Iron Jawed MMJ Activists Demand "Peace for Patients," NOW!

I'm a fan of the movie, Iron Jawed Angels. It tells the remarkable and little-known story of a group of passionate and dynamic young women, led by Alice Paul (Hilary Swank) and her friend Lucy Burns (Frances O'Connor), who put their lives on the line to fight for American women's right to vote. This true story has startling parallels to today, as medical cannabis activists struggle with their issue.

In 1912 Philadelphia, young suffragist activists Alice Paul and Lucy Burns have a meeting with Carrie Chapman Catt and Anna Howard Shaw of NAWSA (National American Woman Suffrage Association.) Paul and Burns want to press for a constitutional amendment for women to have the right to vote, but the older women prefer a state-by-state approach. 

Paul and Burns leave the organization to form the National Woman's Party (NWP), which opposes any candidate against the proposed constitutional amendment. The NWP has a march in Washington DC and disrupts President Wilson's speech to Congress with a protest. World War I begins, and President Wilson seems headed for victory in the reelection campaign. They then return to Washington, with a bold plan to picket the White House.

The suffragettes are arrested on trumped-up charge of "obstructing traffic," even though their picket line is on the sidewalk. Refusing to pay a fine for a crime they didn't commit, the women are sentenced to sixty days in an Occoquan, Virginia women's prison. Insisting that they're political prisoners, Burns demands the warden respect their rights, only to be cuffed with her arms above her cell door. In solidarity and defiance, the other suffragettes assume Burns' painful posture.

When Paul and the wife of Senator Leighton join the picket line, they are attacked by a mob, and subsequently imprisoned themselves. Thrown into solitary confinement for breaking a window for fresh air, Paul leads the suffragettes on a hunger strike. The warden begins force-feeding them, and a sympathetic guard sneaks Paul pen and paper.

Word of the force-feeding leaks out, and public opinion shifts in favor of the suffragettes, now known as the "iron jawed angels." They then seize upon the moment to press President Wilson into supporting the suffrage amendment, and the women are released from prison as he comes out in its favor in a Congressional speech.

On Aug. 26, 1920, the Susan B. Anthony Amendment becomes law, and 20 million American women win the right to vote.

I love this story of determination. These courageous woman decided to take a stand in the face of name calling, beatings, and even imprisonment to forward their cause.

It's been almost twenty years since California passed their medical marijuana law, and since then 18 states including the District of Columbia have passed medical marijuana laws as well. Over one million people in the US are legally using medical cannabis and 84% of Americans support the use of medical cannabis. Unfortunately our federal government continues to use precious resources to wage a war on these medical cannabis programs and in the its path disrupts the lives of patients, displaces workers, tramples on state and local governments and takes individuals away from their families.

How long are you willing to wait? How far are you willing to go to end this war on medical cannabis?

Personally I believe it's time for direct actions, including acts of non violent civil disobedience. Don't get me wrong, I give credit to those organizations pushing the state by state model, but why wait any longer when we can have our rights a lot sooner.

I'm calling on all committed medical cannabis advocates. Start examining other successful advocacy campaigns, and what actions they took. Take A Stand and Demand Peace for Patients, NOW!       http://www.peaceforpatients.org