Me a lobbyist???

Wednesday morning (10/3/07), for me was at once like a scene out of Joseph Heller's "Catch-22" and Frank Capra's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." In the past I have had letters to the editor published in both my small town local paper, and the more major Baltimore publication The Sunpaper. Also encouraged by frequent and usually rather timely responses to e-mail letters, I recently went old fashioned and sent a snail mail letter to Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, (D-MD) . In my letter I asked to meet with the congressman about his position on medical marijuana. Specifically I was asking him to sign the "Tandy Letter." The letter authored by John Oliver (D-MA) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) asks DEA Administrator Karen Tandy to accept DEA Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner's opinion/ruling in favor of the UMass-Amherst Medical Marijuana Research Production Facility, more on that later. While Rep. Ruppersberger did not sign the "Tandy Letter" he has voted each time in favor of the Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment. When I was contacted by the congressman's office the "Tandy Letter" had already been sent (Sept. 19 '07) sadly sans Rep. Ruppersberger's signature. Still they did call and offer me a meeting with Senior Policy Advisor Walter Gonzales. My reaction of course was an emphatic affirmative. When I hung up the phone I was overwhelmed with a feeling of "What have you gotten yourself into?"

My second reaction was to contact Caren Woodson of Americans for Safe Access to ask her to come with to keep me from putting my foot in my mouth. While I am learning, my cumulative knowledge of the medical marijuana issue is based in my own use. I am a polio survivor and what is now many years ago, turned to cannabis to help relieve the pain of compressed discs, arthritic facet joints of the spine, and painfully fatigued muscles. Earlier this year I spent a day visiting state legislators asking them to support Maryland's pending compassionate use bills. Had they passed they would have allowed Maryland to join California and eleven other states that already have compassionate use laws. A few weeks later I found myself in a committee room in the House of Delegates testifying. Then came the Maryland State Senate's Judicial Proceedings Committee and that's it my total lobbying experience.
So Wednesday after wading through DC's usual clogged traffic, I met Caren for breakfast in the House Cafeteria. Our topic of the day Lobbying for Dummies, or how you don't ask someone to marry you the first time you meet. I was given the basic primer of where federal law is concerning marijuana research and how we got here. Let's see if I can condense it down even farther. Jumping ahead a few decades from when the AMA objected to the first laws against cannabis to more recent times to 1976, the federal government created the Investigative New Drug compassionate access research program. Under this program five patients still receive cannabis from Uncle Sam. 1988 a different administrative law judge calls marijuana in its natural form, one of the safest therapeutically active substances known... Basically he told DEA to stop standing in the way of patients and the benefits of marijuana. DEA ignored this ruling. Fast forward from this agency to that agency and it all boils down to this FDA wants cannabis researched, DEA doesn't. Two administrative law judges have ruled in favor of cannabis research. The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), commissioned the Institute of Medicine (IOM) a study of cannabis. IOM concluded that cannabis is a safe and effective medicine; of course the federal government ignored this study. The Supreme Court found nothing in the law to prevent the DEA from continuing to use medical marijuana patients as easy pickings to boost the confiscation numbers. They did however question the wisdom of these raids and urged congress to pass a law allowing for the medicinal use of cannabis. So FDA wants cannabis research to go forward, the DEA says ok we'll issue permits, but the permits will be controlled by National Institute of Drug Addiction (NIDA). NIDA who believes that all drugs are addictive is basically say "Yea Right, I'll get right on that." So that is where we stand in trying to get medicinal marijuana legislation, caught up in a 21st century "Catch 22." Our government on one hand says marijuana is safe and effective and on the other hand our government says marijuana is a dangerous drug with no medical efficacy. Here I am the poor Yossarian caught up in this modern Catch 22. Thanks Caren, now I'm completely confused let's go meet my congressman's Senior Policy Advisor.

Which is what we did. Walter Gonzales is a very engaging person. He took genuine interest in to why I am asking the congressman to support unraveling this catch 22 that is medical marijuana. He explained why Rep. Ruppersberger has voted in favor of Hinchey-Rohrabacher in the past. Apparently my congressman, I suspect is a bit of a weekend warrior or at least was in the past. I have met Dutch in person and if you ever played in the backfield of a football team, you definitely would want him on your line not your opponents. Seriously Rep. Ruppersberger has already had multiple joint replacements and probably knows more about chronic pain then he would prefer. Mr. Gonzales seemed glad to hear me say that I was upset about the patient on 60 Minutes that had a torn ligament that he was treating with marijuana. I told Mr. Gonzales that, I felt that was an abuse of the compassionate use statute in California. A torn ligament is an acute injury, like a cut on your finger. If you treat the injury correctly it will heal. Actually, I said that person needs to take a couple of Tylenol or Advil, put his leg up, and rest so it can heal. Caren as in the past buffered my passionate plea for understanding the need to help people in need. Caren knows how Congress works so while I was giving Mr. Gonzales the why, she pointed the way to the how. Rep. Ruppersberger is on the House Appropriations Committee and also the Justice Dept. Appropriations Sub-Committee. Caren pointed out that as a member of those committees the congressman can ask the tough questions. In the end Mr. Gonzales promised to have us back again and urged us to keep being involved in America. So as we left the Longworth House Office Building I looked around at where I was.

From where I was I could peek through the trees and see a bit of the Washington Monument and the Capitol Dome. So feeling rather proud of myself, I pointed my chair in that direction. It was a beautiful fall afternoon. Now this was not my first time to Washington, but it was since another beautiful fall morning. I had noticed the barriers I had been directed through. It wasn't until I got closer to the Capitol Building that it hit home. This place that I had seen in person and marveled at its openness was now barricaded. As I motored my chair around to the front of the building so I could gaze upon the "Monument" I looked up to see the helicopter overhead. It was just circling there above our seat of government protecting us. Still despite the helicopter, despite the barricades, I had just come from the office of the United States Congressman that represents me. Wow, Mr. Smith really can go to Washington.