Update on Alabama Medical Marijuana Bill

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to just take a moment and give everyone an update about ACC and what our plans are for the coming months.

I've taken a short sabbatical since HB642 passed out of committee on April 7. I had put off a lot of my college course work in order to work on the bill and unfortunately fell way behind. If you have had a hard time getting hold of me its because I had to block out everything and focus on my work or risk losing my 3.7 GPA which I have no intention of doing. Besides, we all need a small breather and a little time to reflect on our monumental feat of getting out medical marijuana bill out of committee in an election year. We made history. Give yourselves a big pat on the back. You deserve it.

Now, a large number of people have inquired about if we were having/could we please have a 420 celebration. We didn't. Never do. While I am a big fan of our International marijuana celebration day I do not feel the time is right for me to organize one in Alabama. There are a number of reasons for that. The most important one is that at this time we are all working hard to get this medical marijuana legislation passed and on the Governor's desk. The closer we get to that goal the more our opponents will monitor every single move we make, take harmless things like a 420 celebration, and use the worst images they can find from it against us in committee meetings and on the house floor. It may sound crazy, but one picture of a young person smoking a joint or someone in a tie-dye t-shirt can undo years of work that I and others have done to get us to the point where we got this legislative session. It wouldn't even have to be one of our own. Take the following incident as an example;

ACC held a medical marijuana rally in Birmingham a few months ago, which included a march to the fountain at 5 Points. As soon as the media pulled up, what appeared to be a couple of 16 year old kids came over to the fountain and lit up a blunt. These kids were not part of the ACC demonstration. We did not know them. They came out of nowhere. I approached them and told them they had to leave and that they should not be smoking pot in public. They told me that it wasn't pot but that fake crap being sold all over now known as K2/Spice. I told them I didn't care what it was, that this was a medical marijuana rally and was focused patients and not a general legalization rally and that them standing there would be the first thing they showed on the nightly news. They still wouldn't leave. Finally, one of the older men with ACC came over and told them it was illegal to smoke anything in public and to leave right now. They finally did. I had to explain to the media that they were not with us, that we had never seen them before and to please not put them on the news as they had nothing to do with the medical marijuana rally we were holding. Thankfully, the News complied. I happen to think it possible that someone paid those kids to come over as soon as the media arrived to try and derail our issue by making it look to the public like we were encouraging teenagers to smoke pot (even if it wasn't actual pot) in public. Politics is dirty and the opposition will try and undercut us and make us look bad at every turn. When they can't find us doing anything wrong they will insert their own people doing something wrong and then claim it was one of ours. Some may think I am paranoid....but there is no such thing as paranoia in politics.

So, that's the reason I do not organize public celebrations on 420 in Alabama. When we get to the point that the environment has changed enough that such a thing would not cause us major public relations damage then we will do one. Now, however, is not that time. Another reason that I don't do them is that I find them pretty useless. It's fun to socialize with like minds and celebrate the wonderful cannabis plant....but it's choir preaching. I know you support it. You know I support it. We don't need a day to stand around and tell each other how much we support it. I feel our energies/resources would be much better spent by preaching to those in power about the laws which need to be changed and how THEY need to support it. That's just my personal view.

Now, what's next for ACC and the Compassionate Care bill? We will begin working on our strategy for the remainder of this year (an election year) after the legislative session ends and I am finished with my classes. Sometime in early June we will have another ACC meeting where we will discuss strategy and give everyone marching orders about all of the things that need to be done between now and next session.

One of the main things we need to do between now and November is start showing up at campaign rallies of everyone running for public office....from Governor down to legislator. We need to make our presence known and let those seeking office know that we are a force to be reckoned with and that we are not going anywhere and that if they want our support then we need to know here they stand on this issue. Showing up at nearly every campaign rally will let them know that we are serious. It will let the media know that we are serious. And it will let the public know that we are serious and that this issue isn't going away until we get what we want. Today I want all of you reading this to find out who will be campaigning in or near your town between now and November and make plans to be at the campaign event. Send me a list of all political events and we will work out what you need to say and do when you attend. This is critical.

Another CRITICAL thing that everyone who supports medical marijuana in Alabama needs to do is MAKE CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS to the following legislators.

