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Greens Urge Cities and States to Defend Access to Medical Marijuana. Wednesday, June 15, 2005 Contacts: GREENS: STATES AND CITIES SHOULD MAINTAIN ACCESS TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA, DESPITE SUPREME COURT RULING WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders urged state and municipal governments to maintain access to medical marijuana, in accord with democratically enacted local laws, despite the Supreme Court's ruling on June 6 in favor of federal prosecution. "Numerous cities have passed resolutions condemning the USA Patriot Act for violating basic constitutional rights and condemning the invasion of Iraq" said Maya O'Connor, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States, who noted that many of these resolutions were passed through the efforts of Green elected officials and lobbying efforts led by Greens. "We urge city and state legislatures to adopt similar resolutions defending locally enacted laws allowing medical marijuana." A list of cities and city councils that have passed resolutions against the Iraq invasion can be found at <http://www.ips-dc.org/citiesforpeace/resolutions.htm>. For states and cities that have passed statements criticizing the USA Patriot Act and upholding the Constitution, visit <http://www.bordc.org/list.php?sortAlpha=1>. Greens defended the right of state and local governments to act in the best interests of their constituents and for the right to life and health of people suffering AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and other ailments for which marijuana has provided quick and effective relief. "The Supreme Court, in upholding federal power to override state laws allowing medical marijuana, endorsed the growing attacks on civil liberties, federal usurpation of state and local law enforcement power, and concentration of power in the executive branch, especially in the Justice Department," said Nan Garrett, Georgia Green and Spokesperson for the National Women's Caucus. "The War on Drugs has all along been an effort to target and criminalize African Americans, young people, and other populations that have been disproportionally prosecuted and incarcerated. The Drug War's emphasis on marijuana, which does vastly less damage to health than alcohol and has a near-zero fatality rate, proves that marijuana prosecution has nothing to do with law and order or public health." The Green Party supports decriminalization of drugs, especially marijuana, calling drug abuse a medical problem requiring treatment instead of a crime, and urges Congress to change national drug laws. Greens have supported and worked for passage of medical marijuana ballot measures. In Washington, D.C., members of the Green and Statehood Parties (before their merger into the D.C. Statehood Green Party in 1999) collected thousands of signatures for Initiative 59 in 1998, which passed with a 69% before Congress exercised its veto power over D.C. laws and overrode the vote. "The fact that the Supreme Court's liberal justices all voted for federal power to prosecute, while three of the most conservative justices [William Rehnquist, Clarence Thomas, Sandra Day O'Connor] dissented on the basis of states' rights, suggests that the Court ignored considerations of public health," said Jake Schneider, treasurer of the Green Party of the United States. "During the past generation, Democrats like President Clinton and Sen. Joe Biden [Del.] have joined Republicans in their zeal for harsher drug laws, despite the ruined lives, broken families, and wrecked communities resulting from the War on Drugs. Greens challenge states and cities to 'just say no' and stand up for sane public health policy, for civil liberties, and for their own citizens' democratically expressed endorsement of access to medical marijuana." MORE INFORMATION
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