« Manitowoc adopts bond amounts for marijuana possessors | Main | Rare victory for the 4th Amendment in Wisconsin! »

July 04, 2007

Letter in the Shepherd Express: Stop Raids on Medical Cannabis

Posted by Gary Storck
Wednesday, July 4, 2007

I was recently perusing the online version of Milwaukee's Shepherd Express and came across an article in espresso detailing where right-wing Wisconsin Republican Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner's wealth lies. When I read that a quarter of it was in pharmaceutical stocks, it became clear to me that he legislates based on his own best intersts rather than those of his constituents (who overwhelmingly back medical marijuana). The result was this:

Source: Shepherd Express
Pubdate: July 04, 2007
Author: Gary Storck

STOP RAIDS ON MEDICAL CANNABIS

The fact that nearly a quarter of Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner's assets are stocks of pharmaceutical giants Merck & Co., Abbott Laboratories and Pfizer helps explain why he votes against medical marijuana whenever the opportunity arises ("Sensenbrenner's Assets," Expresso, June 21).

His next chance comes in a few weeks when Congress once again considers budget language forbidding federal agents from raiding medical cannabis patients and providers in the 12 states that have legalized it, one up from last year. Previous attempts in Republican-dominated Congresses have come up short, thanks to drug-industry buddies like Sensenbrenner and his Wisconsin GOP colleagues Tom Petri and Paul Ryan.

Those three politicians have distinguished themselves as tireless supporters of continuing to arrest the sick and dying should they choose marijuana over Merck & Co.

Hopefully, the Democrat who now holds anti-medical marijuana zealot Mark Green's former seat, Rep. Steve Kagen, will join fellow Wisconsin Reps. Tammy Baldwin, Gwen Moore, Ron Kind and David Obey in voting to block these raids. If enough members of the new Democratic majority in the House follow suit, it could be the first real positive step at the federal level in protecting patients who utilize medical cannabis. It might be bad for Sensenbrenner's stock portfolio, but he's already profited enough from the misery of generations of patients who died in pain because so-called public servants like him made sure medical marijuana stayed illegal.

Is My Medicine Legal YET?

www.immly.org
Gary Storck
Madison
July 04, 2007

Posted by Gary at July 4, 2007 06:27 PM

Comments

Post a comment

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)


Remember me?