Call Congress Today About Key Vote

CALL CONGRESS TODAY ABOUT KEY VOTE

Please urge your U.S. Representative to support the Hinchey medical
marijuana amendment to the "CJS" spending bill by calling the Capitol
Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

Congress will vote on an amendment this week (as early as Wednesday)
that would protect Angel Raich, Valerie Corral and other patients
with cancer, AIDS and other diseases who use marijuana for medical
reasons. Make sure your Representative votes to protect patients from
federal prosecution: call him or her as soon as possible, and forward
this alert to everyone you know. (You can check out
http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/072307hinchey.cfm to make sure
Congress hasn't voted on the amendment before you call).

What to Do: Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Ask to
speak to your U.S. Representative. If you're not sure who represents
you, the operator can tell you. You can also look up your
Representative at http://www.house.gov/ by entering your zip code at
the top of the page.

What to Say: Once the operator transfers you to your Representative's
office, give the person who answers the following message:

"Hi, I'm a constituent. I'm calling to urge my Representative to vote
for the Hinchey medical marijuana amendment to the
Commerce-Justice-Science ("CJS") spending bill, which will be voted
on this week. This issue is very important to me."

(Hinchey is pronounced Hinchee.)

Then forward this alert to friends and family.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Responding to the growing conflict between the states and the federal
government over the issue of medical marijuana, Rep. Maurice Hinchey
(D-NY) will offer an amendment to the Commerce-Justice-Science
Appropriations bill that would prohibit the U.S. Justice Department
from undermining state efforts to provide terminally ill and chronic
pain patients access to doctor-recommended medical marijuana. The
amendment would prohibit the Justice Department from spending any
money on arresting or prosecuting medical marijuana patients in
states where medical marijuana is legal. 163 members of Congress
voted for a similar amendment last year.

The U.S. Justice Department continues to spend millions of dollars
arresting medical marijuana patients and their caregivers - even in
the twelve states where medical marijuana is legal. At a time when
violent drug cartels remain at large and threats of terrorism
continue to emerge, it is irresponsible for the Justice Department to
jeopardize public safety by wasting scarce law enforcement resources
conducting raids on hospice centers and medical marijuana patients.

Earlier this year, New Mexico became the twelfth state to enact a
proactive medical marijuana law. New Mexico joins Alaska, California,
Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island,
Vermont and Washington as states with effective medical marijuana
laws. Numerous other states are currently considering medical
marijuana laws of their own. Passage of this amendment will not only
help embolden these efforts across the country, but will send a stern
message to the Justice Department to stop subjecting seriously ill
patients to dehumanizing arrest.

The Hinchey medical marijuana amendment would not prevent the Justice
Department from arresting people using, growing, or selling marijuana
for recreational use. Nor would it prevent the Justice Department
from arresting medical marijuana patients in the states that have not
approved the drug for this use. It simply prevents the federal
government from arresting patients who use marijuana for medical
reasons in states that have adopted medical marijuana laws.

Substantial majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents
support medical marijuana. A 2001 Pew Research Center poll found that
73% of Americans support medical marijuana. A 2002 Time/CNN poll
found that 80% of Americans support it. The Institute of Medicine has
determined that nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety "all can be
mitigated by marijuana." Allowing cancer, AIDS, and MS patients legal
access to medical marijuana is supported by the American Nurses
Association, American Public Health Association, American Bar
Association and Kaiser Permanente, among other groups.

Please urge your U.S. Representative to support the Hinchey medical
marijuana amendment to the "CJS" spending bill by calling the Capitol
Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

Thank you,

Bill Piper
Director of National Affairs
Drug Policy Alliance