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The Sentencing Project is pleased to announce the release of a new publication from our colleagues at the Institute for Policy Studies,
"Mandate for Change." 

 

Edited by Chester Hartman, the founding executive director of the Poverty & Race Research Action Council, "Mandate for Change" is a collection of progressive policy proposals for the Obama Administration on every major domestic and international topic by more than 70 leading thinkers and activists in the field.  "A New Policy for Public Safety," a chapter on criminal justice reform, was contributed by Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project. 

A Washington, D.C. reception celebrating the release of "Mandate for Change" will be held on Monday, February 23rd at Busboys and Poets from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

In addition to many associates of the Institute for Policy Studies, contributors include:

Nan Aron, Alliance for Justice
Dean Baker, Center for Economic & Policy Research
Sheila Crowley, National Low Income Housing Coalition
Peter Edelman, Georgetown University Law Center
Maria Foscarinis, National Law Center on Homelessness  & Poverty
Kim Gandy, National Organization for Women
Angela Glover Blackwell, PolicyLink
Mark Greenberg, Center for American Progress
Alan Houseman, Center for Law and Social Policy
Doug Nelson and Bart Lubow, Annie E. Casey Foundation
Miles Rappaport and Stuart Comstock Gray, Demos

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
FEBRUARY 18, 2009

House Committee Passes Medical Marijuana, 9-6

CONTACT: Former Rep. Chris DeLaForest (R-Andover)......................................................(763) 439-1178

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA -- Minnesota's medical marijuana bill, H.F. 292, cleared its first hurdle in the House of Representatives today, passing the Health Care and Human Services Policy and Oversight Committee in a vote of 9 to 6. The vote came after medical marijuana patients and others testified to the relief provided by medical marijuana when conventional treatments had failed.

    "Before medical marijuana, I was in such pain I had no life," said K.K. Forss of Ely, who suffers chronic, severe pain as a result of a ruptured disk in his neck and repeated surgeries on his neck and upper spine. "It was so horrible I wanted to die every day. No one should have to face a choice between suffering unbearably and risking arrest and jail."

    Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL-Virginia), sponsor of the bill, hailed the vote, saying, "Today's vote is an important step toward protecting seriously ill Minnesotans. The evidence is clear that medical marijuana can help some patients who suffer terribly, and it's time to protect these patients from arrest and jail."

    "This sensible, humane, bipartisan bill is modeled after laws that have been working well for years in states like Montana and Rhode Island," said Rep. Mark Buesgens (R-Jordan). "We should not be using our scarce law enforcement dollars to arrest suffering patients for using a medicine their doctor has recommended."

    Thirteen states, comprising approximately one-quarter of the U.S. population, now permit medical use of marijuana under state law if a physician has recommended it. The newest such law was enacted by Michigan voters last November, passing with a record-setting 63 percent "yes" vote. Medical organizations which have recognized marijuana's medical uses include the American Public Health Association, American Nurses Association, American Academy of HIV Medicine, and American College of Physicians, which noted "marijuana's proven efficacy at treating certain symptoms and its relatively low toxicity," in a statement issued last year.

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