A Simple Message to Obama About the Oaksterdam Raids and My Friend Richard Lee
On Monday, April 2, Oaksterdam University in Oakland was raided by over 100 DEA, IRS, and US Marshals. Oaksterdam provides training to the medical cannabis industry, and is fully compliant with state and local law. I’m asking for your help now in letting President Obama know that the public does not approve of this show of force.
President Obama promised at the beginning of his administration to respect state medical marijuana laws. He has broken this promise time and time again — and the consequences have been devastating.Tell President Obama and the DEA: Enough is enough. Keep your campaign promise, and stop the raids on the medical cannabis industry!
Here’s what you can do:
Sign the petition:
https://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-medical-marijuana-raids
Call the White House Hotline 202-456-1111 and leave the message: I don’t approve of the raids against medical marijuana providers. It is cruel and misguided.
This is not just a “California” thing. 16 States including the DC allow medical marijuana use and legislation is pending in 6 other states. I live in an area where I have have the privilege of going to a well-run dispensary and selecting from a wide range cannabis varieties, edibles, tinctures. Contacting Obama will you bring you closer to having this as an option for yourself and loved ones.
Thank you for acting and passing this along.
-Ed
I have been living with brain cancer for almost 5 years now. What is missing from your message Ed, is the fact that the AMA and the American College of Physicians both support compassionate use, as does every major oncologists’ organization. It is important our politicians realize that the medical community supports them, and would be more active in that support if they weren’t concerned about liability and loss of public funding. The most recent studies, including limited live human trials, demonstrate that THC and CBD both act to reduce tumor growth and cause spontaneous cell death in glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and most deadly form of brain cancer and the one that caused Senator Edward Kennedy’s death. Cannabis holds out a real hope for progress towards a cure for primary brain tumors, and to ignore the science and take this hope away from patients like me is simply wrong.
Two US patents held by our federal govt, the one for Marinol and #6,630,507 (cannibanoids as neuroprotectants) belie the wrongful and faulty scheduling of cannabis as having “no medicinal value”. Withholding this beneficial plant from patients who could be treated with it and have relief of symptoms and/or be cured from chronic or terminal illnesses is cruel and unusual punishment. Punishing people for claiming their right to life, if not a crime, is at least inhumane and unjust. It is high time the federal government stand down on the issue, and be held accountable for willfully spreading false information and blatant lies to the detriment of it’s most defenseless citizens, the disabled.