We are writing to urge you to vote for the Hinchey/Rohrabacher/ Paul/Farr Amendment to the Science-State-Justice-Commerce appropriations bill, which is scheduled for a House floor as early as Tuesday, June 27. The amendment would prohibit the U.S. Justice Department from allocating valuable resources to preempt state medical marijuana laws. We urge you to vote for the amendment in order to impose a one-year moratorium on federal funding for raids, arrests and prosecutions of medical marijuana patients in states that have medical marijuana laws.

The vast majority of Americans support some form of medical marijuana availability for the patients who truly need it (nation-wide polls conducted by Time Magazine-CNN and AARP found that 80 percent and 72 percent of the public, respectively, supported adult medical marijuana use). Even the Supreme Court has now strongly suggested that Congress directly address the medical marijuana conundrum in its 2005 Gonzales v. Raich decision. By taking this interim step, Congress can temporarily address the conflict that exists after the Raich decision between state medical marijuana laws and federal marijuana laws.

While the Supreme Court in Raich held that federal marijuana laws could be enforced against intrastate medical marijuana activity, Raich did not address the much different issue of the continued validity of state medical marijuana laws. The unquestionable power of state governments to enact and enforce state medical marijuana laws was not challenged in Raich, and the Court’s decision did nothing to undercut or diminish that basic state government authority. In short, after the Raich decision, the federal government can enforce federal marijuana laws in the eleven states with medical marijuana laws in place, but state law enforcement officials will continue to enforce state law permitting medicinal marijuana use.

In the text of its decision in Raich, the Supreme Court strongly suggested that Congress take action addressing the medical marijuana issue. The medical marijuana issue is complicated and deserves deliberate and considered Congressional attention. Regardless of your views on what the ultimate outcome ought to be, we urge you to vote for the Hinchey-Rohrabacher/Paul/Farr amendment to impose a one-year moratorium on federal raids and arrests of medical marijuana patients so as to give proper time for Congress to act.

Sincerely,

Caroline Fredrickson
Director

Jesselyn McCurdy
Legislative Counsel