|
======================================================================
Please distribute this memo widely. Forward to family and friends in
California, or ask them to visit
http://www.mpp.org/CA
======================================================================
TO: California residents*
FROM: Karen O'Keefe, MPP legislative analyst
DATE: Saturday, March 27, 2004
SUBJECT: Sensible drug testing bill receives hearing
======================================================================
Isn't it time we stop treating our children as
criminals and forcing
them to take drug tests without just cause?
A bill in the California Senate, S.B. 1386, would stop suspicionless
drug testing of students and put other sensible restrictions on
student drug testing. School officials would need a concrete, written
reason to suspect a student before testing him or her. And students
couldn't be singled out for testing based on their race, class,
gender, or sexual orientation.
On Tuesday, testimony was taken on S.B. 1386 in the Committee on
Education and Health and Human Services. The committee will complete
the hearing and vote on the bill on Wednesday, March 31. So this is
the perfect time for your legislators to hear from you: Please ask
them to support S.B. 1386.
Please take a few moments to visit
http://www.mpp.org/CA/action.html .
After you choose your favorite pre-written letter and type in your
address, our site will automatically e-mail your letter to your
legislators ... all with the click of a few buttons. The whole process
takes less than two minutes, but it makes a world of difference. Also,
you can print the letters and send them to your legislators through
regular mail.
S.B. 1386, sponsored by Sen. John Vasconcellos (D-Senate District 13),
would also prohibit drug testing without a parent's prior written
consent. S.B. 1386 recognizes students' right to privacy, and it would
prevent wasteful and ineffective spending on random drug tests. For
the full text of the bill, see
http://www.mpp.org/CA/bills_847.html .
Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. Please tell
others about this site so that even more voices can speak out for
reform.
======================================================================
The Marijuana Policy Project hopes that each of the 65,000 subscribers
on this e-mail list will make at least one financial donation to MPP's
work in 2004. MPP will be able to tackle all of the projects in its
2004 strategic plan --
http://www.mpp.org/2004plan -- if you and other
allies are generous enough to donate the following sums in 2004:
TYPE OF DONOR ..... $ GOALS FOR 2004 ..... $ RAISED IN 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------
monthly pledgers ........ $60,000 ............ $12,250 ....
less than $1,000 ....... $583,000 ............ $40,456 ....
$1,000 to $1,999 ....... $200,000 ............ $11,000 ....
$2,000 to $24,999 ...... $300,000 ............ $12,227 ....
$25,000 to $99,999 ..... $400,000 ........... $135,000 ....
$100,000 and up ...... $1,100,000 ........... $130,000 ....
-----------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS ............... $2,643,000 ........... $340,933 ....
Please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/MoneyForStates to make a
financial contribution now.
======================================================================
*If you live outside of California, please reply with your city and
state or zip code so that we can send you alerts that are of local
interest to you. To completely unsubscribe from MPP's lists, simply
e-mail us with the word REMOVE in the subject line. Thank you.
======================================================================
Please distribute this memo widely. Forward to family and friends in
the Bay Area, or ask them to visit
http://mpp.org/CA/alerts_457.html
======================================================================
TO: Bay Area residents*
FROM: Karen O'Keefe, MPP legislative analyst
DATE: Friday, March 19, 2004
SUBJECT: Oakland cannabis initiative petition kickoff -- March 21!
======================================================================
MPP is passing along the following message on behalf of the Oakland
Civil Liberties Alliance.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear friends,
The "war on cannabis" (marijuana) is costing all of us dearly -- not
only in tax dollars wasted arresting and imprisoning numerous
nonviolent cannabis consumers, but also in the human suffering caused
by this imprisonment (and, thus, the loss of the ability to get a job,
and, in some cases, the loss of the right to vote). On top of that,
government agencies are faced with drastic cuts in services like
education and health care due to inadequate government revenue --
while California's largest cash crop remains untaxed.
We have an opportunity to take a stand in support of sensible,
financially-sound, and equitable cannabis policy. Please join us!
The actual text of the initiative (and additional information) is
available at
http://www.taxandregulate.org .
