Congress to Vote This Week on Amendment to Bar Feds from Harassing, Arresting Medical Marijuana Patients

For a fourth year in a row, Congress will step into the growing conflict between states and the federal government over the issue of medical marijuana. The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on an amendment this week that would prohibit the federal government from undermining state efforts to allow patients to use marijuana for medical reasons. Dozens of states have passed favorable medical marijuana legislation and eleven of them have made it legal for patients to use marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation. The use of marijuana for any reason, however, remains a federal crime and the U.S. Justice Department has been accused of spending too much time and money arresting medical marijuana patients.

Responding to increased tension between state and federal officials, Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) offered an amendment to a federal spending bill last year that would have prohibited the Justice Department from spending any money undermining state medical marijuana laws. 161 members of Congress voted for it (70 percent of Democrats and 15 Republicans). While not enough votes to win, it was more than anyone expected. The two Congressmen plan to offer the amendment again this week as an amendment to the Science-State-Justice-Commerce federal spending bill.

“Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is not just trampling on medical privacy, he is jeopardizing public safety,” said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. “The law enforcement resources he wastes arresting cancer, AIDS, and MS patients would be better used fighting terrorism and violent crime.”

Although federal marijuana laws do not make an exception for medical use, the medical benefits of marijuana are well established. A 1999 Institute of Medicine study funded by the federal government found that nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety “all can be mitigated by marijuana.” The esteemed medical journal, The Lancet Neurology, reports that marijuana’s active components “inhibit pain in virtually every experimental pain paradigm.” Organizations that support allowing patients to use marijuana for medical reasons include the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Bar Association, American Nurses Association, and the American Public Health Association.

Many religious denominations also support medical marijuana or state discretion on the issue, including the Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church, National Council of Churches, National Progressive Baptist Convention, Presbyterian Church (USA), Union for Reform Judaism, United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Methodist Church. No religious denomination has come out in opposition to the medical use of marijuana.

Although eleven states have legalized medical marijuana in recent years and polls show that voters overwhelmingly support legal access to medical marijuana, the Drug Enforcement Administration (a division of the U.S. Justice Department) has made a series of high profile and controversial raids on medical marijuana patients in the last couple of years. These raids, which have occurred in states where voters have approved the use of medical marijuana, have angered local officials.

If enacted, the so-called Hinchey/Rohrabacher amendment would not prevent the DEA from arresting people using, growing, or selling marijuana for recreational use. Nor would it prevent the DEA from arresting patients for medical marijuana in states that have not approved it. It would simply prevent the federal government from arresting cancer, AIDS and MS patients who use marijuana for medical reasons in states that allow such use.

Groups supporting the right of patients to use medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation say they will make the vote a campaign issue. National polls show that over 70 percent of voters support medical marijuana, including substantial majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and independents. Voters have approved it at the ballot box every chance they have been given. Some polls show that as many as two-thirds of voters say they prefer candidates that support medical marijuana over those that do not.

“If a member of Congress votes to send cancer, AIDS, and MS patients to jail we’re going to make sure that voters in his or her district know that by November,” said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. “This is a life and death issue and voters understand that.”