Thank you for contacting me regarding medical marijuana. I appreciate hearing from you.
You will be pleased to know that in the past I have voted for an amendment to the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and related agencies Appropriation bill offered by Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) that would have prohibited the use of funds in the bill to prevent the States of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, or Washington from implementing State laws authorizing the use of medical marijuana in those States. Unfortunately, this common sense amendment intended to preserve the authority of individual states failed to pass the House by a vote of 152-273.
In November 1998, the voters of our home state voted in favor of I-692, which allows for the medical use of marijuana by patients with certain terminal or debilitating conditions, such as cancer or AIDS. The initiative does not legalize the use or display of marijuana in public, and therefore the drug cannot be distributed in clubs or other public facilities.
Like you, I feel that doctors should be able to prescribe the best medical treatment for patients, removed from governmental influence. While I support leaving the government out of medical decisions, any federal legalization of medical marijuana must have strict guidelines on its use. In spite of the fact that public opinion may become more accepting of the medical use of marijuana, I do not support legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes.
Please continue to contact me about the issues that concern you, as I both need and welcome your thoughts and ideas. As a service to my constituents, I maintain a website which contains valuable resources and information on Congressional activities. Please feel free to visit the website at http://www.house.gov/inslee for information on recent issues and to learn more about the services my office provides. If you have not done so already, please visit http://www.house.gov/inslee/signup.htm to subscribe to my e-mail updates.
I encourage you to contact me via email, telephone, or fax, because security measures are causing House offices to experience delays in receiving postal mail. My email address is: Jay.Inslee@mail.house.gov. Please be sure to include your full name and address, including your zip code, in your message.
Very truly yours,
JAY INSLEE
Member of Congress
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I support the legalization of Marijuana. It would go a long way to eliminate the gang drug traffic in WA. It would eliminate the size of our prison population. It would add revenue to the state of WA treasurer. It would help stop gang activity, murder and drive by shootings. There is no down side to legal Marijuana as the down side has already been unleashed on society. Legal Marijuana would stop most of the bleeding, as did legalizing Alcohol following prohibition. People who would use Marijuana are using it now. What is not understood about this issue?