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Allow Health Care Patients Access to Therapy - Not Time Behind Bars

Target: U.S. Congress
Sponsored by: Marijuana Policy Project

For thousands of years, marijuana has reduced symptoms for the seriously ill effectively, and has helped improve their quality of life. Dozens of medical and health organizations endorse or allow patients access to medical marijuana with their physicians’ approval. Marijuana has been used therapeutically to control pain, alleviate nausea and vomiting in cancer patients due to chemotherapy, treat wasting due to HIV/AIDS, combat muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis and more.

To date, 12 states have passed medical marijuana laws. While the laws differ from state to state, they all work to protect patients and caregivers from criminal charges associated with their medicine.

The bipartisan Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment to the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill would stop the U.S. Department of Justice from spending taxpayer money to arrest or prosecute legitimate patients -- and their caregivers -- in states where medical marijuana is legal.

Seriously ill patients have the right to effective therapies. To deny patients access to such a therapy is to deny them dignity and respect as persons.

Urge Congress to pass the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment and allow health care patients the medicine they need!

deadline: 6-25-2008
goal: 20,000

17,467
signatures!

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Dear Representative [Last Name],

Please vote for the Hinchey medical marijuana amendment to the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill when it comes to the House floor for a vote.

The Hinchey amendment would prohibit the Justice Department -- including the DEA -- from spending funds to interfere with state medical marijuana laws.

Your support for this amendment would be consistent with the views of most Americans. Seventy eight percent of Americans support "making marijuana legally available for doctors to prescribe in order to reduce pain and suffering." (Gallup poll, 2005)

Since 1996, 12 states have enacted laws to protect patients afflicted with HIV/AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis and other serious diseases from arrest and prison. In fact, just last month the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS), America’s second largest cancer charity and the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education, and patient services, endorsed medical marijuana access. In their June 2007 statement, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society “strongly urge[s] that in a state where patients are permitted to use marijuana medicinally for serious and/or chronic illnesses and a patient's physician has recommended its use in accordance with that state's law and that state’s medical practice standards, the patient should not be subject to federal criminal penalties for such medical use.”

The American Nurses Association has consistently supported protections for patients who use marijuana for medical purposes under their physicians’ supervision. They are joined by many other health care organizations, as well as thousands of doctors and health care professionals who are on record as supporting medical marijuana and opposing the arrest of patients who use medical marijuana.

[Your Comments Here]

I urge you to support the Hinchey amendment. Your vote of support will benefit tens of thousands of patients, and I will be immensely grateful. Thank you.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]
[Your Address]

We signed the “Allow Health Care Patients Access to Therapy - Not Time Behind Bars” petition!

# 17,472:

4:20 pm PDT, Aug 6, Jennifer Bell, Illinois

# 17,471:

3:02 pm PDT, Aug 6, Jacob Slutsky, Illinois

# 17,470:

2:48 pm PDT, Aug 6, Elizabeth Berget, Arkansas

# 17,469:

2:42 pm PDT, Aug 6, Christina Fermin, Florida

# 17,468:

1:00 pm PDT, Aug 6, Larry Villavicenio, Texas

# 17,467:

7:25 am PDT, Aug 6, Marion McCroskey, Georgia
De-criminalizing all medically related uses would be a more effective use of resources. We have too many "nannies" in FDA & DEA.

# 17,466:

11:06 pm PDT, Aug 5, Debra Koski, Louisiana
It's okay for terminally ill persons to use morphine but not pot? Sounds like lame politics.

# 17,465:

9:11 pm PDT, Aug 5, Bruce Michael mohr, Ohio

# 17,464:

9:09 pm PDT, Aug 5, Name not displayed, Illinois
After all, marijuana is grown from the earth, therefore, would be holistic to say the least adn if it helps these poor people with such terrible illnesses, then how can you say it's illegal when it grows NATURALLY!!The earth knows what is needed

# 17,463:

4:56 pm PDT, Aug 5, Daniel Gross, Kansas

# 17,461:

3:03 pm PDT, Aug 5, Tash Hodges, Ohio

# 17,460:

2:57 pm PDT, Aug 5, Michael Downs, Missouri

# 17,459:

1:18 pm PDT, Aug 5, Kenneth Luna, Illinois

# 17,458:

1:05 pm PDT, Aug 5, Harper Stevenson, Connecticut

# 17,457:

11:57 am PDT, Aug 5, Janson Truong, Texas

# 17,456:

7:51 am PDT, Aug 5, Name not displayed, North Carolina

# 17,455:

5:22 am PDT, Aug 5, J Fellows, California

# 17,454:

3:57 am PDT, Aug 5, Latoya Murphy, Pennsylvania
Terminally ill patients should have access to effective therapy. Let them Be healed!

# 17,453:

7:12 pm PDT, Aug 4, Karl Knutsen, Minnesota

# 17,452:

6:49 pm PDT, Aug 4, Courtney Laves, Ohio

# 17,451:

5:04 pm PDT, Aug 4, Name not displayed, Florida

# 17,450:

4:52 pm PDT, Aug 4, Patrick H. Bair, Esq., Pennsylvania

# 17,449:

3:28 pm PDT, Aug 4, Debra Micheal, Ohio

# 17,448:

2:48 pm PDT, Aug 4, Christina Anderson, Massachusetts
Radiation kills which we establised with Heroshima yet we still give it to cancer patients everday. A warfare tactic is legal medicine, but a plant natural to the earth is denied to those who could benifit from it. A plant doesn't kill people, but denying people their medicine does.

