over 1000 deaths related to something that many Americans use daily, aspirin. Each year over 27,000 people overdose on legal drugs, and over 5,700 people overdose on various illicit drugs, and cannabis is not lumped in with these illicit drugs, because it is physically impossible to overdose with cannabis. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope that if I did nothing else, I have encouraged you to think about some of the valid points of why cannabis should be decriminalized. IF there were not a 10,000 character cap I would love to go into the fiscal benefits of legalization, however I also do not want to take up any more time of those who will read this. Thank you and have a wonderful day, XXXX Maybe I came off somewhat harsh on a few points, but i know she isnt actually going to read it anyway. I cant wait to get my form response! /sarcasm