Date: Fri, 30 May 2003 21:14:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: belmonte@MIT.EDU (Matthew Belmonte)
To: CapuanoHR8@aol.com (Mike Capuano)
Subject: thank you for co-sponsoring H.R. 2233, the States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act

Dear Representative Capuano

Thank you for co-sponsoring H.R. 2233, the States' Rights to Medical Marijuana
Act.  As you know, this bill would end the current conflict between laws in
some states that authorise the distribution and use of marijuana for medical
purposes, and federal law that prohibits all distribution and consumption of
marijuana.  The preoccupation with marijuana arrests in cases of medical use is
a waste of time for law enforcement, and is absurd given that there now exists
scientific proof of marijuana's medical benefits for some patients (see the
paper by Ar=E9valo-Mart=EDin et al. in this month's issue of the Journal of
Neuroscience).

You may also be interested in becoming a co-sponsor of H.R. 1717, the Truth in
Trials Act, which would allow juries to hear evidence that a defendant in a
case involving medical marijuana was acting within the bounds of state law.

Matthew Belmonte
[address]