Ask your US Rep to sign Blumenhauer's letter

US Representative Earl Blumenhauer (D-OR) is sending a letter to President Obama asking him to follow his recent comments on cannabis and its classification under federal law with action. Call your US Representative today and ask him or her to support this effort by signing Representative Blumenhauer’s letter.

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Why this matters:

President Obama told a reporter that cannabis was no more dangerous than alcohol on January 27. When asked about that comment by a CNN reporter a few days later, the President said it was up to Congress to decide which drugs belong on Schedule I – a classification reserved for dangerous drugs with no medical value. It is encouraging to hear the President taking a relatively enlightened view of the safety of cannabis and raising the question about its classification under federal law. But we need him to go further.

Representative Blumenhauer’s letter points out that the classification of cannabis as a dangerous drug has real financial and human costs for Americans, costs that fall disproportionately on minorities. The letter calls on the President to instruct US Attorney General Eric Holder to start the process of reclassification (called “rescheduling”) or to simply do it himself. The letter will be most effective if other US Representatives sign on, too.

You may think that making one short phone calls about a letter does not amount to much. Think again. We are seeing momentum behind medical cannabis in Washington, DC, right now. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid responded to the President’s comment saying, “I think we need to take a real close look at this...I think that there’s some medical reasons for marijuana.” And just a short time later, US Attorney General Holder announced changes to federal banking policy concerning cannabis and medical cannabis organizations. That is more out of national leaders than we have seen in a long time!

Now we need your help to keep that momentum. The President and Attorney General need to see signatures from Members of Congress from all over the country on Blumenhauer’s letter. That means your US Representative needs to know it matters to voters in the District. Take a few minutes to make a short call – maybe as little as two minutes– and you can help make that happen.

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