Beyond the pale. This group deserves our help -Evan
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:56:52 -0700
From: Marijuana Policy Project <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Dear Evan Ravitz:
A medical marijuana patient whose doctor says marijuana is the only medicine
keeping her alive does not have a constitutional right to stay alive, a federal
appeals court ruled today.
Angel Raich, a California mother of two, uses marijuana to treat
life-threatening wasting syndrome, seizures, an inoperable brain tumor, and
severe chronic pain. "The court has just sentenced me to death," she said after
the ruling. "My doctors agree that medical cannabis is essential to my very
survival, and the government did not even contest the medical evidence ... If
we don't have a right to live, what do we have left?"
Raich's lawyers argued that because her doctors believe medical marijuana is
essential to her survival, prosecuting her would violate the U.S.
Constitution's Fifth Amendment guarantee that no person may be "deprived of
life ... without due process of law."
In its decision, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that there is
not yet a constitutional right "to make a life-shaping decision on a
physician's advice to use medical marijuana to preserve bodily integrity, avoid
intolerable pain, and preserve life, when all other prescribed medications and
remedies have failed."
But -- significantly -- the court suggested that a right to medical marijuana
could eventually be recognized as fundamental. The ruling says: "For now,
federal law is blind to the wisdom of a future day when the right to use
medical marijuana to alleviate excruciating pain may be deemed fundamental.
Although that day has not yet dawned, considering that during the last ten
years eleven states have legalized the use of medical marijuana, that day may
be upon us sooner than expected."
MPP's grants program has paid for much of Raich's litigation. Visit
http://www.mpp.org/news to read some of the news coverage of the decision.
Because the federal courts have refused to protect medical marijuana patients
from arrest, it's all the more imperative that Congress act to change federal
law. MPP has led the fight in Congress over the last four years, with a record
163 House members voting for a medical marijuana amendment last summer. And,
since the Democratic takeover of Congress in November, the congressional
outlook for medical marijuana is now better than it has been since I co-founded
MPP 12 years ago.
In fact, we have a real chance of passing federal legislation to protect
medical marijuana patients this year, but we need you to stand with us. If you
agree that seriously ill people should not have to live in fear of armed
federal agents breaking down their doors to take away their medicine, would you
please visit http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M724640827876212842681065&af=y to
make a financial contribution to our lobbying work today?
Our track record of success (see http://www.mpp.org/history) is growing every
year, and we can get the job done. But we're 100% dependent on supporters like
you to fund our work.
This is literally a matter of life and death for Angel Raich and thousands of
other patients. Would you please visit
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M724640827876212842681065&af=y to help us to
continue fighting this battle in Congress?
Thank you,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. Today also brought happier legal news, when a federal judge in San
Francisco dismissed charges against marijuana policy activist Ed Rosenthal on
grounds of "vindictive prosecution." Rosenthal was sentenced in 2003 to a
single day in prison after a jury found him guilty of violating federal law by
growing marijuana for patients. That conviction was overturned last year, and
the government filed new charges, including four counts of tax evasion and one
count of money laundering. U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer today
dismissed those charges, ruling that the prosecutors appeared to be retaliating
against Rosenthal for publicly criticizing the government.
P.P.S. As I've mentioned in previous alerts, a major philanthropist has
committed to match the first $3.0 million that MPP can raise from the rest of
the planet in 2007. This means that your donation today at
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M724641057876212842681065&af=y will be
doubled.
======================================================================
The Marijuana Policy Project hopes that each of the 100,000 subscribers on our
national e-mail list will make at least one financial donation to MPP's work in
2007. Please visit
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M724641157876212842681065&af=y to donate now.
MPP will be able to tackle all of the projects in its 2007 strategic plan --
http://www.mpp.org/2007plan -- if you and other allies are generous enough to
fund our work.
Raised in 2007: $266,503
Goal in 2007: $2,400,000
We are required by federal law to tell you that any donations you make to MPP
may be used for political purposes, such as supporting or opposing candidates
for federal office.
via:
http://Vote.org
Taking the "mock" out of democracy!
Evan Ravitz, founder (303)440-6838 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"Fool's gold exists because there is real gold." -Rumi
also: http://Vote.org/photos http://Vote.org/paradise
