PATIENTS NEED PATIENCE

A Decade After Voters Started Approving Medical Marijuana, Congress
Still Hasn't Gotten the Message

Nevada voters may have voted for medical marijuana, but that doesn't
mean that law enforcement is willing to make it easy for them, nor
are the politicians who set federal policy.

At this point, the greatest hope patients and their physicians have
is next year's presidential election, which could bring into office a
candidate willing to stop law enforcement raids on health care use of
marijuana. And for Nevadans, the best way to affect that decision is
in the January presidential caucuses in which most candidates have
pledged to stop the raids.

Nevada radio personality Travus Hipp of Silver City was arrested last
month on pot charges although he has a California-issued medical
marijuana card. A search of his home turned up 4 ounces of marijuana
and 3 ounces of peyote.

On July 29, a vote was held in the U.S. House of Representatives on
whether to tell federal agents and prosecutors to knock off
harassment of patients in 12 states that have approved medical
marijuana by cutting off money for such raids.

Nevada House members Shelley Berkley and Jon Porter voted for it.
Dean Heller voted against it.

The measure failed, 165-262, nearly identical to a similar vote last
year of 163-259.

It was the best showing the measure has received but still a long way
from victory. Worse for proponents, it showed little growth in
strength, even with the Democratic takeover of the House.

The amendment, designed to protect patients who use medical marijuana
in accordance with state law from federal prosecution, was sponsored
by Republican Dana Rohrabacher of California and Democrat Maurice
Hinchey of New York.

None of the Nevada representatives spoke during the floor debate.

Internet Campaign

The vote was the subject of a great deal of online organizing and
campaigning, with groups like the Drug Reform Coordination Network
(DRCN) and the Drug Policy Alliance getting their constituencies to
pressure their House members to vote for the Hinchey amendment.

But it has failed to crack the barrier to being a national news
story. Of the news services, only Reuters covered the story and
newspaper coverage tended to be concentrated in the states that have
made medical marijuana legal under state law.

In a prepared statement after the vote, Hinchey said, "It is
unconscionable to me that the federal government would seek to not
only deny, but arrest and prosecute, medical marijuana patients who
are using the drug in accordance with state law to relieve pain and
nausea associated with debilitating illnesses such as cancer, AIDS
and multiple sclerosis. What we tried to do on the House floor
tonight was protect those patients and their doctors from unfair and
inhumane efforts by the federal government to deny them the medicine
they need."

DRCN posted a message on its website: "Don't look to the
Democratically-controlled Congress to protect you, patients!"
Seventy-nine of the votes against the amendment were Democratic. An
analysis by Jon Gettman of DrugScience.org showed that members of the
House from medical marijuana-supporting states voted heavily in favor
of the Hinchey amendment.

Berkley, a Southern Nevada Democrat, released a statement that
suggested her interest was not just in stopping interference with
current patient usage but also removing obstacles to medical
marijuana research.

"Congress needs to stop letting politics interfere with research on
the medicinal value of medical marijuana," she said. "FDA approval of
marijuana could happen, but not until the DEA stops blocking the
first step in that process."

There was no response to requests for a statement from Heller of the
reasons for his vote.

Jack Cole, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
(LEAP), said, "It is a shame that the majority of our representatives
in Congress could not agree to pass this compassionate Hinchey
amendment that would have stopped the funding used by federal
officers for making those destructive arrests. Nearly a quarter of
the states in the union have legalized medical marijuana because the
citizens of those states acknowledged by their personal votes that
they realized medical marijuana can save lives and make people dying
of terrible diseases more comfortable. The police, judges,
prosecutors and corrections personnel of LEAP have spent their entire
careers working to stop drug abuse. We know that to reduce death,
disease, crime and addiction in our communities we must end this
failed war on drugs because it is a self-perpetuating and constantly
enlarging policy of disaster."

During the day of the vote, the Drug Enforcement Administration
staged raids of medical marijuana dispensaries all across Los Angeles
County. The sweep came not only as the House was about to vote, but
also as the Los Angeles City Council approved a measure calling on
federal agents to stop harassing such groups. A DEA spokesperson
called the timing "purely coincidental."

In November 1996, Arizona and California voted to make marijuana
legal for health reasons. In the years since, medical marijuana has
become legal under state law in 12 states, mostly in the
West--Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada,
New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. (Voters in
Arizona and Maryland, have also approved health uses for marijuana
but they also have state laws banning possession.) The Hinchey
amendment would apply only to those 12.

Caucus issue

With presidential caucuses and primaries scheduled to start in four
months, every presidential candidate has been questioned about the
issue on the campaign trail, and most of them have said they would
de-emphasize the raids. In New Hampshire, the first primary state,
Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana has tracked the statements of
the candidates.

So far, Democrats Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd, John
Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson, and
Republicans Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo have said they support ending
the raids. John McCain has given conflicting statements on the issue.

Republicans Sam Brownback, Rudolph Giuliani, Michael Huckabee, Duncan
Hunter and Mitt Romney have said they would continue the raids.

Democrat Mike Gravel has not expressed himself on the specific issue
of the raids, but supports making marijuana legal.

There are additional bits of information in the candidates'
backgrounds that reflect on their stands. Barack Obama sponsored an
amendment in the senate to stop the raids. Bill Richardson, as New
Mexico governor, signed New Mexico's medical marijuana measure into
law and last month criticized the arrest of a wheelchair-bound
Malaga, N.M., man who was certified by the state Health Department to
possess and smoke marijuana for medical reasons. The arrest took
place in a raid on the man's home.

Joe Biden's stance on the raids stands in sharp contrast with most of
his record on drugs in Congress, where he has been one of the most
aggressive supporters of prohibition and the war on drugs.