Title:
Angel Raich and Montel Williams blast New York legislators' excuses for stalling medical marijuana bills
Message:
Certain New York legislators have been making phony excuses for their failure to act on New York's medical marijuana bills. Medical marijuana bill sponsor Sen. Vincent Leibell (R-Putnam County) claimed that the U.S. Supreme Court decision Gonzales vs. Raich "renders it almost impossible for us to enact an effective state law." And Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Saratoga County) claimed the decision makes statewide legislation a "nonissue."
We need your help to expose these outrageous claims.
The session ends Thursday, so we need you to write a letter-to-the-editor today. Please take a few minutes to use our automated system to make sure this legislation does not die quietly, buried under false statements.
You won't be alone in countering these claims with the truth: Gonzales vs. Raich plaintiff Angel Raich, her husband and attorney Robert Raich, and talk show host Montel Williams held a press conference today to refute these claims. Williams said, "The fact is, this month's Supreme Court ruling did not strike down any state medical marijuana law and has zero effect on the right of New York or any other state to pass such a law." And Angel Raich reminded reporters that state laws remain very much an issue: "California's law is the reason I am alive today to tell you this, and New York patients deserve the same protection that I have."
Please join them in speaking out today.
Attorneys general and other top officials from virtually every medical marijuana state have reaffirmed that their state laws are still valid. As Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers concluded on Friday, "Raich does not hold that state laws regulating medical marijuana are invalid nor does it require states to repeal existing medical marijuana laws."
With 76% of the New York public and the state medical and nurses association supporting the legislation, there is no valid reason for the legislature's inaction. Please, don't let legislators get away with pretending that action is impossible. Follow your letter-to-the-editor with letters to Senate Majority Leader Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, asking them to move the legislation now, before the session ends.
Please refer your friends, family, neighbors, and e-mail lists to this page, so that others can stand up for New York's most vulnerable residents.