Please join us to collect signatures for the Oakland Cannabis
Regulation and Revenue Ordinance.
We need your help, and it's a fun thing to do!
WHEN: Sunday, March 21, 2004
TIME: Trainings/info sessions for volunteers will take place
three times during the day: 10:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m.
WHERE: 1601 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland
(16th and Telegraph near the 19th Street BART)
Throughout the spring of 2004, volunteers will collect tens of
thousands of signatures to qualify the Oakland Cannabis Regulation and
Revenue Ordinance for the November ballot. (We need to collect 30,000
signatures by June 21.) Please help and support this campaign.
Quick facts about the Oakland cannabis initiative:
(1) The initiative calls on the city to tax and regulate cannabis
as soon as possible under state law.
(2) It makes private, adult cannabis offenses Oakland's lowest law-
enforcement priority, effective immediately.
(3) It takes marijuana dealing off the streets and away from kids
(by establishing a system to license businesses for sales to
adults.)
(4) It generates substantial revenue for vital city services like
schools and libraries.
This effort is sponsored by the Oakland Civil Liberties Alliance
(OCLA).
Petitioners: 510-967-3948
Campaign Headquarters: 510-268-3227
info@taxandregulate.org
http://www.taxandregulate.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. Please pass
this information on so that even more voices for reform can be heard.
======================================================================
The Marijuana Policy Project hopes that each of the 62,000 subscribers
on this e-mail list will make at least one financial donation to MPP's
work in 2004. MPP will be able to tackle all of the projects in its
2004 strategic plan --
http://www.mpp.org/2004plan -- if you and other
allies are generous enough to donate the following sums in 2004:
TYPE OF DONOR ..... $ GOALS FOR 2004 ..... $ RAISED IN 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------
monthly pledgers ........ $60,000 ............ $12,250 ....
less than $1,000 ....... $583,000 ............ $39,925 ....
$1,000 to $1,999 ....... $200,000 ............ $11,000 ....
$2,000 to $24,999 ...... $300,000 ............ $12,227 ....
$25,000 to $99,999 ..... $400,000 ........... $135,000 ....
$100,000 and up ...... $1,100,000 ........... $130,000 ....
-----------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS ............... $2,643,000 ........... $340,402 ....
Please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/MoneyForStates to make a
financial contribution now.
======================================================================
Please distribute this memo widely. Forward to family and friends in
California, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North
Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin -- or ask them to visit
http://www.mpp.org/stop_the_lies
today.
======================================================================
TO: Supporters in select states*
FROM: Steve Fox, MPP director of government relations
DATE: Monday, March 15, 2004
SUBJECT: Tell your U.S. senator to stop government lies about
marijuana
======================================================================
How would you feel if you heard that the White
House drug czar had
been given official permission to lie about marijuana? We hope that
you would be as outraged as we are, because this actually has
happened. And if you do not take action immediately, it is likely that
our nation's drug czar will retain this ability for the next five
years.
Please visit
http://www.mpp.org/stop_the_lies to send a fax to a
targeted member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. (Only
subscribers who live in states represented by senators on this
committee have received this alert.) In the near future, this
committee will be debating the Office of National Drug Control Policy
(ONDCP) Reauthorization Act (S. 1860), which sets guidelines for the
drug czar's office. This will be our last and best opportunity to
change the law so that government dishonesty about marijuana will be
prohibited.
Here is how the drug czar was granted the freedom to lie:
* In the run-up to the November 2002 elections, ONDCP campaigned
aggressively against state ballot measures to reform marijuana
laws and other anti-drug policies. Part of this effort was a
letter to local prosecutors from ONDCP Deputy Director Scott
Burns making a number of false claims, including the declarations
that no individuals are imprisoned for "smoking a joint,"
"marijuana and violence are linked," and "no credible research
suggests" that marijuana has medical uses.
* The Marijuana Policy Project urged a number of members of
Congress to take action in response to this outright false
letter. As a result, in an April 2, 2003, letter (available at
http://www.mpp.org/WarOnDrugCzar/complaints/gao_complaint.html ),
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) asked the General Accounting Office
(GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, to investigate whether
the Burns letter violated the longstanding GAO position that "the
government should not disseminate misleading information."
