Three Republicans Co-Sponsor Medicinal Marijuana Bill
(from March/April 1996 Marijuana Policy Report)
The medicinal marijuana bill pending in the U.S. House of Representatives has attracted a total of 16 co-sponsors in addition to U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts), who introduced the bill (H.R. 2618) on November 10, 1995. (Current list of co-sponsors.)
The bill would allow eligible physicians to prescribe marijuana to patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy or radiology, as well as patients who have glaucoma, AIDS wasting syndrome, or muscle spasms from certain disorders including multiple sclerosis, paraplegia, and quadriplegia.
After months of lobbying on Capitol Hill, the MPP — in coordination with dedicated activists who have focused on generating letters from constituents in their congressional districts — has succeeded in persuading three Republicans to co-sponsor the bill: U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray (California), U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell (California), and U.S. Rep. Steven Gunderson (Wisconsin).
Three more Democrats and the only Independent in Congress have also signed on since the last Marijuana Policy Report was published — U.S. Rep. George Brown (D-California), U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-California), and U.S. Rep. Bernard Sanders (I-Vermont).
In an effort to persuade more House members to co-sponsor H.R. 2618, the MPP:
- is continuing to lobby 34 key Republicans on Capitol Hill;
- is mailing letters-to-the-editor to the newspapers in these key Republican districts;
- has identified 21 Democrats who co-sponsored this legislation when it was introduced in the House in the early 1980s, as well as an additional 51 Democrats who are likely to co-sponsor the bill; and
- has mailed information to interested constituents in these congressional districts urging them to write letters to their U.S. representatives asking them to co-sponsor H.R. 2618.
It is particularly important to persuade Republican members of the House to support H.R. 2618 because Republicans chair every committee and subcommittee and control the legislative agenda of the House.
