Dear friends:
Following the enormous victory for medical marijuana patients and their caregivers on Monday, a strong MPP champion on Capitol Hill, Congressman Sam Farr (D-Calif.), plans to introduce an important bill in Congress next week.
While the new Department of Justice policy creates a de facto protection for patients and caregivers who are "in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana," the Farr bill — which MPP staff helped write years ago — will codify this protection in law.
It will also address another injustice: Currently, medical marijuana patients in the 13 states where medical marijuana is legal are barred from telling federal jurors that their use of marijuana was for medical purposes, even when state laws explicitly permit medical use. Congressman Farr's Truth in Trials Act would guarantee defendants in federal medical marijuana cases the right to explain that their marijuana was for medical use. And more importantly, defendants could be found not guilty if the jury finds that they followed state medical marijuana laws.
Will you please urge your member of Congress to co-sponsor this legislation? MPP's online action system makes it easy: Just enter your contact information and we'll do the rest.
This is such an exciting time for our issue. Thank you for standing with us in the fight.
Sincerely,
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 $2.35 million that MPP can raise from the rest of the planet in 2009. This means that your donation today will be doubled.
Don't need a law to ...
We don't need the law codified in order for a jury to find a person not guilty, regardless of what the law says. That discretion is and always has been a matter of jury nullification. If 12 of your peers say not guilty, regardless of the case presented before them by the prosecutor or the judges instructions on the matter, a jury can find a defendant not guilty. They don't even have to explain why.
Of course nobody is allowed to instruct the jury that they have this option, at least not in the united states. SO unless the fact that jury nullification can happen is brought to the general publics attention, I doubt you will see alot of that happening any time soon.