* In its response to Congressman Paul released last week, the GAO
declared, in essence, that the truth or falsity of ONDCP's
statements is irrelevant. "ONDCP is specifically charged with the
responsibility for 'taking such actions as necessary to oppose
any attempt to legalize the use' of certain controlled substances
such as marijuana," wrote GAO General Counsel Anthony Gamboa.
"Given this role, we do not see a need to examine the accuracy of
the Deputy Director's individual statements in detail." See the
full GAO response:
http://www.mpp.org/pdf/GAO_response_0304.pdf
Let me repeat that in case you missed it: "We do not see a need to
examine the accuracy of the ... statements in detail."
Please express your disgust with this decision today by sending a fax
to your U.S. senator at
http://www.mpp.org/stop_the_lies . The fax we
have prepared for you to send to your senator (or two U.S. senators,
if you live in Wisconsin) explains this situation and calls for a
modification of current law so that lying is no longer an acceptable
action for ONDCP to take.
The GAO may have ruled that the truth doesn't matter in the so-called
"War on Drugs," but we believe the American public expects better from
their government.
If you agree, visit
http://www.mpp.org/stop_the_lies to send a fax
today. In addition, please forward this alert to anyone who lives in
one of the states listed at the top of this e-mail.
Thank you for taking action.
======================================================================
The Marijuana Policy Project hopes that each of the 60,000 subscribers
on this e-mail list will make at least one financial donation to MPP's
work in 2004. MPP will be able to tackle all of the projects in its
2004 strategic plan --
http://www.mpp.org/2004plan -- if you and other
allies are generous enough to donate the following sums in 2004:
TYPE OF DONOR ..... $ GOALS FOR 2004 ..... $ RAISED IN 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------
monthly pledgers ........ $60,000 ............ $12,250 ....
less than $1,000 ....... $583,000 ............ $39,977 ....
$1,000 to $1,999 ....... $200,000 ............ $11,000 ....
$2,000 to $24,999 ...... $300,000 ............. $7,277 ....
$25,000 to $99,999 ..... $400,000 ............ $85,000 ....
$100,000 and up ...... $1,100,000 ........... $130,000 ....
-----------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS ............... $2,643,000 ........... $285,504 ....
Please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate0916 to make a
financial contribution now.
======================================================================
*If do not live in California, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts,
New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont, or Wisconsin, please
reply with your city and state or zip code so that we can send you
alerts that are of local interest to you. To completely unsubscribe
from MPP's lists, simply e-mail us with the word REMOVE in the
subject line. Thank you.
======================================================================
======================================================================
Please distribute this memo widely. Forward to family and friends in
California, or ask them to visit
http://www.mpp.org/CA
======================================================================
TO: California residents*
FROM: Karen O'Keefe, MPP legislative analyst
DATE: Monday, March 1, 2004
SUBJECT: Pre-primary medical marijuana report card; support S.B. 131
to downgrade marijuana possession
======================================================================
If your favorite candidate were elected president, would his
administration break down medical marijuana patients' doors and lock
them up for using their medicine?
Find out the answer before you vote tomorrow by taking a look at MPP's
voter guide! Here's an overview of the remaining candidates' positions
on medical marijuana and their grades:
* U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) -- -- "A+"
Kucinich pledged that he would stop the federal government's
raids on medical marijuana patients and said he would "sign an
executive order that would permit its use."
* U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) -- "A-"
Kerry pledged to stop the raids, if elected.
* The Reverend Al Sharpton (D-NY) -- "B"
Sharpton said, "I think that medical marijuana patients should
not be arrested for using medical marijuana."
* U.S. Senator John Edwards (D-NC) -- "F"
Edwards refused to pledge to end the federal government's raids
on medical marijuana patients, and he claimed that stopping them
would be "irresponsible."
* President George Bush (R-TX) -- "F"
The Bush administration has arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned
medical marijuana patients and raidedmedical marijuana patients'
homes.
