Patients who need medical marijuana are constantly caught in the crossfire between the State and the Feds. In early 2008, the battle intensified yet again. The DEA, which had been after medical marijuana dispensaries and clubs throughout California, closed 7 of 28 clubs in San Francisco, and threatened action against others.
The city of Berkeley declared itself a “medical marijuana sanctuary” which would not cooperate with the Feds in the event that they went after dispensaries there. At the same time, Marijuana vending machines were placed in Los Angeles to ease access for dispensary users there, with the Feds threatening closure. Since 1996, 12 states have legalized medical marijuana use, placing them at odds with federal law.
The science of medical marijuana is also still controversial, despite strong evidence of benefits under certain circumstances. Still, some researchers and health insurance providers have contended that medical marijuana causes cancer.
[Courtesy of Marijuana Policy Project]Â
Dear friends:
Some members of Minnesota's law enforcement community are lying in order to kill MPPâs medical marijuana bill in the state â in other words, in order to keep patients in pain. This small but vocal contingent is claiming that marijuana has no medical value, that âevery prosecutor in every medical marijuana stateâ opposes its use, that you can âoverdoseâ on marijuana, and more than a dozen other outrageous lies.
Weâre 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 oppositionâs litany of mistruths â along with facts and proof to the contrary â and weâre 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 â the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press â 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 MPPâs 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 â 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.