Save the date: Nov. 3 -- Free screening of medical marijuana documentary at the University at Buffalo

On Saturday, November 3 at 7:00 p.m., the SBI Health Education's AIDS Coalition will be hosting of free screening of "Waiting to Inhale" — the first feature-length documentary to examine the movement to allow medical marijuana in the U.S. and abroad. The film will be followed by a discussion with the filmmaker and a chronic pain patient from Buffalo. Don't miss this opportunity to view history in the making and to show that New Yorkers care about protecting medical marijuana patients from arrest.

What: "Waiting to Inhale" screening, followed by a panel discussion with the filmmaker, Jed Riffe, and Joel Peacock, who could benefit from medical marijuana if it were legal to alleviate chronic pain resulting from a 2001 car accident.

Where: Room 330 of the Student Union, University at Buffalo, North Campus, NY 14260. (Visitor parking information and links to campus maps are available at http://www.ub-parking.buffalo.edu/visit.shtml.)

When: Saturday, November 3, 7:00 p.m.

"Waiting to Inhale" was produced and directed by Jed Riffe and was partially funded by the Marijuana Policy Project's grants program. The film takes the viewer from medical marijuana dispensaries to the U.S. Supreme Court, from Israeli science labs to government-approved marijuana gardens outside London. It features leading experts, researchers, and patients from all over the world and activists on both sides of the issue and asks why the federal government continues to reject mounting evidence in support of marijuana's benefits.

"Waiting to Inhale" steps inside the battle between the federal government and patients, doctors, and activists, while seeking to understand why we continue to criminalize the sick and dying. "Waiting to Inhale" has already played to critical acclaim, having won the 2005 CINE Golden Eagle Award, the Gold Special Jury Remi Award at the 38th Annual WorldFest-Houston, and the 2005 Best Documentary Film/Video at the New Jersey International Film Festival. Screenings and panels will also be held on Thursday, November 1 at SUNY Stony Brook and on Friday, November 2 at UAlbany.

These screenings come at a time when the passage an effective medical marijuana law is within reach in New York. The Assembly passed Assemblyman Richard Gottfried's medical marijuana bill in June, but the Senate has not taken up the issue. After you mark your calendar, please write your state senator to ask him or her to pass the medical marijuana bill next time the Senate convenes. Thousands of seriously ill New Yorkers are counting on you.

If you suffer from a serious illness or injury, or if you are a medical professional, please write Karen@mpp.org to see how you can be of special help.

Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. Please pass this along to anyone you know who might be interested in attending this event.