California Candidate for Congress, Marcy Winograd, Sends Solidarity Letter to Medical Marijuana Patients Facing Federal Prison

Open Letter From Marcy Winograd to Mollie Fry and Dale Schafer

April 27, 2011

 

Dear Mollie and Dale,

My name is Marcy Winograd, and I am a community organizer, teacher and Democratic candidate for United States Congress in the 36th Congressional District.

I am writing to express my personal support in your clemency appeal to President Obama to avoid or shorten your five-year sentence for cultivating medical marijuana to relieve your pain and suffering.

I understand that you, Mollie, are a doctor and breast cancer survivor, and that you, Dale, are an attorney and hemophiliac – and that together you complied with California state law – California’s Compassionate Use Act.

I appreciate the fact that you have agreed to surrender to authorities on May 2, and trust that your further compliance with the law will strengthen your cause.

We need to bring compassion and common sense to the use of medical marijuana. The current “War on Drugs” has been a failure, with the lives of compassionate care activists and young people ruined by a federal law that punishes medical marijuana users and providers.

In 2007 my beloved mother, stricken with cancer, could barely hold up her head due to intense nausea.  Medical marijuana provided relief, so that in her final days she could enjoy the company of her children and grandchildren.

Ironically, as my mother found relief, the Drug Enforcement Agency conducted raids on medical marijuana dispensaries throughout Los Angeles, outraging patients and the disabled.

I decided to take action.

As member of the California Democratic Party’s Executive Board, I successfully introduced a resolution to the California Democratic Party. This resolution, which the California Democratic Party adopted on November 18, 2007, was titled – Stop LAPD Complicity with Federal Medical Marijuana Raids – and said “…the California Democratic Party urges the mayors and law enforcement officials in California cities and counties to respect California law legalizing the sale and use of medical marijuana by refusing to part in federal raids involving the sale and distribution of medical marijuana at facilities licensed under California law.”

Part of my platform is that cannabis must be removed from Schedule I of the Controlled Substance Act because this Act does not recognize marijuana’s medicinal value.  In the state of California, where the use of medical marijuana is legal, care providers and patients should not have to live in fear of arrest for using small amounts of marijuana to alleviate pain and discomfort.

I wish you the best of luck.

Sincerely,

Marcy Winograd

Congressional Candidate (CA-36)

www.winogradforcongress.com

Marcy@WinogradforCongress.com