DrugSense FOCUS Alert #235 Feb 16, 2002 Please Help Remove the Cannabis Patients from the Battlefield PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE Deroy Murdock, a columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service wrote this in his syndicated column: The Bay Area clampdown recalls the DEA's Oct. 25 closure of the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center. It operated with the blessing of West Hollywood officials and the L.A. County sheriff, all elected authorities. That was not enough to keep 30 DEA agents from spending six hours yanking 400 marijuana plants from its premises along with computers, documents and the medical records of its 960 patients. Until the Feds intervened, these outfits operated legally. Fifty-six percent of California voters approved Proposition 215, a medical marijuana measure, in 1996. Initiatives also have legalized medipot in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Oregon, Nevada and Washington. While the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last May that therapeutic grass suppliers cannot assert marijuana's "medical necessity" to avoid federal drug laws, it did not address the validity of state statutes permitting clinical cannabis. Federal heavy-handedness has made drug decriminalizers rail against DEA chief and former GOP congressman Asa Hutchinson. As the Drug Policy Alliance's Glenn Backes says: "You have an appointed official, a career politician from Arkansas, who sits in Washington, D.C. and tells the voters of California and the other seven states that have supported medical marijuana: "It doesn't matter what you vote for. I have your tax dollars and I'm going to spend them going after sick people." You can read the rest of the column at this link http://www.mapinc.org/author/Deroy+Murdock We know that you, readers of our DrugSense Focus Alerts, are already doing your part sending letters to the editor. Because we also know, as a result of the votes above and respected national polls, that taking the patients off the battlefields of the War on Drugs has a solid majority of public support we are asking you today to help insure that our elected officials to understand this simple fact. With sustained pressure - both thru educating the media and the politicians - we can carry the day on this issue. So we are providing three alerts below -- from the Drug Policy Alliance, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and the Marijuana Policy Project -- in the hope that you will use them to take further action. From the Drug Policy Alliance http://www.drugpolicyalliance.org/ URGENT: STOP THE DEA! Protect Patients and Democracy!!! Your help is urgently needed! The DEA made numerous medical marijuana raids across the state of California yesterday (February 12th), closing down non-profit medical co-operatives and victimizing AIDS and Cancer patients. This comes on the very day that the U.S. Justice Department urged all law-enforcement agencies "to be on the highest alert" for impending terrorist attacks. Members of Congress need to know that these actions are unacceptable. How You Can Help Stop the DEA: CALL YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS!! TELL THEM: 1) "I'm outraged that the DEA made medical marijuana raids in California on a day that law-enforcement agencies were supposed to be on high alert protecting citizens from terrorist attacks." 2) "The DEA should stop wasting millions of dollars attacking patients." 3) "Congress should cut the DEA's budget by the amount spent on these raids." 4) "Members of Congress should issue press releases and go on record opposing these raids." To Call: Find out who your Representative and two Senators are by calling the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. You can also find out who your Senators are by going to http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index_by_state.cfm You can find out who your Representative is by going to http://www.house.gov/house/memberwww.html AFTER YOU MAKE THOSE PHONE CALLS, go to http://www.drugpolicy.org/action/frame_mdmj.html and fax your Senators and Representative. It is VERY IMPORTANT to follow up your phone calls with faxes. For more information on medical marijuana and the DEA raids, see http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/pr-february12b-02x.html From the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws http://www.norml.org/ Tell Your Congressmen to Oppose DEA Raids of California Medical Cannabis Co-operatives Send a message that this time the DEA has gone too far! On the morning of February 12, DEA agents carried out a massive series of raids on California's medical cannabis co-operatives and providers. The ultimate result of these raids is that hundreds of seriously ill patients who rely on these support groups must now turn to the streets and black market in order to obtain their medicine. Disturbingly, these raids took place on the same day that our nation's federal law enforcement agencies were to be on their highest alert protecting Americans from a possible terrorist attack. At a time when federal law enforcement resources are desperately needed to combat the real threat of terrorism in America, it is absurd that the DEA would spend time and money coordinating and implementing an assault on California's medical marijuana patients and providers. Even more appalling is that this action took place despite the fact that these clubs enjoy the support of California voters, local law enforcement, the San Francisco District Attorney's office, and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Please take five minutes to write to your Congressmen and Senators, urging them to go on record opposing these DEA raids as a waste of time and money and as a violation of the will of the people of California. We also recommend that you request your elected official to introduce legislation in Congress to cut the DEA's budget by the amount of money spent planning and carrying out these misguided raids. Thank you for your help in this important matter. From the Marijuana Policy Project http://www.mpp.org/ Dear Friend, At a time when our nation is concerned about the war on terrorism, the DEA is waging an all-out war on medical marijuana patients. The Bush administration warned that there was a high likelihood of a terrorist attack on Tuesday. They were right: That day, DEA thugs raided a medical marijuana clinic in San Francisco, charging four activists in the Bay Area with the "crime" of providing medical marijuana to patients who are legally authorized to use it under state law. Each of the four defendants now faces between five years and life in prison. Significantly, the clinic was authorized by the local prosecutor's office, who expressed his outrage that the DEA is trampling the will of California voters in its sick crusade against sick people. Please visit http://www.mpp.org/USA today to fax a pre-written letter of outrage to your U.S. representative and two U.S. senators. The whole process takes less than two minutes. (You might have previously used this Web page to fax a pre-written letter to your U.S. representative. If so, thank you. But please visit the page again, because we did not have the Web page set up at the time for faxing your two U.S. senators.) In an incredible show of arrogance, DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson scheduled a speech in San Francisco for that night. He tried to claim that the DEA is merely enforcing federal drug laws -- and that medical marijuana isn't really a priority. But the crowd didn't buy it, catcalling him and shouting "Liar!" when he said science has shown that smoking marijuana has no medical benefit. (News articles are available at http://www.mpp.org/USA) He got a taste of the ridicule he deserves. And MPP wants to add to his disgrace by overwhelming congressional offices with letters of protest. Please visit http://www.mpp.org/USA right now to ask your three members of Congress to (1) rein in the DEA, and ( 2 ) pass H.R. 2592, which would allow states to determine their own medical marijuana policies without federal interference -- or raids. As you may know, the Bush administration ran two TV ads during the Super Bowl and newspaper ads in the week that followed, claiming that people who buy drugs are really funding terrorism. If that were true, why would the Bush administration's DEA shut down a medical marijuana clinic, thereby forcing hundreds of patients to buy marijuana from illegal dealers on the streets instead of a locally sanctioned clinic? And this isn't the first time. Let's not forget that in October, the DEA pushed 1,000 patients into the streets of Los Angeles after shutting down a clinic in West Hollywood. The Bush administration is pursuing a harm-maximization, hate-filled, destructive policy. It's time to "just say no" to the DEA. Please visit http://www.mpp.org/USA to tell the DEA's funders -- the United States Congress -- to come down hard on the DEA. The DEA doesn't answer to you -- or the voters of California, apparently -- but it must answer to Congress. Please act now. Sincerely, Rob Kampia, Executive Director, Marijuana Policy Project P.S. Please ask your family and friends to visit http://www.mpp.org/USA so they can send their own letters of protest, too. MPP is trying to generate enough pressure to force Congress to hold hearings on the DEA's abuses. ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts Writer's Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/ TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm Prepared by Richard Lake, Focus Alert Specialist

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