Candidates/Races

[Courtesy of the Marijuana Policy Project] At least 10 of the 18 Democratic and Republican presidential candidates are now on the record in favor of ending the DEA's raids on medical marijuana and/or the federal government's prohibition on medical marijuana. Thanks to MPP's work, seven candidates have publicly pledged to end the DEA's raids in states where medical marijuana is legal — Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM), and former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R-WI). In addition, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) has voted in favor of medical marijuana legislation on the House floor four out of four times, former Sen. Mike Gravel (D-AK) said on C-SPAN, "That one is real simple. I would legalize marijuana," and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said, "I will let states decide that issue." That's right: Even Sen. McCain, when given the opportunity to comment on medical marijuana publicly, said something positive, not negative. It has been only two months since MPP began lobbying the presidential candidates to take strong, public, positive positions on medical marijuana during the presidential primary race in New Hampshire, which is the first state to hold a primary (on January 22, 2008). One particular success story involves Sen. Edwards. In 2003, we trailed him around the state, relentlessly questioning him about medical marijuana access. At the time, Sen. Edwards insisted it would be "irresponsible" to end the DEA's raids on sick and dying people. Now, four years later, his position has changed from vowing to continue the raids to vowing to end them. A majority of the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates are supportive of medical marijuana access. Our favorite quote so far is from former Gov. Thompson, who told MPP's Stuart Cooper in Manchester, "No, they should not be arrested. They should not be arrested. They should not be arrested. I would do away with the DEA raids!" And this doesn't even count the support that other candidates — including every Libertarian Party candidate, as well as potential candidate Ralph Nader — have expressed for ending marijuana prohibition entirely. Of the two Democratic candidates I haven't yet mentioned, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) is studying the issue, and we haven't yet spoken with Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) this year, although he told me personally in the fall of 2004 that he supports medical marijuana. Of the six remaining Republican candidates, they're all bad so far, but we'll keep working on them: Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), former Gov. Jim Gilmore (R-VA), former Mayor Rudy Guiliani (New York City), former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR), Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), and former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA). Again, you can read about the specifics of their comments by visiting our Web site at www.mpp.org.

Media Advisory: Medical marijuana protest to return to Green campaign office Wednesday WHAT? Protest at Mark Green's Campaign Office WHERE? Mark Green's campaign office 1915 S. Webster, Allouez, Wi. WHEN? Wednesday, October 18 @ 10:00am Background: (WHO? and WHY?) Jacki Rickert, founder of Is My Medicine Legal Yet?, (www.immly.org) suffers from two incurable medical conditions, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and Advanced Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. Jacki has found that marijuana helps treat these painful and debilitating illnesses, and with assistance from her physician, now deceased, she was approved to receive medical marijuana from the federal government's Compassionate IND program. However, the program was closed to new patients, and the 8 medical marijuana patients already in the program were grandfathered in. The program's 5 surviving patients continue to receive marijuana from the government to this day. Congressman Mark Green has been asked about his stance on medical marijuana, and he has written, "I believe current medical options are superior to legalizing an addictive and dangerous illegal drug". Jacki wants to know what medical options he's speaking of to treat her incurable conditions, since she has yet to find these superior medical options that he speaks of. Jacki Rickert went to Mark Green's office on October 10 with a letter, (http://www.immly.org/jacki2green.htm) asking him to tell her about these "superior medical options". He has yet to respond. The staffer in Mark Green's office said they would give this issue some thought, but when WGBA NBC 26 television asked for their stance, Mark Green's Campaign manager Mark Graul laughed and said that he didn't believe "the majority of Wisconsinites would want to legalize drugs". Mark Green's office figured they could just ignore Jacki since she came from far away, and is in a wheelchair. However, Jacki's supporters, including other medical marijuana patients, are coming back to his office to find out what these "superior medical options" are. For more information contact: Eric Tatera (920) 713-0230 (event coordinator in Green Bay) Jacki Rickert (715) 926-4950 (Mondovi) Gary Storck (608) 241-8922 (Madison) - 30 - (This blog post was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)