Rep. Patricia Todd (bill sponsor)
Rep. John Robinson
Rep. Cam Ward (will be senator Cam Ward after the election)
Rep. Chris England
Rep. Laura Hall

All of the information you need to send a campaign contribution is listed at this link
http://nallforgovernor.blogspot.com/2010/04/reflections-on-alabama-medical.html

It doesn't matter if it is only $5. What matters is that these legislators hear from YOU and that you let them know you appreciate their support on medical marijuana and want to help them get back in office in 2011. Those small contributions sometimes mean more than the huge ones that well funded businesses and well off individuals make. They can afford huge chunks of money and a $1,000 contribution to them is nothing. But, a $5 contribution from someone on a fixed income who is suffering from cancer or multiple sclerosis etc...means a great deal more because they can least afford it, but did it anyway. Please send a note along with your contribution thanking them for their support of HB642 The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act. It can and will make a world of difference.

Finally, and this is REALLY critical, ACC needs monetary contributions to continue our work between now and September. We had a lot of action this year and that action depleted our finances. We also had a lot of success. I cannot stress how amazing the committee meeting was, nor how astounding some of the things we heard from representatives were, nor can I over-emphasize the miraculous outcome of getting our medical marijuana bill out of the hardest committee in the entire house IN AN ELECTION YEAR. Please help us continue our incredible and amazing work in Alabama, the hardest state of all in which to bring about change. We need to be able to help members attend campaign rallies, visit with their legislator and senator over the break between sessions, and we need to keep the lights on and the bills paid at ACC. Currently contributions are not tax deductible. We have registered with the state but are still in the process of being granted 501c3 status from the IRS.

If you would like to make a contribution please send a check or money order made payable to:

ACU
4633 Pearson Chapel Rd
Alexander City, AL 35010

Currently there is no way to make an online contribution. Due to PayPal's long history of seizing the accounts of drug policy reform groups, stealing the money contained in those accounts, and sharing information with the Feds we at ACC refuse to use them. When we are granted 501c3 status we will make a way to contribute online available. Sorry for the inconvenience.

House Judiciary Committee Passes Medical Marijuana Bill

Folks,

Alabama made HISTORY today when, for the first time ever, our Cadillac of a
medical marijuana bill HB642 passed out of the house judiciary committee. About 40
patients and supporters showed up at the state house this morning for a
press conference and to pack out the committee room.

There was some opposition to the bill, but, for the first time those who opposed it actually stated their opposition and agreed to work with us between now and the next
session to find common ground. I will be preparing a much longer write up and posting it later along with a video of the entire committee session.

Many, many thanks to the wonderful people at Drug Policy Alliance who have been our allies for 6 years, Rep. Patricia Todd our magnificent bill sponsor who is a true champion for the medical marijuana cause and a very special thank you to Mrs. Jacki Phillips, the mother of Michael Phillips, who the bill is named in honor of. You can't talk to Mrs. Jacki and be opposed to medical marijuana afterward. She's an angel.

And of course much love and respect to all of the patients, family members, and supporters who have called, emailed, and visited members of the House Judiciary Committee, attended meetings, written letters to the editor, and donated time and money to this noble cause. None of this would be possible without all of you out there every day putting your freedom on the line. I can never thank you enough for standing up with me in Alabama.

This is the fist step of many, but we are closer today to Alabama becoming
the first medical marijuana state in the South than ever before. Rep. Todd
has already agreed to sponsor our bill again next year and we plan to get an
early start. I feel like 2011 or 2012 will be the year that patients and
physicians in Alabama will finally have the protection they deserve.

Onward,
Loretta Nall

Here are two news stories that have already hit the media. Please leave comments on both.

Committee Approves Medical Marijuana Bill

Alabama House panel votes to allow medical marijuana use

Medical Marijuana in the BHAM News

ACC member and medical marijuana patient Christopher Butts had an excellent letter published in today's Birmingham News.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Bill up for debate on Wednesday

The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act is making its way through the Alabama Legislature and will be heard by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. The bill would protect doctors for recommending marijuana to their patients, as well as protect patients for both possessing and using marijuana to treat debilitating conditions.

Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have passed similar medical marijuana legislation giving residents with debilitating conditions the freedom to use a safer, natural alternative to their prescribed medications. Marijuana has been in the pharmacopeia of almost every culture on this planet for thousands of years without a single death; the same cannot be said for the drugs in your medicine cabinet.

Let's get this bill passed and provide Alabama's sick and suffering those same liberties provided by a growing number of states.

Christopher Butts

Cullman

Loretta Nall on Matt Murphy Tuesday 7:45 a.m.

Everyone,

I will be on the Matt Murphy show in the morning (Tuesday,April 6) at 7:45 am to discuss HB642 The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act coming up in committee on Wednesday. You can listen live online at Matt Murphy Show

You may also call in at 1-877-569-1005

Make Marijuana Legal for Patients

ACC member and South Alabama ACC coordinator Samuel Barksdale had a letter published in today's Montgomery Advertiser.

