Minnesota Medical Marijuana Bill Under Attack

[Courtesy of Marijuana Policy Project] 

Dear friends:

Some members of Minnesota's law enforcement community are lying in order to kill MPP’s medical marijuana bill in the state — in other words, in order to keep patients in pain. This small but vocal contingent is claiming that marijuana has no medical value, that “every prosecutor in every medical marijuana state” opposes its use, that you can “overdose” on marijuana, and more than a dozen other outrageous lies.

We’re fighting back. Yesterday, MPP held a news conference at the Minnesota statehouse to refute the outright false testimony that law enforcement officials have been providing the legislature and the news media. And we distributed to reporters and legislators an 18-page booklet cataloguing the opposition’s litany of mistruths — along with facts and proof to the contrary — and we’re releasing to the public, legislators, and media one video clip each day showing law enforcement's lies about medical marijuana.

But we're relying on the generosity of supporters to ensure we have the resources to combat our opposition. Would you please give whatever you can today so we can fight back?

MPP's bill, which passed out of the Senate last year, is currently awaiting an historic vote on the House floor. The vote could happen any day now, so it is urgent that supporters like you donate what you can today.

Our campaign has generated an enormous amount of media coverage in Minnesota, which you can read here. And the two largest papers in the state — the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press — have editorialized in favor of the bill, which also has the support of the Minnesota Nurses Association, the Minnesota Public Health Association, the Minnesota AIDS Project, the Minnesota Senior Federation, and 2-to-1 support among Minnesota voters.

Also yesterday, MPP debuted the second in a series of hard-hitting TV ads featuring seriously ill Minnesotans who are pleading with Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) not to veto MPP’s medical marijuana bill. The new TV ad features Ely resident K.K. Forss, who suffers from excruciating, debilitating pain after a disc in his neck exploded, causing extensive nerve damage. "This doesn't have anything to do with culture wars," Forss says in the ad, noting that he is a registered Republican and a born-again Christian. "We have people suffering in horrible pain, and we talk politics — it doesn't have to be that way."

If you agree that K.K. and others like him shouldn't face the threat of arrest and jail for trying to alleviate their pain, would you please consider donating $10 or more today so that we can keep these ads on the air at this critical moment?

Thank you,

Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

P.S. As I've mentioned in previous alerts, a major philanthropist has committed to match the first $3.0 million that MPP can raise from the rest of the planet in 2008. This means that your donation today will be doubled.