Earlier this week, while more than 200 citizen lobbyists were meeting
face-to-face with their Congressional legislators in Washington, D.C.
to change federal policy on medical cannabis, a series of events
occurred in Florida, making that state the next political battleground
on this issue.
On Monday, a Miami Herald article
cited a recent poll indicating 81 percent of Florida voters said
approve of doctors recommending cannabis to patients, with only 14
percent opposed. As many as 70 percent of voters said they supported a
state constitutional amendment legalizing medical cannabis, a full 10
points higher than what Florida requires to pass such amendments.
Then, tragically, later that afternoon, the home of Americans for
Safe Access member and Sarasota resident Cathy Jordan and her
64-year-old husband Robert was raided
by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Department. With black ski masks and
guns drawn in an intimidating fashion that has become all-too familiar
for medical cannabis patients across the country, sheriff’s deputies
came into their home and seized all 23 of Cathy’s plants, which she uses
to treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, also known as "Lou
Gehrig’s disease"), a terminal illness.
Cathy was diagnosed in 1986 with ALS,
a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the
brain and spinal cord, leading to loss of limb control, breathing,
swallowing, and speech. However, after trying cannabis in 1989, she was
able to better manage her symptoms and significantly improve her quality
of life. Now, more than 20 years later, Cathy has outlived five of her
support groups and four of her neurologists.
As you can see from her medical history and the positive impact that
cannabis has had on her life, Cathy is a shining example of why public
policy must be changed, not only in Florida but at the federal level as
well. Therefore, it was no surprise (except maybe to the Manatee County
Sheriff’s Department) that she was chosen as the lead spokesperson for
SB1250, the "Cathy Jordan Medical Cannabis Act," a Florida bill introduced the very next day by State Senator Jeff Clemens (D-Lake worth).
And, if SB1250 fails to get the necessary votes for passage, there is another effort afoot by People United for Medical Marijuana to put an initiative
on the 2014 ballot in Florida that would amend the state constitution
in order to protect patients from exactly the type of raid that Cathy
and her husband had to endure.
This type of aggressive enforcement effort is not unique to Cathy or
to other patients in Florida. It happens virtually every day across
America, even in states that have adopted medical cannabis laws. One of
the main reasons for this is an outdated policy at the federal level.
For decades now, the federal government has refused to recognize the
medical efficacy of cannabis, maintaining the position that it is a
dangerous drug with no medical value. In July 2011, the Obama
Administration denied a 9-year-old petition
filed by ASA and other groups aimed at reclassifying cannabis for
medical use, in an effort to overturn the federal government’s draconian
policy. This bittersweet denial, however, gave ASA the opportunity to
bring the issue of medical cannabis into the federal courts by appealing
the denial to the D.C. Circuit. Cathy Jordan was one of the lead
plaintiffs in this appeal, ASA v. DEA. Unfortunately, last month, the D.C. Circuit sided with the government’s position, denying our appeal and refusing to usher in a new compassionate policy toward patients.
However, advocates are not giving up and the medical cannabis patient
community is now more ardent than ever. ASA will soon be filing for En
Banc review of the appeal with the full D.C. Circuit, but advocates are
not putting all of their eggs in the federal court basket. With last week’s introduction
of two Congressional bills, HR689, the "States’ Medical Marijuana
Patient Protection Act," and HR710, the "Truth in Trials Act," advocates
are hard at work convincing their members of Congress that federal
policy must be changed. Indeed, it was the support for these bills that
brought more than 250 people to Washington, D.C. this past weekend for
the ASA-hosted, first-ever national medical cannabis conference
in Washington, D.C. More than half of the conference participants took
to Capitol Hill Monday to show that they’re a force to be reckoned with.
Given the historical and widespread support for medical cannabis in the U.S., consistently polling at up to 80 percent,
Congress has been woefully out of step with their constituents on this
issue. Yet, that’s about to change. It has to change, unless we want to
be known as a society that favors attacking our most vulnerable citizens
for using a medication that improves — and, in many cases, extends —
their lives. I know we’re better than that. We just have to show
Congress that there will be consequences for ignoring the will of the
people and the plight of patients.
