Date: Thu, 15 May 2003 03:06:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: belmonte@MIT.EDU (Matthew Belmonte)
To: CapuanoHR8@aol.com
Subject: support H.R. 1717, the Truth in Trials Act

Dear Representative Capuano

I hope that you'll support H.R. 1717, the Truth in Trials Act, which would
allow juries to hear evidence that a defendant in a marijuana case was acting
within the bounds of state law.  As a neuroscientist, I'm dismayed at the
politicisation and criminalisation of cannabis, especially in light of recent
studies that vindicate the claims of patients who use cannabis to alleviate the
effects of multiple sclerosis and other chronic conditions.  (See this past
month's issue of the Journal of Neuroscience,
"http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/abstract/23/7/2511?etoc", for further
details on these studies.)  Passage of H.R. 1717 would eliminate tragic cases
such as those of Ed Rosenthal and Bryan Epis in California, in which jurors
have learnt the whole truth only after delivering a verdict, and have publicly
stated their regret at the trial's outcome.  The injury done to defendants in
such cases is compounded by the effects of mandatory minimum sentencing laws.

Again, I hope that you'll support H.R. 1717, the Truth in Trials Act.

Sincerely,

Matthew Belmonte
[address]