OBEY SHOULD DISCUSS MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

Regarding the column by John Nichols, "Obey lays out his credo and
lives it," of August 9. There is one issue that Rep. Obey will not
lay out his credo on, and that is his stance on the federal medicinal
marijuana bills, Hr 1344 and the new bipartisan version, HR 2592,
both sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank, (D-MA).

While Rep. Obey's office did meet with Wisconsin patients last April,
his staff has not responded to letters and phone calls asking for his
position on these bills and this issue.

This is puzzling. To his credit, Rep. Obey voted against the infamous
1998 H. Res. 117, "Expressing the Sense of Congress that Marijuana is
a Dangerous and Addictive Drug and Should not be Legalized for
Medicinal Use."

But in 2001, his office will neither respond to correspondence, nor
even call back with his position on medical marijuana.

Rep. Obey owes not only the patients who made the painful journey to
Washington D.C. to meet with his office, as well as the people of
Wisconsin, a straight answer. Or better yet, he should join Rep.
Frank and the 12 current co-sponsors of HR 2592: our own Rep. Tammy
Baldwin, and Reps. Jan Schakowsky, Jerrold Nadler, David Bonior, Pete
Stark, Patsy Mink, Nancy Pelosi, Lynn Woolsey, Earl Blumenauer, Mike
Thompson, Ron Paul and Robert Ehrlich, Jr., and help push this long
overdue legislation forward.

Gary Storck
Madison