Join us to stop federal agents from arresting AIDS and cancer patients who use marijuana to relieve their pain and suffering. The Alliance and other drug policy reform groups have chosen Friday, June 4th for a National Day of Action on Medical Marijuana.  We need you to distribute brochures outside the district offices of Members of Congress who oppose medical marijuana.

The Drug Policy Alliance has been working hard to get medical marijuana legislation passed through Congress.  Last year 152 Members of Congress voted to prohibit the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) from spending any money to undermine state medical marijuana laws. This vote was more than expected but still 66 votes short of what we needed to win. We need to persuade Members of Congress who voted no last year to vote yes this year. This is where you come in.

Will you join hundreds of volunteers across the country in distributing flyers Friday, June 4? We need to let Members of Congress know that if they vote to send AIDS and cancer patients to jail, we’re going to take the fight to their backyard!

Download an action packet

ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE:

Get Active, Organize and Participate!  If you can distribute flyers Friday, June 4, please e-mail our National Field Coordinator, Naomi Long. Please tell her the city and state you live in, as well as the U.S. Representative who represents you. (You can find out who your Representative is here.) Please respond to Naomi no later than Wednesday, May 19th so she has time to send you the flyers and tell you where to go.

CALL YOUR U.S. REPRESENTATVE on Friday, June 4th. Let him or her know you are tired of the federal government wasting scarce law enforcement resources arresting and prosecuting medical marijuana patients. If your Representative voted for last year’s medical marijuana amendment, call and say thanks for supporting medical marijuana last year and urge him or her to continue supporting medical marijuana.

If your Representative voted against the amendment, call to say you are disappointed he or she voted last year to send cancer and AIDS patients to prison and that it’s time to support federal legislation to protect medical marijuana patients.

You can find out who your Representative is here. You can find out how your Representative voted here.

TALKING POINTS:

• Since 1996, voters in eight states have enacted laws that confer various state legal protections on persons who need medical marijuana along with their physicians and caregivers).  Hawaii became the first state legislature to enact medical marijuana legislation in 2001 and Maryland followed suit in 2003.  Residents of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington - roughly 20% of the U.S. population - live in states where public opinion and the will of the voters on medical marijuana has been transformed into meaningful law.
• Federal law still treats the use of marijuana, even for medical reasons, as a criminal offense.  Instead of changing federal law to reflect the reforms occurring in the states, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has increased enforcement efforts against Americans who use or grow marijuana for medicinal use, even in cases where such use is legal under state law.  California has become the focus of the DEA’s efforts. 
• In 2001, DEA agents raided and closed the West Hollywood-based Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center, a non-profit co-op that provided marijuana to approximately 1,000 patients with AIDS, cancer and terminal illnesses.  Although the co-op was operating legally under state law with the full support of local law enforcement and elected officials, 30 armed federal agents stormed the center, seizing marijuana plants, business documents, bank accounts and more than 3,000 confidential medical records.  The West Hollywood Sheriff’s Department refused to cooperate with the DEA in this raid. 
• Other raids have been made more recently, prompting the California legislature to pass a resolution urging Congress to respect state law, stop the DEA raids, and re-schedule marijuana to allow doctors to prescribe it.  The city and county of Santa Cruz, California have initiated a lawsuit against the federal government arguing that the federal government does not have the constitutional authority to arrest and imprison medical marijuana patients following state law.
• These raids use precious resources, cost money, and are needlessly cruel. 
• Responding to growing outrage, Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) will, for the second year in a row, likely offer an amendment later this year that would prevent the DEA from spending money to undermine state medical marijuana laws. Once introduced, this amendment would force Congress to deal with the medical marijuana issue, particularly the raids.