Pennsylvania Rep. Mark Cohen (D-Philadelphia), along with six co-sponsors, has introduced legislation to make Pennsylvania the fourteenth state to legalize the physician-supervised use of cannabis.
As introduced — House Bill 1393, The Barry Busch Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act of 2009 — would allow state-authorized patients to possess and cultivate cannabis for therapeutic purposes. The measure also seeks to allow for the state-licensed distribution and sale of medical marijuana by authorized ‘compassion centers.’
Rep. Cohen, along with members of Philadelphia NORML, introduced the state’s first-ever medical marijuana bill at a press conference on Wednesday, April 29. For several months, Philly NORML has worked behind the scenes with Rep. Cohen’s staff to draft this important legislation. You can read media coverage of the news conference here.
It is believed that Rep. Cohen’s forthcoming bill will face stiff opposition in the Pennsylvania legislature. That is why we need you to contact your state representative and urge him or her to support HB 1393. For your convenience, a pre-written letter you may copy is included below.
Thank you for supporting NORML’s marijuana law reform efforts in Pennsylvania. For more information, or to become involved in this campaign, please contact Philly NORML here.
LETTER: Stop Treating Patients Like Criminals – Support Medical Marijuana ReformI’m writing to urge your support for House Bill 1393, The Barry Busch Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act of 2009.
This bill seeks to enact statewide legal protections shielding those seriously ill patients who use cannabis therapeutically with a doctor’s recommendation from criminal prosecution. At the same time, it will not alter or interfere with already existing state laws discouraging the non-medical, recreational use of marijuana.
The use of marijuana as medicine is a public health issue; it should not be part of the war on drugs. According to a recent national survey of U.S.
physicians conducted for the American Society of Addiction Medicine, nearly half of all doctors with opinions support legalizing cannabis as a medicine.Some 80 state and national health care organizations, including the American Nurses Association, American Public Health Association and The New England Journal of Medicine, support immediate, legal patient access to medical cannabis.
Most recently, the largest association of doctors of internal medicine and the second largest medical association in the country, the American College of Physicians, released a policy paper in support of medical cannabis, stating, “The ACP strongly urges protection from criminal or civil penalties for patients who use medical marijuana as permitted under state laws.”
Thirteen states – Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington – have enacted laws protecting medical marijuana patients from state prosecution. These laws are operating primarily as lawmakers intended and have not led to widespread abuses among adolescents or adult recreational users.
I believe it is unconscionable to deny this effective medicine to sick and dying patients, and I strongly urge you to support the medical use of marijuana in Pennsylvania and to vote ‘yes’ on House Bill 1393, The Barry Busch Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act of 2009.
