On Wednesday 11/15, the Senate Judiciary Committee on Criminal Justice
heard
sponsor testimony from Sen. Robert Hagan (D-Youngstown) on S.B.
74, which
will protect seriously ill Ohio patients from the threat of
arrest and
imprisonment for using marijuana to treat their conditions.
Thank you to everyone who attended the hearing and took action
over the last
several days. But we don't have time to let up! The Criminal
Justice
Committee needs to hear just how important S.B. 74 is to the
well-being of
the critically ill. Here's what you can do right now to help us
get a
hearing with patient testimony:
1) Call the members of the Criminal Justice Committee.
Legislators regularly
tell us that a phone call from their constituents is very
influential on
their decisions regarding legislation.
The message can simple: "I strongly support S.B. 74, Sen.
Hagan's
compassionate medical marijuana bill. People suffering from
cancer and other
serious illnesses should not go to jail if they use medical
marijuana on
their doctors' advice. Please schedule S.B. 74 for a hearing
with patient
testimony."
You can go to
Talking Points
to review other talking points. Remember to be very polite and
courteous
when speaking to the senators or their staff. Here are the
office phone
numbers for each of the committee members:
Jim Jordan (chairman) -- (614) 466-7584
Patricia Clancy -- (614) 466-8068
Steve Austria -- (614) 466-3780
Steve Stivers -- (614) 466-5981
Timothy Grendell -- (614) 644-7718
J. Kirk Schuring -- (614) 466-0626
Marc Dann -- (614) 466-0626
Eric Kearney -- (614) 466-5980
Kimberly Zurz -- (614) 466-7041
2) Write a personal letter to the members of the Criminal
Justice Committee.
Legislators respond much more favorably to letters that are
personally
crafted, rather than form letters. Please take a few minutes to
tell the
committee members how you feel. Please go to
Committee Members
to
find the
contact information for each member of the committee.
We need to pull out all of the stops and make sure that
committee members
get the message loud and clear: Stop treating sick and dying
patients as
criminals! So, please call and write the committee members
today.
Brandy Zink, LMT
Executive Director
Ohio Patient Action Network
bzink@ohiopatient.net
Ohio Patient Network