Drug Policy Forum of Kansas: Action Alert - January 13, 2008

1) Kansas Legislative Session Starts Tomorrow 2) Medical Marijuana Organization Gains Creditability 3) Wichita Doctor - Criminal or Drug War Victim? 4) DPFKS has new address The Kansas Legislative Session starts up again for the second half of the 2007/2008 session tomorrow. Check our website after January 20th for updates and analysis of drug policy reform-related bills. The Kansas Compassionate Care Coalition, a Kansas-based advocacy organization seeking legislation protecting medical marijuana patients from arrest, is mentioned today in a front page article in the Topeka Capitol-Journal on legislative priorities (see http://www.cjonline.com/stories/011308/sta_236261740.shtml). The 800-member strong organization is founded around a Statement of Principle regarding medical marijuana. Former Kansas Attorney General Robert T. Stephan held a press conference in August announcing his support for the organization. For more information on the organization and to sign their Statement of Principle, see their website, www.ksccc.org. Wichita pain-management doctor, Stephen Schneider and his nurse-wife Linda were arrested last month and charged in 34-count indictment of, among other things, causing the death of their patients by over prescribing opiate pain medication. A New Mexico-based organization, the Pain Relief Network, have come to the doctors defense by filing a lawsuit alleging that the Controlled Substances Act is being illegally enforced by the federal government. The doctor and his wife are being held without bail, have been denied visits by their teenage children, and have had all their assets seized by the government. The government is now trying to remove their court appointed attorneys from the case. The Board of Healing Arts will rule on Tuesday whether to close his Wichita clinic. Sounds like their guilty before even going to trial! Read all the latest news about Dr. Schneider’s case at the Pain Relief Network’s website and decide for yourself if he is criminal or a victim of the government’s war on drugs. http://www.painreliefnetwork.org/prn/category/news/ Our mailing address has changed! It is now: DPFKS, P.O. Box 357, Lawrence, Kansas 66044. Please help us promote innovative drug policies by sending your tax-deductible donation today. Become a member: Add yourself to our mailing list by going to our web site www.dpfks.org.