Cheryl Miller Memorial Congressional Phone Slam Day, 9/23/03 Last week DRCNet wrote briefly about the upcoming Cheryl Miller Memorial Project's DC vigil, demonstration and lobby day, less than three weeks from now on September 22 and 23 (http://www.cheryldcmemorial.org). There is one activity on the agenda for those who can't make it to Washington, a Congressional "phone slam" in support of H.R. 2233, the States Rights to Medical Marijuana Act. Your phone calls on September 23 will coincide with a day of Capitol Hill lobbying by attendees at the Memorial Project, and will ensure those visits are taken very seriously. We hope that DRCNet members will make an extra strong showing of participation in the phone slam, and we have a way to make it easy to do so: Visit http://stopthedrugwar.org/medicalmarijuana/ right now to send an e-mail to your US Rep., your two Senators, and the President (if you haven't done so already), and our system will also keep a record of your Congressional District. Then, on the morning of the 23rd, we will send you a reminder about the phone slam, and the text of the message you receive will include the names and office phone numbers of your Rep. and your Senators -- you won't even have to look them up or go through the Congressional Switchboard. Click on http://www.drcnet.org/wol/july23-yesno.pdf or http://www.drcnet.org/wol/july23-yesno.xls or http://www.drcnet.org/wol/july23-yesno.txt to view or download a PDF or Excel or tab-delimited text file identifying how each Member of Congress voted on the pro-medical marijuana Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment this summer. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/301/full.shtml
email: 9/23/03 Dear DRCNet reader: As reported in Drug War Chronicle (http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/303/), today and yesterday medical marijuana patients have gathered in Washington, DC to memorialize patient/activist Cheryl Miller with a vigil, press conference and lobby day. This message is a reminder to participate in the national congressional PHONE SLAM in their support. Please call your US Representative TODAY in support of the States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act (H.R. 2233) and the Truth in Trials Medical Marijuana Act (H.R. 1717). When you're done, please send us an e-mail at alert-feedback@drcnet.org (use mailto:alert-feedback@drcnet.org if replying by hyperlink) and let us know you've taken action. To find out who your US Rep. is, visit http://www.house.gov or call the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Then, visit http://www.drcnet.org/wol/july23-yesno.pdf or http://www.drcnet.org/wol/july23-yesno.xls or http://www.drcnet.org/wol/july23-yesno.txt to find out whether your Rep. voted for or against medical marijuana on the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment last July. If your Rep. voted for the amendment, thank them and urge them to sponsor the States' Rights and Truth and Trials bills (H.R. 2233 and H.R. 1717) if they're not already. If your Rep. voted against the amendment, let him or her know that it was a highly unfortunate vote and they should make up for it by supporting and sponsoring H.R. 2233 and H.R. 1717. Use the Congressional Switchboard number to be connected to your Rep's office, or go to his or her web site on house.gov to look up the direct line. After you make your phone call, please also send an e-mail to your Rep. and your two US Senators in support of medical marijuana. You can do this by visiting http://stopthedrugwar.org/medicalmarijuana/ and entering your name and address. Also please use the tell-a-friend form on the site or forward this alert to urge your friends to lobby Congress in support medical marijuana too. Last but not least, visit http://stopthedrugwar.org/medicalmarijuana/cheryl-mssociety.html for preview pictures from yesterday's patients' visit to the MS Society (large file size, smaller versions and pictures from the rest of the event to be linked to in Drug War Chronicle issue #304 this Friday). Thank you for taking action.
I made my calls this morning. The phones were already kind of tied up. They'll probably be really busy right now since they are just sending the emails out. Everyone just keep trying. A little bit of pressure from the people might sway the minds of one of two of our reps and that is better than none!