PRO-MEDICAL MARIJUANA GROUP TARGETS CONGRESSMAN

Someone is calling Trent Franks "heartless," and it's not his opponent in
the U.S. District 2 House seat.

Signs stating "Trent Franks is heartless" have cropped up at area
intersections and are being displayed on overpasses along Loop 101 in the
West Valley. And although there's no love lost between Franks and opponent
Rick Murphy, the camp behind the campaign is not Murphy but Arizonans for
Medical Marijuana.

AMM representatives and medical marijuana patients staged a press
conference outside Franks' Glendale office Thursday afternoon, alleging the
congressman has been "voting to continue arresting and jailing seriously
ill patients who use medical marijuana," according to a press release from
the group.

About a dozen people participated in the demonstration and education
effort, said Aaron Houston, AMM director. A former political consultant and
lobbyist, 26-year-old Houston is from Washington, D.C., but temporarily
moved to the Valley, officially registering the group in Scottsdale.

"It is important to me because there are tens of thousands of cancer
patients out there that need medical marijuana," said Houston. "He voted to
send them to federal prison for using medical marijuana that was
recommended by their doctors and is in compliance with state law," Houston
said.

"We've been getting a great response from Congressman Franks'
constituents," he added. "People are angry to hear about this. ... They
think it's heartless."

AMM representative Brian Vicente said motorists also have been honking in
support of the sign holders along Loop 101.

Franks said no one from AMM has contacted him, and he only became aware of
the demonstration after driving by his Glendale office Thursday afternoon.

When asked if Houston had contacted Franks regarding his groups' cause, he
replied, "I certainly walked into his office in Washington, D.C., on July
7, but he wasn't available," said Houston.

So will he try to contact Franks now that he's here? Said Houston, "We
might have some stuff coming up."

Franks said he doesn't support the medical marijuana effort because he
believes it is just a ploy by "some real scary forces" to legalize other drugs.

"If the FDA said marijuana was the best medicine, I wouldn't have any
problem with that at all, but that's just not the case. So consequently I
don't support medical marijuana as it is traditionally understood," he
said. "The problem here is that the Medical Marijuana people are sometimes
pawns of the larger groups who would work toward legalizing hard drugs."

Franks added, "I fully support any legitimate medicine that truly helps
legitimate patients, but I'm not going to be part of an effort to legalize
hard drugs in this society."

Franks said those drugs include heroin, opium and cocaine.

"The idea of legalizing heroin or opium or even legalizing marijuana by
itself would be a disaster in my opinion," he said. "This has nothing to do
with legalizing medicine for legitimate patients."

Franks said he was surprised to be the target of AMM's attention, but
added, "Being in office, one expects to be attacked. So there's two things
I try to do: I don't respond in kind. ... and secondly, I believe the
voters consider our record and they will give me the honor of continuing to
be their congressman."

Franks said AMM's allegation that he has jailed seriously ill patients is
"hysterical nonsense."

"I have no earthly idea why they would make such an outrageous claim," he said.

According to the AMM press release, Franks on July 7 voted against "a
bipartisan proposal that would have barred the U.S. Justice Department from
spending money to arrest and jail seriously ill patients who use medical
marijuana legally under state law. Because the amendment was defeated,
patients with cancer, multiple sclerosis, AIDS and other serious illnesses
still face federal prison for using medical marijuana with their
physicians' approval and supervision."

But according to the Thomas Voting Report, the House Resolution 4754 that
was voted down blocked federal override of state marijuana laws, "affirming
federal prosecutorial authority in the ten states with such laws," read the
report.

AMM is distributing 200,000 copies of a tabloid discussing the benefits of
medical marijuana and Franks' voting record. It is available at www.az4mm.org

Murphy said his camp isn't behind AMM's efforts and he knew nothing about
the campaign.

"I have no idea who they are and what they're doing," he said.

Murphy declined to say whether he supported medical marijuana.

"We haven't taken a stance on it," he said. "It hasn't been a part of the
campaign."