Medical Marijuana Advocates Petition Nancy Pelosi to End Federal Crackdown on Pot Clubs
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| Do it for the children |
The petition, which you can find here, asks Pelosi to defend medical marijuana users who rely on medical marijuana to relieve themselves of pain they have from illnesses. Five city-permitted pot dispensaries have shuttered their doors in the last few months, and five more are slated to close this month, thanks to President Obama's unpopular policies on medical marijuana.
Here's what the petition says:
Representative Pelosi, you have been a strong advocate for patients' rights and a supporter of the use of medical cannabis in California. The San Francisco Bay area has historically been a haven for HIV/AIDS patients and others with chronic illnesses such as glaucoma, diabetes, and cancer. We the undersigned ask Rep. Pelosi to stand with us in defending medical cannabis dispensaries and patients from persecution, to advise President Obama about the unwarranted persecution of medical cannabis patients and dispensaries, to call for an investigation of the constitutionality of California dispensary closures, and to facilitate setting up a emergency medical cannabis distribution system for catastrophically ill patients whose physicians recommended medical cannabis as part of their treatment in the district you represent.Last week, local democrats passed a resolution, asking the president to leave pot clubs alone once and for all. The local Democratic Party noted that the Obama Administration is "aggressively persecuting a peaceful and regulated community, wasting federal resources in using a series of threatening tactics to shut down regulated access to medical cannabis across the state of California."
That resolution came a day after Obama was quoted defending himself and his marijuana crackdown, where operators and landlords of dispensaries have been threatened with jail time and asset forfeiture unless they closed their business to the city's tens of thousands of customers in San Francisco. Obama claimed he "never made a promise to ignore federal law, and even if [he] did, [he] can't, because Congress, not the White House, makes the laws."
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Health Department says not one complaint has been filed against a pot club in the city, however, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag continues to shut down clubs, citing "neighborhood complaints."
April Funcke, a San Jose resident and an Obama supporter, signed the online petition, explaining why she feels the president is a hypocrite.
"I am a medical cannabis patient who worked hard to support Obama and donated to his campaign in 2008. He promised to let the states regulate medical cannabis and to not use Federal enforcement against patients, growers, and dispensaries that comply with California law," she said. "Instead, the very people that are doing their best to comply with state law get harassed, while the meth labs and criminal gangs who deal street drugs get a pass. I feel betrayed by the Obama administration."
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