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Record Support for Medical Marijuana Amendment
Public Pressure Led to Record House Vote, Advocates Say

MPP.org

Washington DC June 29, 2006 -- An amendment to stop the U.S. Justice Department from arresting medical marijuana patients in the 11 states where medical marijuana is legal received a record vote on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives today. Although the measure failed to pass, 163-259, medical marijuana advocates hailed the record vote as the result of a growing groundswell of support for medical marijuana from across the political spectrum. Last summer, the amendment received 161 votes, which was the previous record until today's vote.

The improvement was due to Republican "yes" votes, which increased from 15 last year to 18 this year.

"Support for medical marijuana has hit yet another high-water mark in Congress, 11 states have legalized medical marijuana in 11 years, and the latest national poll shows that an astounding 78 percent of voters want to see medical marijuana legal," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) in Washington, D.C. "It's hard to imagine a scenario where Congress will not pass our medical marijuana legislation by, say, 2009.

"The most significant thing is that the amendment gained votes during an election year," Kampia said. "The last time the House voted on this amendment during an election year was in the summer of 2004, when support dropped from where it had been a year prior. The amendment's strong showing this year probably has something to do with the fact that Citizens Against Government Waste and other conservative organizations are now lobbying alongside a host of medical and other organizations, including the American Nurses Association, to pass the amendment. And it's also worth noting that every member of Congress who has voted for medical marijuana legislation and run for reelection has won reelection, and the only member attacked for his medical marijuana vote won by more than five to one."

The amendment, which was supported by a bipartisan coalition led by Congressmen Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), would have barred the Justice Department from using its funds to interfere with the medical marijuana laws now in effect in Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. A national Gallup poll released in November 2005 found that 78 percent of voters favor allowing physicians to prescribe marijuana "to reduce pain and suffering."