Dear Medical Cannabis Supporters,

My name is Michael Martin and I was involved with a company called Compassion Medicinal Edibles, formerly known as Tainted, which was raided by the DEA on September 26th, 2007 for providing safe and effective non-smoked edible forms of cannabis to patients throughout California.  However, as I have learned, in the federal courts marijuana is per se illegal, and my attorneys would be precluded from presenting a defense based on state law.  In the federal system, marijuana continues to be listed on Schedule I as a substance with "no commonly accepted medical use," even though our government still provides medical cannabis to a handful of patients who are "grandfathered in" from the federal government's "Investigative New Drug" (IND) program.

I write to ask you to send a letter of support to help encourage the Honorable Judge Claudia Wilken to treat me with leniency so I can avoid an extended incarceration that would take me away from my young children.  I have been an active part of the medical cannabis community for many years and I always strived to provide professional and safe forms of medical cannabis through dispensing collectives. Our mission was to develop the best tasting and most effective cannabis edibles, ensuring quality and consistency to medical cannabis patients. I believe we achieved that mission but our success led to a two year investigation that ended up in the prosecution of myself and three of my staff members.

I need your help in communicating to the Court that while the law deems me a criminal, my actions are more consistent with being a part of a community dedicated to the healing and therapeutic natures of cannabis. 

I am attaching a PDF of a basic character reference letter outline that one you can use to develop a letter if needed. Not all sections apply to everyone, but please do take a moment to write in support of our cause, thereby helping to inform the federal judiciary about what is happening in the medical cannabis community.

Thank you for your time and consideration.  Please mail letters to the attention of Sara Zalkin, 506 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133 (If you cannot mail a letter, you can fax a letter to Sara's attention at (415) 421-1331, or submit your letter electronically to www.freetainted.com/testimonials.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Mickey Martin

Compassion Medicinal Edibles

888-824-6863

http://drugsense.org/temp/Char_Ltr_Outline.PDF