Why I Am Willing to Go to Jail For Medical Marijuana

On June 6, reform activists organized demonstrations in 60 cities at DEA offices across the United States to protest their continued prosecution of community-based marijuana dispensaries, growers and patients.

The DEA continues its prosecution even though research proves medical marijuana is the most effective treatment available for many people with chronic pain and other serious illness. They ignore seven statewide referenda where the public voted overwhelmingly for medical marijuana. They ignore court decisions that demonstrate that marijuana should be available as a medicine. They've ignored efforts to negotiate to resolve the matter and ensure safe access for the seriously ill. Despite all the evidence and overwhelming public support, our democratic will is still being pushed aside by the Federal Government.

These are some of the reasons why I joined nine other reform leaders in Washington, D.C. in closing down the employee entrance to the Department of Justice. We decided to take direct action, even if it meant risking arrest, even though my organization, Common Sense for Drug Policy, does not advocate illegal activity nor does it encourage its staff to engage in illegal activity. The federal government is closing all alternatives to resolving this matter. As individuals we must challenge them.

A religious reform leader recently posted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" to a group of reform advocates. When Dr. King's explanation for when direct action is appropriate was applied to medical marijuana it was evident that we had no choice but to be civilly disobedient and stand up against the injustice of federal government attacks on medical marijuana patients and their dispensaries. Their refusal to follow votes, research, needs of patients and court rulings left us no choice. Direct action against the perpetrators of this injustice was necessary.

Medical marijuana providers in states that have voted for allowing medical use are heroes who are risking serious criminal charges for providing medicine to the seriously ill. Reformers across the country need to stand up and say no more, we need zero tolerance for medical marijuana injustice.

The medical marijuana issue is not a new one for me. In 1978 when I first became involved in reform I worked on NORML's (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) lawsuit in the US Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. We challenged the DEA's refusal to allow medical access to marijuana. During this litigation, and others where I represented patients being prosecuted for marijuana offenses, I received scores of phone calls from doctors and patients who told similar stories about how incredibly useful marijuana was to seriously ill people who would suffer needlessly without marijuana. Regardless of their positive experiences, they would remain criminals for their medical use of marijuana.

After we won in the court of appeals and forced the DEA to hold an administrative law hearing on medical marijuana I worked with the Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics, a group of patients and their advocates, to develop the evidence supporting medical marijuana. In doing so we not only compiled the testimony of dozens of patients, doctors, nurses and researchers but we also compiled the published research in medical journals and by state departments of health that unequivocally showed that marijuana is a safe and effective medicine. The DEA also put forward their best case, and in hearings across the United States we cross-examined these witnesses. The case continues to be the largest compilation of information on medical marijuana in any court proceeding.

Our case was overwhelming. Indeed, the Chief Administrative Law Judge for the DEA, Francis L. Young, ended up ruling strongly in our favor. Judge Young rejected the most common argument of the DEA as being specious, allowing medical use will send the wrong message saying: "The fear of sending such a signal cannot be permitted to override the legitimate need ... of countless suffers for the relief marijuana can provide ... "