URGENT: Support Hinchey-Rorhbacher NOW

Congress will vote on an amendment tomorrow (Wednesday) or Thursday that
would stop the Ashcroft Justice Department from arresting cancer, AIDS, MS
and other patients who use medical marijuana with their doctor's
recommendation. Please call Congress and urge your U.S. Representative to
protect medical marijuana patients.

This vote will be the most important vote on marijuana policy reform in
Congress this year and support for the amendment is growing.

Thousands of Americans who use medical marijuana to ease their pain and
suffering need your help. Please call Congress TODAY!


ACTIONS TO TAKE

1) Call Your U.S. Representative Today for free, by calling the Capitol
Switchboard at 1-800-839-5276.

Tell the person who answers the phone that you strongly support the
Hinchey/Rohrabacher medical marijuana amendment that will be offered to
the Commerce Justice State spending bill this week, and that you want your
Representative to vote for it. This vote is about whether or not the
Justice Department should stop wasting scare law enforcement resources
arresting cancer, AIDS, and MS patients who use medical marijuana in
compliance with state law. A yes vote is a vote to protect patients and
save taxpayer money. (Note: Hinchey/Rohrabacher is pronounced
Hinch-e/Roy-bocker)

Not sure who represents you? See www.house.gov.

2) Forward this alert to your friends, family, co-workers.

3) If you have not done so already, please write your Representative and
ask him/her to support the Hinchey/Rohrabacher medical marijuana amendment
by visiting:
http://capwiz.com/norml2/mail/onecli...lertid=5962431


MORE INFO
Responding to growing conflict between the states and the federal
government over the issue of medical marijuana, Rep. Maurice Hinchey
(D-NY) and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) will again offer an amendment to
the Commerce-Jusitce-State spending bill that would prevent 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. 152 members of Congress voted
for a similar amendment last year. We need to pick up 66 additional votes
to pass this amendment.

Since 1996, 11 states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii,
Maine, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington) have adopted
medical marijuana laws. The U.S. Justice Department, however, continues to
spend millions of dollars arresting medical marijuana patients and their
caregivers - even in 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.

The Hinchey-Rohrabacher 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 seriously ill patients that 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, the Whitman-Walker Clinic,
and Kaiser Permanente, among other groups.

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NORML Media Watch
NORML was featured prominently in several media outlets this week,
including The Columbia Missourian, The New Zealand Herald, and The
Mountain Xpress. To read these articles or about other NORML media
appearances, check out "NORML in the Media" at:
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5481