Marijuana Policy Project

MPP Launches First Radio PSA Campaign Featuring Medical
Marijuana Patients

Spots Feature Montel Williams, Angel Raich, Novelist Tom Robbins

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In the first-ever campaign of its kind, the Marijuana Policy Project today launched a series of radio public service announcements featuring actual medical marijuana patients discussing their need for this safe and effective medicine. The 30- and 60-second spots are being sent on CD today to 1,000 radio stations nationwide, and are also available for download at /media/psa.html.

The campaign comes as the medical marijuana movement has been reenergized by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Gonzales v. Raich, in which the court for the first time acknowledged that "marijuana does have valid therapeutic purposes," while ruling that the Constitution allows the federal government to continue arresting medical marijuana patients. The decision helped a medical marijuana bill sail to easy passage in both houses of Rhode Island's legislature. It is expected to reach the desk of Gov. Donald Carcieri (R) this week.

The campaign includes spots featuring America's two most well-known medical marijuana patients -- television host Montel Williams and Supreme Court plaintiff Angel Raich -- discussing how medical marijuana has helped them survive and function in the face of serious illness. The third pair of spots features novelist Tom Robbins describing his mother's battle with glaucoma.

"Her conservative Virginia physician told her there was only one treatment that might ease her pain and save her eyesight," Robbins explains in the spot. "That treatment was marijuana, which he could not prescribe. ... So my mother, who loved to read and walk in nature, was condemned to go cruelly, unnecessarily blind."

"On June 6, White House Drug Czar John Walters proclaimed 'the end of medical marijuana as a political issue,' but he could not have been more wrong," said MPP Director of Communications Bruce Mirken. "We are closer than ever to ending our government's cruel and pointless war on the sick. We are proud to partner with these three distinguished Americans to bring a message of hope -- and accurate information -- to patients and those who love and care for them."

With more than 17,000 members and 120,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP works to minimize the harm associated with marijuana -- both the consumption of marijuana and the laws that are intended to prohibit such use. MPP believes that the greatest harm associated with marijuana is imprisonment. For more information, see http://www.MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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