MAPS and Obama

[entheofarm]

Sorry I thought it desreved its own thread

 

 

 

 

MAPS News - November 2008: Chicago gets MDMA research - Washington gets Vaporized Marijuana Protocol

 

 

Dear MAPS Members, Supporters, and Friends,

 

It’s the dawn of a new era.

 

We have a lot to celebrate as we welcome President Obama and the tolerant, visionary, and empathetic leadership he represents, and say good-bye to the narrow-minded, unilateral, arrogance that has carried the American banner for the last eight years.

 

I want to publicly congratulate supporters of the Marijuana Policy Project, including Executive Director Rob Kampia and MAPS Alumnus Troy Dayton, for their huge victories for marijuana decriminalization in Massachusetts and medical marijuana in Michigan. In both states, more people voted in favor of marijuana policy reform than voted for Obama!

 

Now that our fellow citizens have done their part to hand the government a huge mandate for a major paradigm shift, it’s now time for President Elect Obama and his administration to do their part to put science before politics when it comes to medical marijuana research (and a host of other issues as well). The DEA still needs to issue a final ruling in response to DEA Administrative Law Judge Bittner’s February 12, 2007 recommendation that Professor Lyle Craker be issued a license for a MAPS-sponsored medical marijuana production facility, thereby ending the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) monopoly on the supply of marijuana for federally approved research. We look forward with anticipation to the DEA doing the right thing under an Obama administration.

 

MAPS President Rick Doblin, PhD is working on a strategy to insure that MAPS-related issues are no longer bogged down by the DEA or NIDA under the new administration. You will see in this email update that we have quite a few things keeping MAPS staff and researchers hard at work to accomplish our long-term goals on your behalf.

 

Fundraising is always tough during a presidential election year, particularly this one. Now that political campaigns aren’t competing for your world-changing dollars, I encourage you to consider honoring the hope of a new era by making a generous gift to MAPS so that we can continue to work within the system to legitimize psychedelics and medical marijuana.

 

Thank you for your commitment to science and the value of altered states. The road ahead is long and there will be many obstacles. Thank you for joining us in greeting the exciting challenges of this new era with enthusiasm and passion.