| Photo: Drug Reporter |
| Ethan Nadelmann, Drug Policy Alliance: “These lawyers are playing politics with the lives of patients who need medical marijuana to cope with debilitating pain and nausea” |
Medical marijuana patients across the country are under attack, according to Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance.
“Despite the Obama Administration’s promise to respect state laws, lawyers in the federal government are now threatening to arrest and prosecute people who are legally licensed to grow medical marijuana under state law,” Nadelmann said.
“These ideologues are trying to block sensible regulation — and they’ve already succeeded in Washington State,” Nadelmann said. “We must stop them from erasing all the progress we’ve made and from leaving patients out in the cold.”
Nadelmann is urging all supporters of medical marijuana to write U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to demand that the federal government keep its promise to respect state medical marijuana laws.
“Back in 2009, the Obama Administration said they wouldn’t use ‘Justice Department resources to circumvent state laws’ on medical marijuana,” Nadelmann said. “They’ve kept their promise for the past two years, even issuing a memo that made this hands-off approach official policy.
“But now, federal government lawyers are intimidating states with new medical marijuana programs in an attempt to end these programs before they even get started,” Nadelmann said. “It’s already happened in Washington State, where the governor vetoed a promising medical marijuana bill.
“And if these threats continue, they could jeopardize our efforts in every state where medical marijuana legislation is on the table,” Nadelmann said.
“These lawyers are playing politics with the lives of patients who need medical marijuana to cope with debilitating pain and nausea,” Nadelmann said. “Take action now and ask the Attorney General to keep the Administration’s promise to leave state medical marijuana programs alone.
“To put a stop to these scare tactics, we don’t need any laws changed,” Nadelmann said. “We just need the Attorney General to tell the handful of people sending the threats to stop.”