Federal Employees Have New Option To Support Marijuana Reform Charity
LANSING (WWJ) - Marijuana advocates with government jobs will soon be able to support the cause directly through their paychecks.
Starting this fall, federal government employees will have the option of choosing a payroll deduction benefiting a marijuana-related charity. Michigan Compassion, a federally recognized 501c(3) non-profit organization, will be included in the government's annual Combined Federal Campaign Catalog Charity Listing.
The campaign, which runs from Sept. 1 through December 15, 2013, allows employees to use a payroll deduction to make charitable contributions.
Michigan Compassion co-founder Amish Parikh said his organization is the first medical cannabis federal non-profit to be approved for the program. Other catalog charities include the Red Cross, Boy Scouts of America and the American Cancer Society.
"Once September arrives, the hard work begins as we start educating federal employees across southeast Michigan, the Toledo region, Flint, Lansing, Kalamazoo, and Mid-Michigan," Parikh said in a statement.
Parikh said Michigan Compassion is different from most medical marijuana organizations because it does not dispense the drug and cannot lobby. He said its mission is to help the public, patients and healthcare professionals understand what medical marijuana is and what conditions can be helped by it. For more information on Michigan Compassion, visit www.mycompassion.org.