For the complete voter guide, including the candidates' stances and
histories on medical marijuana, see
http://mpp.org/candidates/guide .
This year, California has another chance to remove all criminal
penalties for first-offense possession of up to an ounce of marijuana.
The California Senate passed S.B. 131 last year, and the Assembly came
only five votes shy of passing it. S.B. 131, sponsored by Sen. Byron
Sher (D-Stanford), would make the infraction a civil violation,
punishable by a $100 fine, eliminating the need for attorneys' fees
and court appearances. Only a few more votes are needed to tip the
scales! So, please, contact your Assembly member to ask him or her to
support S.B. 131.
Please take a few moments to visit
http://www.mpp.org/CA/action.html .
After you choose your favorite pre-written letter and type in your
address, our site will automatically e-mail your letter to your
legislators ... all with the click of a few buttons. The whole process
takes less than two minutes, but it makes a world of difference. Also,
you can print the letters and send them to your legislators through
regular mail.
Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. Please pass
this information on so that even more voices for reform can be heard.
======================================================================
HOW TO SUPPORT THE MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT
MPP's state legislative alerts service is funded entirely by the
contributions of MPP allies and members nationwide. If you find MPP's
state legislative alerts service helpful, please consider making a
donation at:
http://www.mpp.org/MoneyForStates
Because MPP devotes 100% of its efforts toward influencing public
policy, contributions are not tax-deductible. However, the above link
also provides a way to make a tax-deductible donation.
======================================================================
*If you live outside of California, please reply with your city and
state or zip code so that we can send you alerts that are of local
interest to you. To completely unsubscribe from MPP's lists, simply
e-mail us with the word REMOVE in the subject line. Thank you.
Dear
Friend: 02 21 2004
Last month, the Marijuana Policy Project informed you via e-mail about
Congressman Ernest Istook's (R-OK) legislation to bar the display of
advertisements promoting marijuana policy reform on public
transportation systems across the nation.
At the time, we said that we would sue the government to overturn this
ban if it became law. Well, it recently became law, and we are now
suing.
The lawsuit -- ACLU, et al. v. Mineta, et al. -- seeks a court order
declaring the "Istook Amendment" unconstitutional because it violates
our First Amendment right to educate the public about the need for
marijuana policy reform.
Articles about our lawsuit appeared in yesterday's editions of The
Washington Post and The Washington Times, and stories were distributed
nationwide by the Associated Press, Reuters, and Scripps Howard wire
services. In the Reuters article, MPP's Steve Fox was quoted as
saying, "Apparently, the message that marijuana prohibition has failed
is so powerful that the federal government has resorted to silencing
those who wish to convey it."
Please see
http://www.mpp.org/releases/nr021804.html for the news
release, press coverage thus far, and related documentation.
Two days ago, MPP, the ACLU, Change the Climate, and the Drug Policy
Alliance held a news conference at the National Press Club in D.C. to
announce our lawsuit against the federal government. Please consider
visiting http://www.mpp.org/donate0911
if you like the fact that MPP
is working in coalition on this project ... which means we'll have
more resources to spend elsewhere (such as in Nevada).
The language of the Istook Amendment, which was included in the
omnibus spending package for federal agencies for 2004, reads, "None
of the funds in this Act shall be available to any Federal transit
grantee after February 1, 2004, involved directly or indirectly, in
any activity that promotes the legalization or medical use of any
substance listed in schedule I of section 202 of the Controlled
Substances Act." Marijuana, which was the true target of this
amendment, is currently categorized as a schedule I drug.
Over the past six years, Congress has given the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy approximately $1 billion of taxpayer
money to convey the message that "marijuana is bad and therefore must
be prohibited." But now that the marijuana policy reform movement has
the resources to occasionally promote an alternative viewpoint -- with
private money, no less -- marijuana prohibitionists in Congress are
trying to silence us. This is called "viewpoint discrimination," and
it violates the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Anticipating the need for a lawsuit, MPP delivered a letter -- please
see
http://www.mpp.org/pdf/kampia_to_istook.pdf -- to Congressman
Istook and his colleagues prior to the final passage of the spending
bill. We warned that we would not only emerge victorious in this legal
battle, but that the lawsuit would generate favorable publicity for
the marijuana policy reform movement. This has already proved true.