Make Marijuana Legal for Patients

Please drop by the Montgomery Advertiser Website and leave a comment.

Prepare a Written Testimony in Support of HB642

On April 7, 2010 at 9 a.m. HB642 the Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act will come before the Alabama House Judiciary Committee. HB642 would protect doctors who recommend and patients who use marijuana as medicine from arrest and prosecution under state law. This will be a public hearing where some of the patients who make up Alabamians for Compassionate Care will address the committee about their use of medical marijuana.

Due to a limited amount of time only 5 patients will be giving live testimony. However, since there are literally thousands of patients who use medical marijuana in Alabama and tens of thousands more who would benefit from medical marijuana, ACC is soliciting written testimonies from other medical marijuana patients, which will be presented to the members of the House Judiciary Committee.

If you would like to provide a written testimony about your use of medical marijuana please do so as soon as possible. All you need to do is tell your story in your own words. Please be sure to include your medical condition, how long you have had the medical condition, what medications you have been prescribed, whether or not those medications worked, any side effects you experienced, how much the medications cost, why you decided to try medical marijuana, how marijuana has worked for you, what dangers you face in trying to acquire it and why you think it should be legal for medical use.

Please email all written testimonies to me at lorettanall@gmail.com . Please include your contact information.

Contact House Judiciary Committee on Medical Marijuana Today!

Next Wednesday, March 31, HB642 The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act will come before the Alabama House Judiciary Committee. Today we need to start flooding the phone lines and inboxes of the judiciary committee members asking them to support this bill.

When you call you may or may not get the member on the phone. If you get the member on the phone introduce yourself. If you are a patient then tell them what your condition is, what medications you have taken, how they affected your quality of life, how marijuana helps your condition and the dangerous things you have to go through to get it. Tell them you shouldn't have to risk your family, property and freedom in order to treat your medical condition. Tell them that 14 other states and DC have medical marijuana laws, but, because you live in Alabama, you are treated as a criminal as opposed to a patient. Tell them that geographic location should never determine criminality and that patients in Alabama deserve the same level of protection as patients in the 14 states where medical marijuana has been passed. Ask them to please vote YES on HB642. Please write down what they say and send it to me.

If you get the main desk at the State House leave a message asking for the judiciary committee member to support HB642 and to please return your call.

Also, take a moment and send an email to the members listed below.


"Camjulward@aol.com" , (334) 242-7750

steve.mcmillan@alhouse.org, (334) 242-7723

spencer.collier@alhouse.org, (334) 242-7719

paul.demarco@alhouse.org, (334) 242-7740

charles.newton@alhouse.org, (334) 242-4460

marcel.black@alhouse.org, (334) 242-7667

Tammy.Irons@alhouse.org, (334) 353-9032

jamie.ison@alhouse.org, (334) 242-7711

laura.hall@alhouse.org, (334) 242-7688

chris.england@alhouse.org , (334) 242-7703

john.robinson@alhouse.org, (334) 242-7728

howard.sanderford@alhouse.org (334) 242-4368

HB642 in Committee March 31

HB642 The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act will come before the Alabama House Judiciary Committee on March 31, 2010 at 9 a.m.

Members of Alabamians for Compassionate Care will hold a press conference on the steps of the Alabama State House that morning at 8 a.m. where we will be joined by our bill sponsor Rep. Patricia Todd to discuss the bill and hear from some of the patients whose lives are adversely affected by the lack of a medical marijuana law in Alabama.

Beginning on March 23rd we will begin calling and visiting with members of the House Judiciary committee to ask for their support of this bill. House Judiciary Committee contact information is HERE. Simply click the name and you will be taken to that member's page. I will be providing a sample script as time draws closer.

If you support medical marijuana in Alabama then BE THERE on March 31!!!!! We hope to pack out the committee room and have an overflow crowd. The more people who show up the more legislators realize this is a serious issue with a lot of support from all segments of Alabama society. If you need gas money to get there let us know. If you need a ride from your area of the state let us know so that we can try to arrange one for you. ACC members will be out front and easily identifiable by our ACC t-shirts.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us either by email or phone. Our contact information is HERE.

ACC Intl. Medical Marijuana Celebration time change

UPDATE: Due to inclement weather conditions the time of this event has been pushed back by one hour. We will meet at 2330 Highland Avenue at 2 pm and begin our march to the Fountain at 5 Points South between 2:30 and 3:00 pm. The Birmingham News has confirmed that they will be coming out to report on our event. If road conditions are still problematic in your area at noon then do not attempt to attend. However, if you can safely make it to this event please come and bring as many people as you can.


