Missouri: Urge House committee members to schedule medical marijuana bill for a hearing

Published: April 28, 2008

This year, patients and advocates have diligently lobbied legislators to consider the medical marijuana bill introduced by Rep. Terry Young (D-Kansas City). Now that it is so late in the session that HB 1830 is unlikely to receive a hearing, Speaker of the House Rod Jetton (R-Marble Hill) has finally decided to assign the bill to the House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee.

Please send the committee members an e-mail today urging them to support HB 1830.

Here is a summary of the bill to help you compose your e-mail to the committee members.

After you have e-mailed the committee members, please call Rep. Jetton's office at (573) 751-5912 and let him know that you do not appreciate him waiting so long to send the bill to committee. If you are directed to voicemail, your message can be as simple as: "Hello, my name is _______, and I am from _________. While I appreciate the fact that you assigned the medical marijuana bill — HB 1830 — to committee, everyone knows that you waited too late. I hope that you can do better next year. I, along with many others, have been watching this bill, and you, and know you could have done more to help if you wanted to."

Also, please send an e-mail to the 11 sponsors of HB 1830 thanking them for having the compassion and courage to put their names on this year's legislation.

Right now, no fewer than eight states are seriously considering medical marijuana legislation, including Alabama, Illinois, Tennessee, South Carolina, New Jersey, New York, and Minnesota. Twelve states already recognize the physician-recommended use of medical marijuana. It is time for Missouri to do the same, so patients who suffer from serious disease don't have to live in fear of arrest.

Click here to read a story about how one medical marijuana patient was forced to leave Missouri in order to find the relief she needed.

We also encourage you to submit a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. It is important to remember that legislators get their information and make decisions much in the same way that you do — by reading the paper every morning. Please only submit your letter to one paper and do not use all of our talking points, instead, put a personal touch on your letter by talking about your own experience with medical marijuana or how it could help a loved one. Doing this not only increases the chances of your letter being printed, it makes for a more persuasive letter.

Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project and all of our allies. Please pass this alert on to any friends and family in Missouri who might be interested in helping very sick patients get the protection they need.