At last weeks Medical Cannabis Summit in San Francisco, all heads came together to discuss many topics surrounding clinical cannabis. One of the most important topics discussed was how to proceed with clinical cannabis and cannabinoid research, and one of the ways you can help is to encourage our leaders to grant more licensing for clinical cannabis cultivation for federally-approved research.
Below is a sample from our friends at Students For Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) to help guide you should this be a new experience for you.
PHONE SCRIPT:
My name is ______ and I am from ________. I [am calling to have myself counted as a constituent who] want[s] the senator to raise the issue of medical marijuana during the confirmation hearing for Michelle Leonhart to be the next DEA Administrator. Specifically, I hope that (s)he will urge Ms. Leonhart to commit to granting a license to the University of Massachusetts to cultivate marijuana for federally-approved research. Should she refuse to commit to this course of action, I urge the senator to reject her nomination.
LETTER FORMAT:
Dear Senator ________,
My name is ______ and I am [your constituent] from ________. I am writing to urge you to stand up for scientific research into the therapeutic benefits of marijuana during the upcoming confirmation hearing for Michelle Leonhart to be the next DEA Administrator. It is important for you to understand that Ms. Leonhart is personally responsible for the current lack of effective research in this country. She does not deserve to be confirmed if she does not reverse her position.
In January 2009, six days before President Obama was inaugurated, Ms. Leonhart, in her role as Acting DEA Administrator, rejected the recommendation of a DEA Administrative Law Judge that it would be in the public interest for the DEA to license Professor Lyle Craker, with the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Medicinal Plant Program, to grow marijuana for federally-approved, privately-funded research.
What I want, which I hope you want as well, is for the controversy over the medical use of marijuana to be resolved by privately-funded scientific research evaluated by the FDA. At present, privately-funded research is obstructed by the DEA-defended monopoly on the supply of marijuana for research held by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). While federally-regulated scientific research is still being blocked by an unjustified federal monopoly, fourteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana. Please understand, the spread of medical marijuana laws across this country are the direct result of the federal government blocking the development of marijuana as an FDA-approved medicine.
On a date still to be scheduled, Michelle Leonhart is will come before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing. I hope that you, as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, will ask Acting DEA Administrator Michelle Leonhart to grant Prof. Craker’s Motion to Reconsider, and accept the Administrative Law Judge’s recommendation to end the federal monopoly on the supply of marijuana for federally-regulated research. Should she refuse to commit to this course of action, I urge you to reject her nomination.
Name
Signature
Address
For More information, please contact:
Chris Chiles
Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP)
National Board of Directors
ssdpchris@gmail.com
248.961.0451
https://ssdp.org/donate
