It's Time for Medical Marijuana Plan B

[Guest guest]

At 02:17 PM 8/29/07, you wrote:

 

DEA Should Stop Blocking Medical Marijuana Research

 

 

Did you know that along with raiding medical marijuana

clinics and prosecuting people, the DEA is actually blocking research

into medical marijuana too -- research that if allowed to take place

could lead to marijuana's approval as a medicine through the FDA? Yet at

the very same time, DEA hypocritically cites a lack of research as

justification for keeping medical marijuana illegal!

Most recently, DEA has stalled an application from the

University of Massachusetts to grow research-grade marijuana in a secure

facility for FDA- and DEA-approved medical studies. Though DEA's own

Administrative Law Judge has said it should be approved, we expect them

to show bad faith and reject it -- after waiting as long as they can --

unless they are pressured to do otherwise.

 

A group of US Representatives is preparing to send a

sign-on letter to the DEA, next month, for just that purpose.

Please visit our

web site to write your member of Congress asking him or her to sign

on! We encourage you to personalize your email. When you're done,

please forward this alert to everyone you know who might support it

too.

 

Thank you for your help on this -- and thanks to the

thousands of you who used our site to lobby for the Hinchey medical

marijuana amendment last fall too. With your help, we believe that this

" Plan B " will help get us closer to the goal.

(Click here to

read the text of the Congressional sign-on letter on the MAPS web site,

and

click

here to read the results of this summer's Hinchey medical marijuana

vote on ours.)

 

Sincerely,

 

David Borden, Executive Director

Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)

P.O. Box 18402

Washington, DC 20036

 

 

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):

Umass Letter -- US Reps Who Haven't Endorsed Yet

Below is the sample letter:

Medical Marijuana Research Must Be Allowed to Proceed

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

Please sign John Olver and Dana Rohrabacher's Congressional Sign-on

letter to DEA in support of Professor Lyle Craker's application for a

Schedule I license to produce research-grade marijuana for FDA- and

DEA-approved clinical studies at the University of

Massachusetts.

It is hypocritical for DEA on the one hand to cite insufficient research

as a reason for keeping marijuana un-prescribable, while on the other

hand preventing the very research that it says is needed from taking

place. Prof. Craker's UMass proposal would end this unfortunate Catch-22

the DEA has created by allowing the controversy over medical marijuana's

safety and efficacy to be settled through FDA clinical trials.

Sincerely,

KRAIG CARROLL

 

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What's At Stake:

Let your Congressional Representative know what you think about medical marijuana research!

Right now is a unique window of opportunity to end the federal government's decades-long stranglehold on research into marijuana's potential as an FDA-approved prescription medicine. On May 15, 2007, DEA Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner issued an Opinion and Recommended Ruling to DEA in favor of Prof. Craker's application to grow research-grade marijuana at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Prof. Craker's facility would end NIDA's decades-long monopoly on the supply of marijuana that can be used in FDA-approved research, and is the focal point of the struggle to bring medical marijuana before the FDA to evaluate whether it meets federal standards for safety and efficacy as a prescription medicine.

Unfortunately, DEA is under no obligation to accept the ruling. Unless there is a groundswell of support from the public and Congress, it is highly doubtful that DEA will do the right thing.

On May 16, a " Dear Colleague " letter by Reps. John Olver (D-MA) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) was sent to all members of the US House of Representatives, urging each member to sign their Congressional Sign-On Letter to DEA Administrator Karen Tandy urging the DEA to accept the recent non-binding ruling by DEA Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner in favor of MAPS and Prof. Craker. Current Representatives who have signed on are as follows:

 

Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)

Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA)

Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA)

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN)

Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA)

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)

Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)

Rep. Mazie Hirono (D-HI)

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA)

Rep. George Miller (D-CA)

Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA)

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY

) Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN)

Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)

Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ)

Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-IL)

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA)

Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL)

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)

What you can do:

1. Contact your representatives in Congress and let them know that you would like them to assist Professor Craker by joining Representatives John Olver (D--MA) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) in signing the Congressional sign-on letter being sent to DEA's Deputy Administrator. Individualized letters and phone calls are the best ways to get the attention of your legislators. E-mails are helpful, but phone calls and especially personal letters or faxes carry significantly more weight. No matter what, always be courteous and succinct.

To reach your Rep. by mail, write to: The Honorable (full name)/House Office Building/United States House of Representatives/Washington DC 20515

To reach your Rep. by phone, call the congressional switchboard at: (202) 224-3121 or (800) 962-3524.

(Sample phone script: Hi, my name is (your full name), and I live in (your town or city). As a constituent of Representative (name here), I would like to encourage him/her to sign John Olver and Dana Rohrabacher's Congressional Sign-on letter to DEA in support of Professor Lyle Craker's application for a Schedule I license to produce research-grade marijuana for FDA- and DEA-approved clinical studies. I would like to see the controversy over medical marijuana resolved through privately-funded FDA-approved research, and Prof. Craker's case is the focal point of the struggle to evaluate whether medical marijuana meets the FDA's standards for safety and efficacy. Thank you for your time and consideration. )

2. Urge organizations that you're a member of to join the other political, medical, science, public health, and religious groups who are signing on to a letter of support being sent to DEA's Deputy Administrator. (For more information about the organizational sign-on letter effort, contact lauren.)

3. Forward this message to those in your sphere of influence to alert them to action! This is a matter which is of great importance. Enough political and public support may give DEA the confidence to license Prof. Craker's facility and end the federal government's obstruction of long-suppressed medical marijuana research.

Campaign Expiration Date:

December 31, 2007

 

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******

Kraig and Shirley Carroll ... in the woods of SE Kentucky

http://www.thehavens.com/

thehavens

606-376-3363

 

 

 

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