[Peace] TELL REP. JAKOBSSON TO SUPPORT HB 407, THE MEDICAL CANNABIS ACT

[Frank Nardulli]

Residents of Champaign and Urbana,

On Thursday, Feb. 17th Representative Naomi Jakobsson voted against HB
407, the Medical Cannabis Act, during a hearing of the IL House Human
Services Committee.  One of only two democrats who opposed the bill,
Rep. Jakobsson from Champaign-Urbana sided with the White House and
voted against the Medical Cannabis Act (HB 407) after President Bush
sent the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy,
better known as the 'drug czar' to Springfield Thursday to lobby
against this bill.

As a result, the bill did not pass committee.  The bill will have
another chance to pass the Human Services committee this session, and
Jakobsson's vote is crucial to the passage of this legislation.

Rep. Jakobsson claims that there is no scientific evidence.  However,
Jakobsson knew that this is not true, as the committee heard heartfelt
testimony from physician and patients indicating support of this
legislation by a multitude of healthcare organizations, including the
Illinois Nurses Association, the New England Journal of Medicine, the
American Public Health Association, and the Aids Foundation of
Chicago.   In fact no healthcare organizations have come out against
this legislation.  Physicians testified, in accordance with findings
by the Institute of Medicine, that it is an extremely safe medicine
that works for some people whom have tried everything else.

Despite the fact that 80% of people in Illinois support medical
marijuana, Representative Jakobsson was swayed by the White House's
attempts at changing the message from healthcare and compassion to law
enforcement and drug abuse.

Without your help, this bill may not pass committee!

We need you to write, call, and/or email Representative Jakobsson and
voice your support for HB 407, the Medical Cannabis Act.

The first thing you can do is to please our petition at:
www.PetitionOnline.com/HB407/petition.html

Below we have included an email script and a phone script.  In
addition, we have attached a form letter which you can fax/mail or
drop off at Rep. Jakobsson's district office at 206 N. Randolph Suite
120 Champaign, IL. Tel. (217) 373-5000 FAX (217) 373-8679.  Feel free
to make any changes to the scripts, after all a personalize message
always makes more of a difference.

Thank you in advance for all your help,

Frank Nardulli

For more information call or email me at: 217.355.4933 or
ILMedicalCannabis at gmail.com

________________________________________________________________________
Email Script           Email address:  ndjakobs at prairienet.org

Dear Representative Naomi Jakobsson,

I am writing to express my support for the Illinois Medical Cannabis
Act, HB 407, and to ask you to support it as well.  I was disappointed
when I heard that you had voted against this bill when it came before
the Human Service Committee on Feb. 17th.  Should you have another
chance to vote on this bill, I strongly urge you to join the
scientific and medical community in supporting this legislation.

The Illinois Medical Cannabis Act is modeled after 10 existing state
laws that are working well and have received broad support from the
medical and public health community. Over 1,000 doctors across
Illinois, as well as a multitude of prestigious healthcare
organization, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, all
support this type of legislation.  Not a single healthcare
organization is against it.

This Act creates a tightly controlled and viable registry program
whereby physicians can recommend seriously ill patients to a program
run by the State of Illinois.  Patients would register with the state
and receive a card that allows them to possess only a limited amount
of cannabis.  I feel that this is a safe and responsible way to
provide the sick and dying safe access to marijuana.

Please change your vote in favor of HB 407, the Medical Cannabis Act,
so that medical marijuana patients can have safe access to their
medicine, without fear of arrest or jail time.  Please find a way
support this legislation, or at least allow yourself to be
replaced by someone on the committee who will.

Sincerely,

<NAME>

________________________________________________________________________
Phone Script               Tel. # (217) 373-5000

"Hello, my name is <name> and I am a constituent of yours in <city>.
I am calling to express my disappointment over the way you voted on
HB407 - the Medical Cannabis Act.  Voting against this bill is a vote
against severely ill patients in our state.  One reason you cited for
voting against this bill was the fact that caregivers would be allowed
to have too many plants, but this is not true.  First of all,
statistically half the plants will be male and therefore useless, and
according to the DEA and NIDA, twelve female plants grown indoors
produces approximately 2.5 pounds per year.  The average medicinal
cannabis patient requires 3 pounds per year, so there would be no
surplus for the caregiver to sell any marijuana for personal profit.
The other reason you cited for voting against the bill was that there
is a lack of scientific evidence supporting medicinal marijuana.
Medical organizations such as the American Nurses Association, the
Illinois Nurses Association, and the American Academy of Family
Physicians, the largest association of physicians in the nation, all
support medicinal marijuana.  If the people we trust to make medical
decisions support this bill, why won't you?  I urge you to change your
mind and vote in favor of HB407."

Thank you and have a good day.

________________________________________________________________________
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: letter to rep. jakobsson.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 20992 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/attachments/20050227/c37ff840/lettertorep.jakobsson.doc