JRMMA lives on despite session end
MADISON: The latest fight for medical cannabis legislation in Wisconsin officially came to an end on April 22 with the release of “An Open Letter To Supporters Of Medical Marijuana” from State Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison) and Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Waunakee), announcing that AB554/SB368, the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act had run out of time in the current session. An article in the University of Wisconsin Badger Herald discussed the development, as did DRCNet's Drug War Chronicles.
While the failure of AB554/SB368 to pass is a setback, it is certainly not the end. State activists are already looking ahead not just to next session, but to laying the foundation for victory next session. The important thing they say is unity.
Here is the text of the letter from Rep. Pocan and Sen. Erpenbach:
April 22, 2010
AN OPEN LETTER TO SUPPORTERS OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA
We write today with heavy hearts to inform you that when the legislature closes out its two-year session today, medical marijuana protections for patients will not be law.
Today, we are disappointed, upset, but hopeful. We are disappointed because despite all the hope and hard work, medicinal marijuana did not pass the Legislature. We are upset because there are people suffering from serious illnesses who desperately need cannabis to manage their symptoms and they cannot find legal relief in Wisconsin.
However, we are hopeful because we have more momentum today than we've had over the past decade. We won tremendous victories this legislative session: .
. In December of 2009, we had the best public hearing on this bill ever, with 104 patients and doctors testifying or registering in favor of this legislation, and only six against.
. President Obama told the DEA to cease prosecuting people who use cannabis for medical purposes.
. The American Medical Association recently called for changing the status of marijuana to enable more research on medical marijuana, despite the opposition of the Wisconsin Medical Society.
. Governor Doyle signaled his support for medical marijuana with a doctor's recommendation, the first Wisconsin Governor to ever support this legislation.
. More states and municipalities (14 total) are legalizing medical marijuana, the most recent being Washington, DC this week.
. Organizational support continues to grow, including the Wisconsin Nurses Association, American Civil Liberties Union, AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Public Health Association, the American Bar Association, the American Public Health Association, the American Academy of HIV Medicine, and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Two former U.S. Surgeons General - Joycelyn Elders and Jesse Steinfeld - also recognize marijuana as a legitimate, beneficial medicine.
. We earned the editorial endorsement from 10 newspapers across the state.
. With the help of Is My Medicine Legal Yet?, we generated thousands of constituent contacts to legislators all across the state encouraging them to support the bill.
Despite the hard work we all collectively put into this bill, there is still a lot more work to be done. We are not strangers to tackling the tough issues and standing up for people who otherwise might not have a champion in the Capitol. And we are not going to stop until we change the law and help seriously ill patients.
As we close out this session of the legislature, we are writing to thank you for your support, emails, phone calls and for sharing your personal stories. While this legislation is not moving forward now, we will continue to push this issue forward until we eventually change the law.
In the coming months, you will likely hear about advisory referenda being added to ballots in municipalities across the state as well as other critical news. Thus, we are also writing to ask you to do one last thing this session; if you have not already done so, please stay involved by signing up at www.jrmma.org. Please add your name to their email list and stay in touch as this movement continues to pick up momentum.
We will not stop until we have compassionate care for cancer patients, compassionate care for glaucoma patients, compassionate care for those suffering from PTSD and all the other patients for whom cannabis is helpful. One day, we will win and these patients will be protected from prosecution.
Thank you for your continuous efforts. Together, we will win!
Sincerely,
Representative Mark Pocan, 78th Assembly district
Senator Jon Erpenbach, 27th Senate district
Stay tuned to the Madison NORML Examiner as the campaign to pass the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act in Wisconsion moves into a new phase. While we did not get "This Bill, This Time", if supporters stay on course and unified, medical cannabis will be a reality in Wisconsin.
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