The medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) launched a new website today — VoteMedicalMarijuana.org
— that provides patients and their supporters with the tools they need
to make informed decisions about the candidates in their districts. The
new website will give visitors a pass/fail "grade" for how their Member
of Congress has voted on medical marijuana since 1997. For example, the
website details the 72 percent of Democrats and 29 percent of
Republicans who voted in favor of de-funding Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) raids in medical marijuana states this past May.
"Given that our elected officials decide whether and how to develop
medical marijuana policy that affects millions of patients in the U.S.,
it’s important for them to have the tools necessary to make decisions
that will impact their future," said Steph Sherer, Executive Director of
ASA, the country’s leading medical marijuana group. "The choices made
by patients and their supporters at the ballot box should take into
consideration the candidates’ record on medical marijuana."
Ultimately, advocates argue, it’s Congress that funds the aggressive
federal enforcement campaigns against state law-abiding medical cannabis
facilities, and it’s Congress that has the power to grant patients a
"medical necessity" defense in federal criminal trials, a right they are
not currently afforded. VoteMedicalMarijuana.org also identifies key
champions of medical marijuana with an "honor roll" distinction,
reserved for co-sponsors of important legislation that protects state
medical marijuana laws or seeks to develop a comprehensive federal
policy.
