State & Local Legislatures

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                               
OCTOBER 22, 2009

Patients Call for Medical Marijuana Bill in Light of New Federal Policy

Obama Announcement Clears Way for Massachusetts to Protect Patients; 81% of Voters in Favor

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications …………… 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — The Obama administration’s directive to federal prosecutors not to prosecute medical marijuana activities that are in accord with state laws gives new impetus to the drive to pass a medical marijuana bill in Massachusetts, patients who have benefited from marijuana said today. Pending legislation, HB 2160 would make Massachusetts the 14^th state with such a law. The bill is largely modeled on the successful medical marijuana law in Rhode Island, which has been in force since 2006.

         “I’m excited about this news from the Obama administration, which shows that the government is now willing to acknowledge that marijuana has legitimate medical uses,” said Marcy Duda of Ware, who suffers from chronic pain and debilitating nerve damage due to brain surgery. “I hope this sends a signal to our legislators that there is no reason not to move ahead with legislation to help seriously ill patients. I’ve tried prescription painkillers that are very addictive and just knock me out. Medical marijuana helps me get by.”

         A Suffolk University poll released in September found that 81 percent of Massachusetts voters support medical marijuana legislation. Full poll results are available at http://www.suffolk.edu/research/38128.html

         “Hopefully this will help reduce the needless stigma associated with medical marijuana use,” said Don from the South Shore, who suffers from a rare condition called cyclic vomiting syndrome and who asked that his full name not be used for fear of legal consequences. “It’s not about an excuse to use an illegal drug, it’s about people with cancer, pain, or other illnesses who don’t respond to other available medications. I suffered for years before I had any idea about medical marijuana. I’ve considered moving to Rhode Island so I could have safe access to my medicine and never have to miss work while bedridden with nausea and vomiting.”

         With more than 29,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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[Courtesy of MPP] 

Dear friends:

Do you think these ads are too hot for TV? New York City's ABC, Fox, and CBS affiliates do — they've rejected them.

  

These stations have no problem airing lewd and violent commercials selling products like video games and reality shows, but they're rejecting ads asking the New York Legislature to allow seriously ill patients to use medical marijuana (something that 76% of New Yorkers support). What's wrong here?

We have a real shot at making New York the 14th medical marijuana state and the third to have state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries. But before the legislature returns for a special session, they need to hear our message.

Don't let big media bureaucrats stand in the way of justice and compassion. Please join me in ensuring that as many New Yorkers as possible view these compelling ads by donating to the ad buy today.

Fortunately, many other stations have approved the ads. Let's show ABC, FOX, and CBS that their rejections have simply inspired supporters nationwide to light up the rest of the airwaves with these ads.

The ads are starting to air today, and any money you generously donate in response to this message will go straight into the purchase of more airtime. I invite you to give what you can today — $10, $25, $50, or more — to spread these ads across the airwaves.

The last time TV stations rejected one of our ads, it turned into a massive national news story. The same could happen this time with these ads.  By donating to the ad campaign today, you can be part of making a big media splash that puts voters face-to-face with the patients they have the chance to protect from arrest, while at the same time exposing the outrageous hypocrisy shown by some stations in rejecting the ads.

If you donate in response to this message, I'll make sure to send you a personal message in a few weeks to show you exactly how your investment in this special project paid off.

Thank you for considering this timely request.

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.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
SEPTEMBER 16, 2009    

TV Ads Air, Pleading for Medical Marijuana Law Despite Rejection by CBS, ABC, Fox
Spots Debut in Key NY Districts as Local Polls Show Strong Support

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ............... 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205

ALBANY, NEW YORK -- Two new TV ads featuring patients who have benefited from medical marijuana began airing today in media markets covering key New York Senate districts. Rejected by ABC, CBS and Fox, the spots will nevertheless air on WNBC in New York City and on cable outlets around the state, including the New York City, Buffalo and Rochester metropolitan areas, Westchester and Rockland counties and the rest of the Lower Hudson Valley, Watertown, Oswego, and Ogdensburg.

     Local polls in these districts show overwhelming, bipartisan support for medical marijuana legislation. For example, Mason-Dixon polls conducted Sept. 1-3 in Senate Districts 12 (Queens), 48 (Watertown, Oswego), and 58 (Buffalo and nearby areas) showed support for the legislation running at 72 percent, 69 percent, and 74 percent, respectively. Full results of these and earlier district polls on the medical marijuana bill are at mpp.org/nypolls2009. A separate set of polls from 2007 is at http://www.mpp.org/nypoll2007.

     One of the spots features Conservative Party member Joel Peacock of Buffalo, who suffers from chronic pain as the result of a serious accident. In the ad, he describes running out of his prescription medication while on a work assignment in the south after Hurricane Katrina and being given marijuana by a client. "It took away the pain," Peacock says in the ad. "It took away the nausea. I didn't have stomach cramps. I slept. It just did everything my medicine doesn't do. Please, ask your senator to have compassion."

     Both spots, sponsored by the Marijuana Policy Project and New Yorkers for Compassionate Care, can be viewed at mpp.org/NYTVads. In nearly all areas, the ads are customized to name the specific state senator who voters should contact (in New York City and Orange County, the configuration of Senate districts and TV markets made this impractical).

     Kevin Smith, M.D., of Saugerties, who appears in the second spot and who suffers severe pain from a genetic disorder known as ankylosing spondilitis, was angered by the stations' rejection of the ads. "As a patient whose well-being would be dramatically improved by the medical marijuana bill, I am appalled that these TV stations won't even let us tell our stories to their viewers," Smith said. "These stations are out of touch with the public, 76 percent of whom support protecting patients."