This lawsuit is part of MPP's aggressive approach to force the federal
government -- through lobbying and litigation -- to end its
prohibitionist approach to marijuana ... and its hostility to free
speech. This aggressive new approach was launched in December 2002
when we initiated our "War on Drug Czar" campaign. In the coming
weeks, we will update you on the progress of this campaign on a number
of fronts.
Again, please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate0911 if you
support MPP's lawsuit and the other work we're doing to rein in an
out-of-control federal government. Thank you for your continued
interest and support.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
======================================================================
The Marijuana Policy Project hopes that each of the 44,000 subscribers
on this e-mail list will make at least one financial donation to MPP's
work in 2004. MPP will be able to tackle all of the projects in its
2004 strategic plan --
http://www.mpp.org/2004plan -- if you and other
allies are generous enough to donate the following sums in 2004:
TYPE OF DONOR ..... $ GOALS FOR 2004 ..... $ RAISED IN 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------
monthly pledgers ........ $60,000 ............. $8,140 ....
less than $1,000 ....... $583,000 ............ $25,355 ....
$1,000 to $1,999 ....... $200,000 ............. $4,000 ....
$2,000 to $24,999 ...... $300,000 ................. $0 ....
$25,000 to $99,999 ..... $400,000 ............ $85,000 ....
$100,000 and up ...... $1,100,000 ........... $130,000 ....
-----------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS ............... $2,643,000 ........... $252,495 ....
Please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate0911 to make a
financial contribution now.
Dear
Friend: 02 11 2004
The hemp food industry has just won a major victory, defeating the
DEA's attempts to ban all foods with even trace, insignificant
quantities of THC.
The Marijuana Policy Project supports the rights of food companies to
use nutritious hemp in their products. This victory represents one
more blow against the DEA and against the absolute prohibition of hemp
and marijuana.
After a two-and-a-half-year lawsuit, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled in favor of the Hemp Industries Association and against
the DEA. As Judge Betty Fletcher wrote in the decision, "they [the
DEA] cannot regulate naturally-occurring THC not contained within or
derived from marijuana -- i.e. non-psychoactive hemp. ... The DEA has
no authority to regulate drugs that are not scheduled." Please visit
http://www.SaveHemp.org to read more about
the issue and
http://www.SaveHemp.org/HIAvDEA_9th_final_decision.pdf to download the
decision in its entirety.
As the case closed, the DEA agreed that hemp foods have no abuse
potential. In his final arguments, DEA attorney Daniel Dormont stated,
"The DEA has never said, has never focused on the particular products,
and said anyone can get high from them, or that they pose a harm to
people." (To download the hearing transcript, please visit
http://www.SaveHemp.org/Oral_Arguments_HIAvDEA.pdf .) Despite this,
and in the face of widespread outrage over the DEA's proposal, the DEA
still attempted to ban hemp-based foods, claiming falsely that hemp-
based foods would interfere with drug tests.
The DEA was only able to justify its war on hemp because marijuana is
illegal. If marijuana were legally regulated, the DEA would not have
been able to claim that hemp products containing THC were also
illegal. To help MPP in its battles against the DEA -- and MPP's
effort to end the war on all marijuana users -- please consider
visiting http://www.mpp.org/donate0908
to make a donation.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
======================================================================
The Marijuana Policy Project hopes that each of the 43,000 subscribers
on this e-mail list will make at least one financial donation to MPP's
work in 2004. MPP will be able to tackle all of the projects in its
2004 strategic plan --
http://www.mpp.org/2004plan -- if you and other
allies are generous enough to donate the following sums in 2004:
TYPE OF DONOR ..... $ GOALS FOR 2004 ..... $ RAISED IN 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------
monthly pledgers ........ $60,000 ............. $8,140 ....
less than $1,000 ....... $583,000 ............ $20,373 ....