# 17,447:

1:13 pm PDT, Aug 4, Ainsley Jo Phillips, Indiana
As an upcoming book will point out, I was someone who was subjected to questionable drugs for questionable reasons when I was in my early twenties. Then, there are those kids having this side-effect and that side-effect from various vaccinations. How about those people who were used as human guina pigs without their knowledge?_____Uncle Sam, you live in a glass house, so quit throwing stones at marijuana and other alternative treatments that have been proven to be effective for, at the very least, relieving severe pain!____What's your agenda!?! Something fishy, methinks...

# 17,446:

1:10 pm PDT, Aug 4, Richard Falzone, Massachusetts

# 17,445:

10:29 am PDT, Aug 4, Monica Whitmore, Virginia

# 17,444:

9:04 am PDT, Aug 4, Name not displayed, Texas

# 17,443:

8:21 am PDT, Aug 4, Klaudio Negric, Croatia

# 17,442:

7:51 am PDT, Aug 4, Latoya James, Virginia

# 17,441:

7:28 am PDT, Aug 4, Judy Perez, Florida

# 17,440:

7:27 am PDT, Aug 4, Lucy Runyon, Florida

# 17,439:

7:25 am PDT, Aug 4, Leon Perez, Florida

# 17,438:

6:22 am PDT, Aug 4, Name not displayed, Florida

# 17,437:

12:06 am PDT, Aug 4, Steven Heaver, New Jersey

# 17,436:

7:47 pm PDT, Aug 3, Name not displayed, United Kingdom

# 17,435:

7:09 pm PDT, Aug 3, Carrie Fitzgerald, Ohio

# 17,433:

5:42 pm PDT, Aug 3, Veronica Benson-Moore, California

# 17,432:

4:44 pm PDT, Aug 3, Kearna Hall, California

# 17,431:

1:56 pm PDT, Aug 3, Karla Cruz, Texas

# 17,430:

1:52 pm PDT, Aug 3, Brad Conlan, Pennsylvania

# 17,429:

1:08 pm PDT, Aug 3, Lindsay Mugglestone, California

# 17,428:

11:22 am PDT, Aug 3, Tara Ramey, Pennsylvania

# 17,427:

9:12 am PDT, Aug 3, A Swor, New Mexico
Let people be HEALED!

# 17,426:

8:58 am PDT, Aug 3, Kiriaki P., Greece
The world will suppose that I have something I say when, in reality, I want from something to be exempted.

# 17,425:

8:35 am PDT, Aug 3, Janice Sulwen Pride, Arizona
Maybe you would like to be sick and not have access to treatments that would help you? The government has not been thinking straight on this issue.

# 17,424:

7:42 am PDT, Aug 3, July Green, North Dakota

# 17,423:

6:55 am PDT, Aug 3, Elaine Eder, New York

# 17,422:

6:26 am PDT, Aug 3, Margaret S. Maurin, Pennsylvania

# 17,421:

10:16 pm PDT, Aug 2, Name not displayed, Connecticut

# 17,420:

8:16 pm PDT, Aug 2, Teresa Campos, Florida

# 17,419:

7:46 pm PDT, Aug 2, Patti Mcgill, Oklahoma

# 17,418:

7:06 pm PDT, Aug 2, Nicki Somers-Bashor, Maryland
When relief is available, and someone is terminal or incurable, this should not be a crime!!!!!

# 17,417:

5:23 pm PDT, Aug 2, Valerie W. Clark, California

# 17,416:

3:40 pm PDT, Aug 2, Joan Albanese, New Jersey

# 17,415:

3:32 pm PDT, Aug 2, Melissa Carrera, Texas

# 17,414:

1:29 pm PDT, Aug 2, Carmen Stauss, Indiana

# 17,413:

11:44 am PDT, Aug 2, Meghan DeKozlowski, Maryland
If something that is natural can help people in pain, rather than something that usually has horrible side effects and is tested on animals, why not legalize it? What harm has it caused anyone? Nobody has DIED from an overdose of weed. Stop putting countless people in jail for possession and stop wasting our tax dollars. Save it for real criminals.

# 17,412:

10:13 am PDT, Aug 2, Amanda Niles, Washington

# 17,411:

8:48 am PDT, Aug 2, Donald Scholten, Virginia

# 17,410:

6:16 am PDT, Aug 2, Richard Michael Brugger Jr., New York

# 17,409:

2:14 am PDT, Aug 2, Yang Yi Lee-Melk, Arizona

# 17,408:

12:44 am PDT, Aug 2, Name not displayed, Wyoming

# 17,407:

9:21 pm PDT, Aug 1, Mark Fickert, Texas
Medicines that help patients, are easy to produce, safe, and effective should be available to those they can help, not just approved on the basis of profit for drugco's.

# 17,406:

7:49 pm PDT, Aug 1, Name not displayed, Georgia
First, the Tenth Amendment constitutionally prohibits the federal government from dealing with marijuana. Second, even though I believe that marijuana is problematic and that there are good herbal alternatives, states have power to make the drug legal, and patients and practitioners should have healthcare freedom (not including the "right" to abortion or assisted suicide but including access to most other health treatments). Third, the massive federal deficit is exacerbated by drug spending which could give much worse drugs such as methamphetamines a competitive advantage. Fourth, Ritalin could be more problematic than marijuana, and logically (though not constitutionally) Ritalin could fit into Schedule I, or marijuana could be removed from Schedule I.

# 17,405:

7:27 pm PDT, Aug 1, Brigett Carroll, Arkansas

# 17,404:

7:26 pm PDT, Aug 1, Joanna Fulwider, Oklahoma

# 17,403:

6:33 pm PDT, Aug 1, Amir H ahamenata, Israel

# 17,402:

5:27 pm PDT, Aug 1, Name not displayed, New Jersey

# 17,401:

4:02 pm PDT, Aug 1, Jennifer Hunter, New York

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Allow Health Care Patients Access to Therapy - Not Time Behind Bars

This petition has been closed.