Medical Marijuana Fact Sheet
Thanks to Drug Policy Alliance. (emphasis ours)
Eleven states have adopted medical marijuana laws since 1996 - most of them by a vote of the people (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington). More than 20% of the U.S. population now lives in a state where public opinion and the will of the voters on medical marijuana have been transformed into meaningful law.
Almost without exception, federal law still treats the use of marijuana as a criminal offense even if the use is for medical reasons. Instead of changing federal law to reflect the reforms occurring in the states, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has increased enforcement efforts against Americans who use or grow marijuana for medicinal use, even in cases where such use is legal under state law. California has become the focus of the DEA’s overzealous and cruel criminal enforcement efforts.
In 2001 DEA agents raided and closed the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center, a non-profit co-op that provided marijuana to approximately 1,000 patients with AIDS, cancer and terminal illnesses. Although the co-op was operating legally under state law with the full support of local law enforcement and elected officials, 30 armed federal agents stormed the center, seizing marijuana plants, business documents, bank accounts and more than 3,000 confidential medical records. The West Hollywood Sheriff’s Department refused to cooperate with the DEA in this raid.
Other raids have been made more recently, prompting the California legislature to pass a resolution urging Congress to respect state law, stop the DEA raids, and re-schedule marijuana to allow doctors to prescribe it. The city and county of Santa Cruz, California have initiated a lawsuit against the federal government arguing that the federal government does not have the constitutional authority to arrest and imprison medical marijuana patients following state law.
These raids use precious resources, cost money, and are needlessly cruel.
Responding to growing outrage, Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) will, for the second year in a row, likely offer an amendment later this year that would prevent the DEA from spending money to undermine state medical marijuana laws. Once introduced, this amendment would force Congress to confront the medical marijuana issue.
October 31st, 2005 at 11:23 am
i think its messed up when i cant smoke a plant that was made by god and has been smoked for years but i can kill my wife if im a football player and get away with it