FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MAY 28, 2003



Kucinich Becomes First Democratic Presidential

Candidate to Stand Up for Medical Marijuana

Patients

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) yesterday became the first

Democratic presidential contender to call for an end to the Bush administration's war on medical

marijuana patients. Most of the Democratic field has yet to take a position on the issue, despite a

November 2002 CNN/Time poll showing that 80 percent of Americans believe seriously ill

people should be able to use medical marijuana without fear of arrest and jail.

In a statement posted on his campaign Web site Tuesday, Kucinich declared, "Most

Americans believe that medical marijuana should be available to help relieve the suffering of

seriously ill patients, and eight states have passed laws to allow it. But the Bush administration

has harassed medical marijuana patients in an effort to assert federal authority. This is another

aspect of the drug war that should be ended." He also called for a broad rethinking of anti-drug

policies, emphasizing treatment over criminalization.

Kucinich is a co-sponsor of H.R. 1717, the Truth in Trials Act, which would end the federal

government's gag on medical marijuana defendants in court. The bill would ensure that

defendants obeying state medical marijuana laws could introduce evidence about the medical

aspects of their marijuana-related activity and avoid being sent to federal prison if the jury

accepts their defense.

"Dennis Kucinich has come a long way since 1998, when he voted for a Congressional

resolution condemning state medical marijuana laws, and we expect many other Democratic

contenders to follow suit," said Robert Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy

Project in Washington, D.C. "This is a natural issue for the Democrats: The Bush administration

is completely out of step with the public, which doesn't want to see sick people hauled off to jail

for taking their medicine."

Most of the announced Democratic candidates have little or no public record on the issue.

Vermont Gov. Howard Dean killed a medical marijuana bill that was on the verge of passage in

2002, brushing aside pleas from the medical community, AIDS patient groups, and others.

Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman co-sponsored a Senate anti-medical marijuana resolution in

1998.

"MPP will be monitoring the campaign, contacting the candidates, and working with

grassroots activists across the country to make sure that the voice of medical marijuana patients is

heard," Kampia added. "With the Bush administration sending DEA agents to shove automatic

weapons in the faces of sick and dying people in California, silence or waffling on this issue is

not acceptable."

With 12,000 members nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana

policy reform organization in the United States. MPP works to minimize the harm associated

with marijuana -- both the consumption of marijuana and the laws that are intended to prohibit

such use. MPP believes that the greatest harm associated with marijuana is imprisonment. To this

end, MPP focuses on removing criminal penalties for marijuana use, with a particular emphasis

on making marijuana medically available to seriously ill people who have the approval of their

doctors.