side note: please call your legislature and then please visit MPP’s website to let them know how your call went. If your legislature is against this, then they need to know so they can focus their attention to them. here’s their website:http://www.mpp.org/ Please tell as many friends and family members as you can. Lets put an end to wasting precious tax dollars on arresting sick people.

In a couple of weeks, after the General Assembly returns from Easter break, the Senate is expected to call SB 1381 to the floor for a full vote. SB 1381 recently passed committee 6-2 and a similar bill garnered 22 votes on the Senate floor in 2007 — we need 30.

In order to pick up the eight votes needed to pass the Senate, and to ensure there’s enough support in the House to send the bill to Governor Quinn for his signature, we need as many people as possible placing calls to their legislators’ district offices.

Please call your lawmakers Monday-Friday between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. using our automated system, which uses your address to identify your legislators, gives you their district phone number, and provides you with a space to let us know how your call went.

Next to actually placing the call, the most important thing you can do is to tell Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) how your call was received. Did you talk to your legislator or a staff member? What did they say? Are they supportive of the bill? If not, what are their concerns? Basically, the more information you can relay to MPP, the better they’re able to concentrate their efforts on legislators who still need to hear from supporters. With only a few weeks left before the floor vote, they need to make sure they’re not expending energy on legislators who are already supportive, so please be sure to give MPP feedback after you call.

One more thing that will help tremendously over the next few weeks is for people like you to submit letters to the editor in support of this legislation. Letters should be short and to the point, like this one. Please be sure to check your spelling and only send your letter to one newspaper. If you’d like to submit more than one letter, then you should draft a different one for each paper. If you’d like help writing your letter, please send a first draft that is no more than 200 words to Nmiller@mpp.org and include a phone number where you can be reached.