House allows the sick to suffer

Well, it's not really that surprising that a Republican controlled House would vote down the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment again, but it's a shame that 268 of our legislators have no compassion for the terminally ill citizens in this country. Not to mention their lack of respect for state's sovereign rights. The AP is reporting that this was overwhelmingly defeated last year as well, but my records say we had 152 to 273 votes in 2003..

In any event, be sure to thank the 148 courageous legislators who were not swayed by the decrepit and specious arguments trotted out by the Bush administration lackeys in the House like Rep. Frank Wolf, R-VA who insists, "The amendment would hurt by sending the message to young people that there can be health benefits by smoking marijuana." and the old canard put forward by Rep. Max Burns, R-GA that this was "simply the first step in a scheme to overturn all the substance abuse laws."

You might want to remind the nay-sayers that historic use and scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports the use of cannabis as a medicine and that it is less toxic than the pharmaceutical chemicals currently in vogue. No one has overdosed on marijuana. The same cannot be said for morphine that is routinely prescribed to cancer patients instead.

I haven't seen the roll call yet but I'm assuming my guy, Richie Neal, who supported the amendment in 03 has earned another thank you note this year. You can sure he'll be hearing from me either way. Let your guys know what you think as well. Don't forget these people are drawing their salaries from your tax dollars. They are supposed to working for you. Make sure they do their job.