On Election Day, voters will pass Proposal 1 and Michigan will become the 14th state to allow patients to use marijuana for medical purposes under the supervision of a physician. In 2004, Ann Arbor residents voted to protect medical marijuana patients by a 3 to 1 margin.  Despite overwhelming support for marijuana policy reform from the public and from the scientific and medical community, John Dingell and other members of Congress simply refuse to listen. 
 
After the Supreme Court decided in 2005 (Gonzalez v. Raich) that voter approved state laws protecting medical marijuana do not protect cancer and AIDS patients from arrest by federal DEA agents, Congress voted on whether to continue this practice.

John Dingell voted to continue to arrest and prosecute cancer and AIDS patients who use medical marijuana in states with voter approved laws to protect these people.1

Now that Michigan will vote in favor of Proposal 1, which will protect these patients in our state, is John Dingell really going to send the DEA into Michigan to arrest these sick patients? 
 
To make matters worse, Congress won’t even allow medical use of marijuana to be studied.  They currently list marijuana as a Schedule 1 Drug (along with crystal meth and heroin), meaning it has a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical value.  Both of these reasons are totally untrue.

The following organizations have endorsed allowing patients access to medical marijuana with physician’s approval and allowing for research.2,3

New England Journal of Medicine
American College of Physicians
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Public Health Association
American Nurses Association
American Academy of HIV Medicine

The following organizations have called for allowing research into the medical benefits of marijuana.2,3

American Medical Association
American Cancer Society

Please vote Libertarian this year and send the message to Congress and John Dingell that we are tired of our counterproductive marijuana policies.

I will work with Congress to allow research on marijuana and to allow those in need to use the drug for medical reasons. I am the true civil libertarian in this race and will never interfere in the personal matters of the American people.

Greg Stempfle is a Clinical Laboratory Scientist working at the U-M Hospital’s Organ Transplant Lab. Greg is also a cancer survivor.

1. clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll255.xml

2. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_cannabis

3. www.perkel.com/politics/issues/endorse.ht