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Media Advisory: October 17, 2005

NATIONWIDE PROTESTS DEMAND HHS RECOGNIZE THE MEDICAL VALUE OF MARIJUANA
Advocates Say Rescheduling Petition Responses Long Overdue

NATIONWIDE -- In the continued push to resolve the state-federal conflict
over medical marijuana laws, patients and advocates will rally at regional
outposts of federal Health and Human Services. The events will occur
simultaneously in seven cities nationwide to demand that science and public
health prevail when HHS makes its decision on petition requests to
reschedule marijuana. Currently, ten states have laws permitting patients to
legally use marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation, but these laws are at
odds with the federal prohibition that categorizes marijuana as more
dangerous than cocaine or amphetamines.

Americans for Safe Access, the national medical marijuana advocacy group
responsible for the protests, is one 2002 petitioner to HHS to reclassify
marijuana. The group also launched a legal challenge to HHS in 2004 to
correct published medical marijuana misinformation under the Data Quality
Act (DQA), a little-known law that requires federal agencies to rely on
sound science. According to group spokespeople, responses by HHS to both
petitions are long overdue.

WHAT: Rally To Reclassify Marijuana

WHERE: Health and Human Services (HHS) offices in Washington DC,
Philadelphia, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, San Francisco & Seattle. (For
addresses, see http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2564)

WHEN: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - 12 Noon

WHO: Members of Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the largest national
grassroots coalition working to protect the rights of patients and doctors
to legally use marijuana for medical purposes.

WHY: Patients, medical professionals and advocates are calling on HHS to
listen to scientific research and admit marijuana has medical use. If the
patient-advocacy group prevails in its DQA petition, the Department of
Health and Human Services will have to change its tune on medical marijuana
and publicly admit that marijuana is now routinely used for medical
treatment, clearing the way for doctors to prescribe it to their patients.
According to both petitions, public health must prevail when it comes to
marijuana law, since established research, federal reports and patient
experience all show marijuana works for pain, nausea, loss of appetite,
anxiety, and spasticity, the severe muscle spasms associated with Multiple
Sclerosis, spinal injury and other conditions.

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www.SafeAccessNow.org
510-251-1856

--
Rebecca Saltzman
Field Coordinator
Americans for Safe Access
p (510) 251-1856
f (510) 251-2036
www.safeaccessnow.org