Constituent contact with legislators can be extremely influential. However, they receive thousands of calls and e-mails from constituents, and your message might not get through.

Legislative staffers consistently tell us that the most effective form of communication is a handwritten, personalized letter. Please take a moment now to urge your legislators to support medical marijuana legislation. You can find out who your legislators are and how to contact them here.

Here are tips for writing your letter:

* Please remember to be polite. Legislators will not respond well to hostile or sarcastic communications.

* Make the letter as personal as possible. If you or someone you know suffers from an illness and could benefit from medical marijuana, please mention that.

* Say only what you know is factually true. Science, math, and reason are on our side; there’s no need to make false claims or exaggerations. If you are unsure, check MPP’s Library or ask us.

* Keep the letter focused and on message. To help, we have provided some talking points below that you can use. Please do not simply copy all of them.

If you would like additional help with your letter, please e-mail [email protected].

Talking Points:

• Currently, many seriously ill Minnesotans are forced to make a terrible decision: Continue to suffer or obtain marijuana illegally and risk arrest and prison.
• A 2008 SurveyUSA poll showed that Minnesota voters think marijuana should be legal for medicinal purposes by a more than two-to-one margin.
• 18 states and Washington, DC already officially recognize the benefits of marijuana as medicine and have chosen not to waste energy and resources going after seriously ill people. It’s time for our state to join their ranks.
• Major medical organizations agree that medical marijuana is effective at alleviating the pain associated with various debilitating conditions, including cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, muscle spasms, and others. Despite misguided claims to the contrary, marijuana clearly does have therapeutic value.
• We should stop wasting time and resources on going after sick people and focus on real crime.
• The Minnesota Public Health Association, the Minnesota Nurses Association, the Minnesota AIDS Project, the Leukemia Foundation of America, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and many other medical organizations support allowing the medical use of marijuana.
• Marijuana is far less addictive than many prescription narcotics, and many long-term users of painkillers will tell you that the addictive potential of these medications is a very real problem. Marijuana is a safe and effective alternative for many patients who are unable to find success with other pain relievers.
• Being able to use medical marijuana allows many patients to lead normal lives by reducing their pain, which allows them to work and be productive members of society.
• What do we have to gain by denying those whose doctors say they could benefit from the use of medical marijuana the opportunity to do so?
• Chemotherapy patients who are too nauseated to eat or swallow a pill should not have to fear arrest if they — and their doctors — find that smoking marijuana is the most effective means of treating their symptoms.
• Studies have shown that marijuana relieves debilitating symptoms including nausea, appetite loss, and severe pain. It has also been shown to increase the chances that HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C patients will stay on their life-saving medications.
• Marijuana has never caused a single medically documented overdose death — unlike Tylenol, which causes about 500 overdose deaths a year in the U.S. alone.
• Many otherwise illegal substances, such as cocaine and morphine, can legally be prescribed by doctors. The same should be true for marijuana.
• Ultimately, the decision about what medicine is best for an illness should be left up to the patient and the doctor, not up to the government.
• This is not a partisan issue; it is a compassion issue.
• Our state should use tax money to prosecute violent crime, not to punish medical marijuana users.
• Many of the legal alternatives proposed by opponents of medical marijuana are too expensive and too addictive and have too many side effects to be good medicine for all patients.