https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/415/deaoutrage.shtml

Earlier this week, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) took the cruel and reckless step of raiding 13 medical marijuana dispensaries that patients in the San Diego area rely on for needed relief for serious medical conditions. Unfortunately, the DEA was aided and abetted by the area's local law enforcement agencies, who have politically opposed medical marijuana since the beginning, but who have now stepped over the line and violated the will of California voters directly by participating in this action. Meanwhile, on the east coast, DEA continues to block the establishment of a legal medical marijuana research program at the University of Massachusetts that would resolve the scientific questions and allow marijuana to ultimately go through the regular governmental process for approval as a medically-recognized treatment.

Please call and write Congress today to condemn the DEA's raids and continued blocking of medical marijuana research, and to urge them to pass legislation to protect medical marijuana patients and their providers. There are currently two federal medical marijuana bills that would help the situation: H.R. 2087, the States Rights to Medical Marijuana Act; and H.R. 4272, the Steve McWilliams Truth in Trials Act, named after a San Diego medical marijuana provider who took his own life earlier this year while facing federal prosecution. Click here for a pre-written web site letter to Congress – you are encouraged to edit and customize it or even write your own.

But please don't stop there -- this is a time to do more than fill Congressional e-mail and fax boxes, but also to make their phones ring off the hook. Please call your US Rep. to express your outrage at the DEA's San Diego raids, and to call for passage of medical marijuana legislation like H.R. 2087 and H.R. 4272 and for Congress to pressure DEA to allow legitimate research into medical marijuana at UMass to proceed. Last but not least, please forward this alert to your friends, or use the "tell-a-friend" option on our web site when you send your e-mail.

Thank you for taking action today to help patients and their helpers across the land. The following web pages have further information of relevance to this issue:

ASA Medical Marijuana Demonstrations Info
Lawsuit for the UMass Medical Marijuana Research Proposal
Steve McWilliams Remembered
Congressional Web Site to Check Status of Legislation Like H.R. 2087 and H.R. 4272

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