Good action by US House
Received last night from Marijuana Policy Project:
Tonight, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that, once enacted, will remove a decade-old provision that has prevented Washington, D.C., from implementing the medical marijuana law passed by 69% of voters in 1998.
Known as the Barr amendment, the provision has forbidden the city from implementing a voter-approved ballot initiative that protected medical marijuana patients from arrest and jail.
Repealing this democracy-unfriendly amendment has been a primary focus of MPP’s federal lobbying efforts for many years. In 2007, we even hired former Congressman Bob Barr (R-Ga.) — the original author of the amendment — to lobby to overturn it.
Tonight’s vote represents a victory not just for medical marijuana patients, but for all Americans, who have the right to determine their own policies without federal meddling. Ten years ago, D.C. residents overwhelmingly made the sensible, compassionate decision to pass a medical marijuana law, and now, finally, suffering Washingtonians will be allowed to focus on treating their pain without fearing arrest.
I want to thank MPP’s 27,000 dues-paying members, whose support helped to make this win possible. If you’d like to see more of these kinds of successes, I hope you’ll donate to MPP’s federal lobbying efforts. We’re turning supporters’ donations into results, and we can’t do it without you.