 

     With more than 27,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JUNE 18, 2009

Committee Approves Revised Medical Marijuana Bill

Legislators Worked to Address Governor Lynch's Concerns, Eliminate Possibilities for Diversion

CONTACT: Matt Simon, NH Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy, (603) 391-7450

CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE — All seven legislators who were tasked with crafting a compromise on the medical marijuana bill signed off on the revised version today. A vote to approve the new language is expected June 24 in the House and Senate, after which the bill will proceed to Gov. John Lynch's desk.

     This special seven-member "committee of conference," chaired by House Health, Human Services, and Elderly Affairs Committee Chairwoman Rep. Cindy Rosenwald (D-Nashua), was formed to address eight specific concerns that were expressed by Lynch. The bill had passed both Houses in slightly different forms and was scheduled for final approval in the House when Lynch's office reportedly informed Rosenwald that the bill would be vetoed if passed in its original form.

     Since then, the bill has been rewritten to address all eight concerns. Most significantly, the new bill will not permit patients or their caregivers to cultivate their own marijuana plants, as patients are permitted to do in all 13 states that currently protect medical marijuana patients from arrest. Instead, the amended bill would allow for the creation of up to three nonprofit "compassion centers," which could legally cultivate medical marijuana and dispense it to patients.

     Rather than creating a new model from scratch, the committee of conference produced a bill similar to legislation that passed in Rhode Island Tuesday. That state's bill, which adds compassion centers to its already existing medical marijuana program, will become law now that legislators overrode Gov. Donald Carcieri's veto, 67-0 in the Rhode Island House and 35-3 in the Senate. New Hampshire’s bill is much more restrictive than Rhode Island's law, which also allows patients and their caregivers to cultivate medical marijuana.

     Advocates were confident that the amendment would remove all reasonable objections to HB 648.

     "As amended, HB 648 would create the most tightly crafted medical marijuana law in the country," said Matt Simon, executive director for the New Hampshire Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy. "Some legislators voted against the bill initially because they felt that distribution of medical marijuana should be tightly controlled. If these legislators truly believe patients should not have to live in fear of being arrested by New Hampshire police, they should be willing to support this version of the bill."

     In the coming week, advocates will present legislators with a document – available online at www.mpp.org/states/new-hampshire/hb-648-has-been-amended-to.html – detailing the committee's changes and specifies how all eight of the governor's concerns have been addressed.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
JUNE 16, 2009

Rhode Island to License Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in Move Hailed as Historic
Legislature Overrides Veto; Rhode Island Is First State to Expand an Existing Medical Marijuana Law to Permit Dispensaries

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ............... 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND -- In a historic first, Rhode Island legislators today made their state the first ever to expand an existing medical marijuana law to allow for state-licensed compassion centers to grow and distribute marijuana to registered patients. Legislators easily overrode the veto issued by Gov. Donald Carcieri with override votes of 68-0 in the House and 35-3 in the Senate.

     Rhode Island's medical marijuana law, like most such state laws, did not set up a formal distribution system, but simply allowed patients to grow a limited quantity of medical marijuana for their own use or designate a caregiver to grow it for them. In March, New Mexico became the first state to grant a state license to a medical marijuana producer, pursuant to legislation passed last year.

     "We are seeing a historic shift to allowing state-licensed, regulated medical marijuana production and distribution," said Karen O'Keefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "Combining regulated distribution with provisions for patients to grow a limited quantity for themselves is the best way to assure safe access for patients, with solid safeguards to prevent abuse." States where medical marijuana bills that include a dispensary provision are under consideration include Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, and a similar ballot initiative is now being circulated in Arizona. This November, Maine voters will vote on a ballot initiative to add dispensaries to the state's medical marijuana law.

     "During the Bush administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration raided medical marijuana patients and caregivers in California, leaving states hesitant to set up state-regulated distribution," said MPP director of government relations Aaron Houston. "Now that the Obama administration has announced a policy change, state legislators seem to feel safer adopting a sensible, regulated system of medical marijuana distribution that avoids the mistakes of California, where dispensaries sprang up with no rules. This is a historic step forward."

     With more than 27,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
JUNE 1, 2009   

After Making History in Senate, Medical Marijuana Bill Poised for House Floor Vote Later This Year

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ............... 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS -- Although the clock ran out before it could be acted on by the Illinois House of Representatives this weekend, medical marijuana legislation is now well positioned for a House floor vote, possibly before the end of the year, advocates said today.

     Within 48 hours of passing the Senate 30-28, the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act had already soared through the House Human Services Committee and was ready for its final reading and vote on the House floor. Tax legislation, however, occupied all of the House's time in the session's final hours.

     "This bill gained more and more momentum at every stage of the legislative process, and I think the pace at which it moved is testament to the support it enjoys," said Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), deputy majority leader and chief House sponsor of SB 1381. "Although today's top priority was the tax bill, I think the time has come for Illinois to enact a medical marijuana law. We just need to shore up a few votes before calling this bill to the floor."

     The measure could be brought to the House floor for a vote during the November veto session or when the General Assembly reconvenes in January 2010 for the second half of the current session.

     "Of course I'm disappointed," said Jamie Clayton of Grafton, an AIDS patient who participated in a groundbreaking FDA-approved study proving medical marijuana's efficacy in treating pain caused by nerve damage. "But the fact remains that we made it further than ever before. Hundreds of patients like myself came forward this year to plead with our legislators to enact this law, and we will not give up, ever. As someone who volunteered for a clinical study that proved the benefits of medical marijuana, I've felt the relief it can provide first-hand and learned how it can allow me to cut back on some of the prescription narcotics I have to take. A lot of people need this law, and we're not going away."

     With more than 27,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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