TIERNEY SHOULD SUPPORT MEDICAL MARIJUANA

To the editor:

An open letter to John Tierney:

Congressman, you consistently vote to amend the appropriations bill
for the Department of Justice to prohibit the use of appropriated
funds to interfere with the implementation of medical marijuana laws
in states with such laws. In doing so, you join with all other
members of Massachusetts' delegation, except Stephen Lynch.

Back in 2005, you co-sponsored with Barney Frank, Michael Capuano,
James McGovern, John Olver and 33 other members of Congress
legislation that would codify such limits on the Department and
classify marijuana as a Schedule II drug. Despite urging from me and
other reform activists every session since you have failed to become
a co-sponsor. You sit on the fence professing you will "monitor this
bill's progress closely" without acknowledging that the more sponsors
the more likely the bill will make progress.

As you know from our correspondence over the years, Congress placed
marijuana in Schedule I at the Nixon Administration's urging. A
petition to reschedule filed in 1972 did not receive a hearing due to
DEA delay until 1986. Following the hearing, a DEA administrative law
judge ruled in 1988 that marijuana did not meet the legal criteria of
a Schedule I prohibited drug and should be rescheduled. The then DEA
administrator rejected that determination. A decision in the D.C.
Court of Appeals, based on a legal standard that grants the
administrator broad discretion affirmed in 1994. Earlier this month
the American Medical Association voted to urge "that marijuana's
status as a federal Schedule I controlled substance be reviewed with
the goal of facilitating the conduct of clinical research and
development of cannabinoid-based medicines."

Despite the convincing body of science affirming the now 23-year-old
recommendation of the administrative judge, Washington bureaucrats
continue to delay on subsequent petitions to reschedule. Millions of
citizens nationwide who could find relief from severe chronic and
acute illnesses must resort to the black market, and in states where
it is legal, suppliers in compliance with state law must fear federal
prosecution.

Congress put marijuana in Schedule I and can remove it.

Mr. Tierney, are you afraid a majority of your constituents will
think less of you if you become a co-sponsor? If that is the source
of your reticence then you are out of touch with the opinion of the
voters in the district. Mr. Tierney, please do the right thing and
become a sponsor of H.R.2835, an act to provide for the medical use
of marijuana in accordance with the laws of the various States.

Steven S. Epstein Esq.

West Street

Georgetown