Dear Friends and Supporters of Medical Marijuana in Alabama,

On Feb. 13, 2010 beginning at 1 p.m. members of Alabamians for Compassionate Care will kick off International Medical Marijuana Week with a celebration in Birmingham, Alabama with a pot luck dinner, fellowship, speakers and a short demonstration. If you plan to attend please bring a covered dish to share with other attendees. Later on we plan to have individual patients tell their stories about why they use medical marijuana, what they have to endure to get their medicine and how such obstacles have negatively impacted their lives. We will conclude our event by marching from 2330 Highland Ave. down to the fountain at 5 Points South and the back to the Hwy 280 overpass. Please make and bring signs about medical marijuana. Possible slogans include

I am a PATIENT not a criminal

My other medicine is addictive

STOP ARRESTING PATIENTS

MAKE MEDICAL MARIJUANA LEGAL

Please feel free to make up your own sign slogans so long as they have to do with medical marijuana.

The address of our celebration is

2330 Highland Ave. South (on Southside)

This location is right next to Caldwell Park. Should our group become too large for the location we have selected we can and will spill over into the park, weather permitting.

Load your cars and trucks up with as many people as you can find and we look forward to seeing you there.

If you have questions or need further information please feel free to email me at lorettanall@gmail.com. You can also contact our Outreach coordinator Christie O'Brien at 205-907-6131 reederchristie@yahoo.com or by contacting our Web Coordinator Penny Vaughan at luvlavender@yahoo.com

IMPORTANT NOTE RE: RALLY THIS SATURDAY

IMPORTANT NOTE: On Feb. 13 Alabamians for Compassionate Care will hold a celebration in honor of International Medical Marijuana Week. From the looks of things this event has the potential to be very large. We want to remind everyone planning to attend that medical marijuana is not yet legal in Alabama. Therefore we strongly advise against traveling to or from this event with your medication. Alabamians for Compassionate Care WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE for anyone who chooses to ignore this advice. In other words, if you get arrested for possession of marijuana or for consuming marijuana at this event you will be on your own. Additionally, Rep. Patricia Todd may drop in and say hello. We would not want the actions of those in attendance to make her look bad or cause her problems for sponsoring this bill. Please keep that in mind as you make your plans to attend.

Thanks, ACC Staff

Medical Marijuana Valuable Tool -Editorial by Penny Vaughan

Medical marijuana valuable tool

Medical marijuana is a popular issue. A recent ABC/Washington Post poll shows that 81 percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana for medical use, and state medical marijuana initiatives have been repeatedly endorsed by voters.

Studies have shown that marijuana relieves debilitating symptoms including nausea, appetite loss and severe pain. I have been a chronic pain patient since 2002, following a failed back surgery.

In my case the doctors prescribed fentynal and hydrocodone, both of which are very addictive opiates that have serious adverse side effects and may even cause death. Many otherwise illegal substances, such as Oxycontin and morphine, can legally be prescribed by doctors. The same should be true for marijuana, which is less dangerous and addictive than any of these substances.

Medical marijuana would be a wonderful alternative for someone like me. However, since it is not yet legal in my home state of Alabama, I must become a criminal if I choose to use cannabis to alleviate my symptoms.

I strongly believe the decision of what medicine is best for an illness should be left up to the patient and the doctor, not to police and prosecutors. Our state should use tax money to prosecute violent crime, not punish medical marijuana users.

The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act is set to go before the House of Representatives this session. This bill will protect physicians who recommend medical marijuana (cannabis) for their patients, and protect patients who use it.

Penny Vaughan
Lineville

Compassionate Care Meeting Nov. 7

On November 7th, 2009 Alabamians for Compassionate Care will hold a meeting in Birmingham to prepare for the upcoming legislative session in 2010. The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act will again be sponsored by Rep. Patricia Todd of Birmingham. Rep. Todd will also be in attendance our meeting to tell everyone what to expect and what things they should be doing to help get this bill passed.

This meeting will take place from 2 - 4 p.m. at the Libertarian Party Headquarters located at 2330 Highland Ave. South (on Southside...not in Irondale). Refreshments will be served. So, load up your car with people who are interested and meet us there!!

If you plan to be there please RSVP to this post or to lorettanall@gmail.com so that we can properly prepare and have enough refreshments for everyone.