A letter to Rep. Tom Petri

Dec 1, 2011

Representative Tom Petri
Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2462
Independence Avenue and 1st Street, SW
Washington, DC 20515-4906

Dear Representative Petri,

Since 1937, the federal government has imposed marijuana prohibition
upon all states in the nation. Even in recent years, when 16 states and
the District of Columbia have enacted medical marijuana laws, Congress
has refused to modify current federal law in a manner that would allow
these state laws to be carried out without interference. In fact, each
of the last three administrations have attempted to interfere with
state medical marijuana laws in one way or another.

It is time to allow the great states of this nation to experiment with
marijuana policy reforms. Clearly, current policies have done nothing
to reduce rates of marijuana use. And millions of arrests for marijuana
possession have not made our streets any safer. If the leaders of a
state — or the people of a state through the initiative process —
believe that the best solution is to have marijuana sold in a tightly
regulated system, federal law should not stand as an obstacle.

The Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011 (H.R. 2306) would
give states the freedom they need to enact marijuana policy reforms. It
would dramatically reduce the role of the federal government in
marijuana prohibition by limiting its involvement to situations in
which marijuana is shipped into a state in violation of that state’s
laws. This is similar to the federal government’s role in alcohol
distribution.

I hope that you will become a co-sponsor of this important legislation.

Sincerely,

Jessica Struzik