December 15, 2001

6:59 PM

"Next week, MPP is suing the government in federal court,arguing that it is our constitutional right to run a medical marijuana ballot initiative in the District of Columbia. If our lawsuit is successful, MPP will be permitted to circulate petitions on the streets of D.C. this spring, for the purpose of placing our medical marijuana measure on the November 2002 ballot."
posted by wfrgms (6 comments total)

I wish them well, but since D.C. isn't treated as a part of the United States, I don't expect this to go very far. As noted, medical marijuana passed by a huge margin in D.C. in 1998, not that Congress gives a shit about democratic rule.

Glad I don't live there. I'd be royally pissed.

Even in the rest of the country, medical marijuana has had to be passed multiple times to get the Drug Warriors at least somewhat in line. Still, the DEA is more than happy to persecute the suffering.

Want to keep up to date? Read Cannabis News.
posted by zeb vance at 7:23 PM on December 15, 2001

Maybe I'm naive, but this sounds like a no-brainer. It says right there in the First Amendment, the right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
posted by RylandDotNet at 7:39 PM on December 15, 2001

We've got medical bong hits here in Oregon; the voters put it on the ballot and passed it more than once. Only problem I've noticed is a shortage on ZU-ZUs and WHAM-WHAMs.
It's so wierd to see the reactionary freaks, elected or not, go against the will of the people. They remind me of brainwashed cult members. Their usual excuse is that the voters 'did'nt understand' what they were doing. Bull! I know what I'm doing, even when I have to medicate with some Humboldt Super Skunk Green Boy.
posted by Mack Twain at 8:20 PM on December 15, 2001

We have a similar situation in Oregon; whether or not the measure is placed on the ballot and passed likely will not matter, if Ashcroft is allowed to continue using the Controlled Substances Act to block prescription of barbituates.
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 8:22 PM on December 15, 2001

The DEA fears marijuana more than any other drug. More than crack, crystal meth, heroin. Because if it were decriminalized the agency's estimate of 14 million drug addicts in the United States would be cut down to 6 million and their budget would be cut co measurably. The war on drugs is a war on people. Which is why every hemp, medicinal marijuana, and any other kind initiative is opposed at every turn.
posted by keithl at 11:36 AM on December 16, 2001

You beat me to it, wfrgms... I was gonna post this. The MPP are good guys -- I've done some work with them (coded up the database part of their site)... I think this lawsuit is a brilliant strategy -- hits the prohibitionists right where they've been most blatantly anti-democratic.

Even for people who are opposed to medical marijuana... it's got to be hard to support people who unilaterally overturned an initiative that 69% of voters approved.

Will of the people? Help them out.
posted by ook at 7:12 AM on December 17, 2001