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Coalition
Seeking
DC
Election
Results
Grows
12/4/98
Nine organizations, including
the Washington, DC chapter of the League of Women Voters, the Republican
National African-American Council, the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club and
the Libertarian National Committee have all filed "friend of the court"
briefs in support of the DC government and ACTUP DC's lawsuit seeking the
release of the results of the DC Medical Marijuana, Initiative 59.
The results of the election have been kept secret in the wake of language
added to the DC appropriations bill by Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA) forbidding
the District from spending any money on any initiative which would reduce,
in any way, penalties for marijuana possession or use.
The growing coalition of
supporters is evidence, say activists, of the federal government's inept
handling of everything having to do with medicinal marijuana. Robert
Kampia, director of governmental relations for the Marijuana Policy Project
told The Week Online, "The federal government blesses us with new allies
every time it rears its fascist head on this issue. Groups like the
League of Women Voters were probably wholly unaware of the issues involved
in medical marijuana until the feds decided to try to quash the results
of a democratic election. Even the Washington Post, which has been
notoriously bad in its coverage of this issue, has devoted an editorial
as well as serious news space to medical marijuana in the wake of the Barr
amendment.
"Congress is so beside itself
on this issue, so eager to make sure that sick people go to prison for
their personal medical choices," said Kampia, "that they are willing to
run roughshod over the constitution in an effort to impose their will.
The elections proved, however, that their will and the people's will are
two entirely different things. We can only thank them for their absolute
irrationality. It has given activists the opportunity to involve
and to educate a much broader range of concerned citizens and organizations."
-- END --
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Issue #69, 12/4/98
DRCNet Projects and Campaigns | Alert: Show of Support Needed for New Jersey Needle Exchange | US Congress Triples Military Aid to Colombia | Report: New York State Now Spending More on Prisons than Higher Education | Drug War Perjury Highlighted In Congressional Impeachment Hearings | Thousands Protest at US Army School of the Americas | Swiss Legalization Referendum Fails, but Provides Hopeful Signs for Future | Coalition Seeking DC Election Results Grows | Editorial: Criminalizing our Children
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