FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Peter Kovar (202) 225-5931
Dorothy Reichard (617) 332-3920

BIPARTISAN GROUP INTRODUCES
“STATES’ RIGHTS TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA ACT”

Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA), Ron Paul (R-TX), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and more than 20 other Members of Congress, yesterday introduced the States’ Rights to Medical Marijuana Act, a bill that would permit states to allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. There are currently a number of states with laws on the books (most recently, in the State of Maryland) that permit the medical use of marijuana, but federal law, as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court, supersedes state laws. This means that most states have found it impossible to implement their own medical marijuana laws.

"When doctors recommend the use of marijuana for their patients and states are willing to permit it," Frank added, "I think it’s wrong for the federal government to subject either the doctors or the patients to criminal prosecution. Nothing in this proposal makes marijuana more available for the general population. The bill is limited to medicinal use of marijuana with a doctor’s approval. Conservatives often profess their support for states’ rights, and if they truly believe in states’ rights, they should support this bill. I am delighted that some of my conservative colleagues, including Congressmen Ron Paul and Dana Rohrabacher, have joined in this effort."

Paul described his reasons for strongly supporting the bill: “The issue before us is very simple: Do states have the right to set their own policies regulating medical marijuana? For those who still believe states have rights under the Ninth and Tenth amendments, the answer is clearly yes.” Paul said, “For too long the federal government has used the ‘War on Drugs’ as justification for pre-empting more and more state criminal and regulatory laws. We've now reached the point where the Justice department threatens to intervene when voters of a state or city pass valid medical marijuana laws! Surely state and local governments can do a better job than federal regulators in determining appropriate medical marijuana standards for their own communities. This bill simply tells the federal government to mind its own business and respect the will of voters.”

Schakowsky agreed: “Every day doctors prescribe potent and addictive drugs like codeine and morphine to patients across the country to help ease their pain, live in dignity, and improve their quality of life,” Schakowsky said. “In some instances, these drugs don’t work, and the medical community has agreed that medical marijuana does. The federal government needs to get out of the doctor’s office and let patients get the help they need.”

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