TO: Interested persons
FROM: Robert D. Kampia, MPP executive director
DATE: Friday, August 6, 1999
SUBJECT: Final D.C. spending bill will release Initiative 59 vote --
but block the results.
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On Wednesday, August 4, a House/Senate conference committee agreed on
the final wording of the D.C. spending bill, which includes the anti-
democracy amendment from the House version of the bill. MPP strongly
opposed this amendment.
The amendment, introduced by U.S. Rep. Bob Barr (R-Georgia), reads as follows: "None of the funds contained in this Act may be used to enact or carry out any law, rule, or regulation to legalize or otherwise reduce penalties associated with the possession, use, or distribution of any Schedule I substance ... or any tetrahydrocannabinols derivative."
Rep. Barr's amendment -- which is slightly different from the law that was passed in October 1998 -- is so poorly worded that no one is quite sure exactly what it would do.
According to _The Washington Post_: "The conference committee adopted House language that would allow the city to count votes on the 1998 initiative on legalizing marijuana to treat certain medical conditions. But as approved by the House, the joint bill now would prevent the initiative from becoming law, even if voters approved it."
If this is the case, then the results of Initiative 59 will be released on October 1 or so and -- if the initiative is shown to have passed, which MPP expects is the case -- then it will not be allowed to become law.
Regardless of the interpretation of the Barr amendment -- which ultimately the courts will have to decide -- it is clear that Rep. Barr and the House Republicans want the Initiative 59 vote to be treated as an informal straw poll, rather than a serious vote by American citizens in a democratic election.
BACKGROUND
In October 1998, just 13 days before Election Day, Congress passed a law that prohibited the D.C. city government from spending any money to count the votes on Initiative 59. While exit polls showed that the medical marijuana initiative passed by a 69-31 margin, nobody knows the official results of that vote, even today.
On July 29, 1999, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Barr amendment by a voice vote. Because it was a voice vote and not a roll call vote, MPP does not know which House members supported and opposed the Barr amendment.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
Please write to your U.S. representative and (1) tell him or her that you are outraged that Congress is once again preventing the D.C. medical marijuana initiative from taking effect, then (2) ask him or her to co- sponsor H.R. 912, the medical marijuana bill that is currently pending in the House. The address for all House members is:
U.S. Rep. _____,
U.S. House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.
20515
IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE NAME OF YOUR U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, please either call the congressional switchboard operator at 202-225-3121 or see http://www.house.gov/zip/ZIP2Rep.html.
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Please distribute this alert widely! Forward to your family and
friends, or send them to http://www.mpp.org/alert.html.
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HOW TO SUPPORT THE MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT:
To support MPP's work and receive the quarterly newsletter,
"Marijuana Policy Report," please send $25.00 annual
membership dues to:
Marijuana Policy Project (MPP)
P.O. Box 77492
Capitol Hill
Washington, D.C. 20013
http://www.mpp.org/membrshp.html
202-232-0442 FAX