Granite Staters For Medical Pot Attack McCain

During Senator McCain's most recent campaign swing, he asked about his stance on medical marijuana. Linda Macia of Manchester, a member of the group Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana, told McCain that she uses medical marijuana and questioned why federal authorities were arresting patients who smokes pot.

At a Derry town hall forum, McCain said "Well first of all you'll have to show me a case where people are going in and arresting people who are dead and dying. You'll have to document that for me because I haven't heard of such a case, nor has anyone that I know of heard of such case, so it must be a very well-kept secret."

In a press release, Stuart Cooper, the campaign manager of the Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana, said "I've personally handed Senator McCain the evidence he claimed didn't exist."

He went on to add that "If the senator's staff knows how to use Google, they should have no trouble learning about this 'well-kept secret."

The press release also added that Macia "was shocked and hurt by McCain's condescending tone. And while I spoke, I could feel his negativity toward me and the subject I was talking about."

In response to the group's press release, John McCain's New Hampshire Communications Director, Barry Flynn, wrote to us that "Senator McCain values the importance of town hall meetings where issues, like this one, can be raised and discussed openly, but he does not support the use of medical marijuana because the medical community and the preponderance of the medical profession in America does not agree it is the most effective way of treating pain."

Here is the exchange between McCain and Macia: