cannabisnews.com: Please Call C-SPAN To Ask Donna Shalala About MMJ





Please Call C-SPAN To Ask Donna Shalala About MMJ
Posted by FoM on November 29, 1999 at 18:22:32 PT
For Immediate Release
Source: Marijuana Policy Project
Donna Shalala, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will be interviewed tomorrow (Tuesday) on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time (6:00 a.m. Pacific Time).
This is a live call-in show. If you have a good phone voice, please call in and ask her one of the following four questions verbatim.A WORD OF ADVICE: When you get to the end of the question, remain silent and wait for her response. It is very tempting to keep talking and repeating yourself when you are on the air, but this should be avoided at all costs. Remain silent and make her answer the question. 1. "I understand that your department has released new guidelines on medical marijuana research. Unfortunately, your guidelines rejected the Institute of Medicine's recommendation to provide cancer and AIDS patients with immediate legal access to medical marijuana. Why did you reject the Institute of Medicine's recommendation?" 2. "As you probably know, your department provides eight patients in the entire country with a legal supply of medical marijuana every month. Unfortunately, the Bush administration closed this program to all new applicants in 1992. Would you support making this program available to more than eight patients in the entire country?" 3. "I understand that your department has released new guidelines on medical marijuana research. Unfortunately, under the new guidelines, it will still be more difficult to study medical marijuana than to study a newly developed pharmaceutical. I don't believe that marijuana researchers should be given special treatment -- just equal and fair treatment. Don't you agree that medical marijuana studies which receive FDA approval should be allowed to move forward, without having to overcome additional obstacles?" 4. "Under federal law, it is illegal to use medical marijuana for any reason, even if you have your doctor's approval. Patients who are convicted of using medical marijuana face up to one year in federal prison and a $10,000 fine. Do you think that patients who have their doctors' approval should be arrested and sent to prison for using medical marijuana?" Washington Journal: Democrats 202-624-1111 Washington Journal: Republicans 202-624-1115 Washington Journal: Others 202-737-6734 Washington Journal: fax 202-393-3346 Washington Journal: e-mail journal c-span.org General e-mail: viewer c-span.org TO VIEW MPP's NEWS CONFERENCE THAT WAS HELD IN WASHINGTON, D.C. TODAY: Please visit: http://www.mpp.org/guidelines  (video will appear on-line by midnight tonight). MPP NEWS RELEASE Clinton Administration's New Medical Marijuana Research Guidelines Remain Too Cumbersome WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On December 1, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will implement its new medical marijuana research guidelines amidst criticism from a coalition of medical groups, scientists, members of Congress, celebrities, and other concerned citizens. The coalition argues that "many of the new guidelines would still be too cumbersome to enable research to move forward as expeditiously as possible." HHS's new guidelines, written in May, also explicitly reject the Institute of Medicine's recent recommendation to open a federal compassionate-use program to give individual patients immediate legal access to medical marijuana. A statement urging HHS to modify its new guidelines was signed by Susan Sarandon, Richard Pryor, scientist Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D., former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, _National Review_ senior editor Richard Brookhiser, AIDS Action Council, New York State Nurses Association, National Black Police Association, Reagan administration official Lyn Nofziger, and hundreds of other patients, doctors, medical organizations, and concerned citizens. (The statement and a list of some of the signatories accompany this release.) The Marijuana Policy Project will deliver this statement -- and a similar statement signed by 35 members of Congress -- to HHS Secretary Donna Shalala on November 29.* "The new federal guidelines would still place a much greater burden on medical marijuana researchers than on drug companies that develop and study newly synthesized pharmaceuticals," said Chuck Thomas, director of communications for the Washington, D.C.- based Marijuana Policy Project. "A growing coalition of health and medical groups, doctors, scientists, and members of Congress disagrees with the Clinton administration's claim that the door is wide open for research." "The new federal guidelines are still too cumbersome, and they explicitly reject the Institute of Medicine's recommendation to give patients immediate legal access to marijuana through a federal compassionate-use program," said Thomas. "If the Clinton administration does not promptly modify its guidelines, we will continue to change the laws on the state level, making sure that a half-dozen state legislatures pass favorable medical marijuana bills next year." Both statements and a full critique of HHS's guidelines are available upon request and at:http://www.mpp.org/guidelines/ MPP will also host a news conference at 11:00 a.m. on November 29 on the corner of 3rd Street and Independence Ave., SW, Washington, D.C. (just outside of the HHS building). If weather is inclement, the news conference will begin at 11:15 in 2105 Rayburn House Office Building. MPP spokespersons and several signatories will be available for phone interviews all day. HOW TO SUPPORT THE MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT: MPP is funded entirely by the contributions of its dues-paying members nationwide. To support MPP's work and receive the quarterly newsletter, "Marijuana Policy Report," please send $25.00 annual membership dues to: Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) P.O. Box 77492 Capitol Hill Washington, D.C. 20013 http://www.mpp.org/join-mpp.html 202-232-0442 FAX Related Article:New Marijuana Research Policy Criticized - 11/29/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3818.shtml
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