$1,000 donors .......... $300,000 ................. $0 ....
$1,001 to $25,000 ...... $200,000 ............. $5,000 ....
$25,001 to $100,000 .... $500,000 ............ $60,000 ....
$100,001 and up ...... $1,000,000 ................. $0 ....
-----------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS ............... $2,643,000 ........... $93,513 ....
Please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate0908 to make a
financial contribution now.
Dear Friend: February 3rd, 2004
New Hampshire voters delivered a strong victory for the Marijuana
Policy Project and medical marijuana patients last week. U.S. Sen.
John Kerry (D-MA), the major candidate who is most supportive of
medical marijuana legislation, won the primary over former Gov. Howard
Dean (D-VT) by a double-digit margin.
MPP was very active in the primary. Granite Staters for Medical
Marijuana, MPP's grassroots organization in New Hampshire, attended
town hall meetings all over the state, peppering the candidates with
questions. MPP also called approximately 10,000 Democratic voters in
January, urging them to call Gov. Dean's campaign to ask him to pledge
to end the DEA's raids on medical marijuana patients and their
caregivers. And MPP leafleted the campaign events of candidates
opposed to medical marijuana, including Gov. Dean, U.S. Sen. John
Edwards (D-NC), and U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT).
In the past week, MPP escalated its effort to educate voters about the
candidates' positions on medical marijuana through 35,000 candidate
score cards and a TV commercial that highlighted those candidates who
refused to pledge to end federal attacks on patients. Please visit
http://www.mpp.org/NH/news_6003.html to read more about this campaign.
"Our goal was to change the political dialogue on medical marijuana,
and we succeeded beyond our wildest dreams," said MPP's Aaron Houston,
who coordinated the campaign since April from Manchester, New
Hampshire. Please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate0906 to
help defray the costs that MPP incurred because of this campaign.
Medical marijuana proponents should be pleased with the results of the
New Hampshire primary. Not only did Kerry win, taking 39% of the vote
to Dean's 26%, but Wesley Clark (D-AR) -- also a medical marijuana
supporter -- took third place with 12% of the vote. Edwards and
Lieberman, both of whom support the DEA's raids on cancer patients,
finished in fourth and fifth places with 12% and 9%, respectively.
On the campaign trail, Kerry said he favored federal medical marijuana
legislation and pledged to end the DEA's raids on patients and
caregivers in states with medical marijuana laws. This stand earned
him an "A-" in MPP's voter guide. Dean, by contrast, killed MPP's
medical marijuana legislation when he was governor of Vermont and
failed to pledge a permanent end to the DEA raids. Dean earned a "D-"
for these positions.
Clark pledged to end the raids and received a "B+". MPP flunked
Sen. Edwards and Sen. Lieberman for their opposition to medical
marijuana. Go to
http://www.GraniteStaters.com/guide to read more
about all the candidates' positions.
MPP's focused efforts over the past nine months likely affected the
outcome of the election by a few percentage points. And, more
importantly, our work vaulted the medical marijuana issue into the
realm of prominent campaign issues that the candidates had to address
day in and day out.
Of course, the presidential primary race isn't over, and MPP does not
have the resources to launch New Hampshire-style campaigns in other
states. If you live in a state other than Iowa or New Hampshire,
please attend the town hall forums that the various candidates are
staging in your state, being sure to ask them whether they would end
or continue the DEA's raids on medical marijuana patients and
providers. If you make contact with any of the presidential campaigns,
please e-mail MPP at mpp@mpp.org to let us know
what happened.
If you like what MPP has been doing to influence the presidential
primaries, please visit
http://www.mpp.org/donate0906 to make a
financial contribution. Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
======================================================================
The Marijuana Policy Project hopes that each of the 42,000 subscribers
on this e-mail list will make at least one financial donation to MPP's
work in 2004. MPP will be able to tackle all of the projects in its
2004 strategic plan --
http://www.mpp.org/2004plan -- if you and other
allies are generous enough to donate the following sums in 2004:
TYPE OF DONOR ..... $ GOALS FOR 2004 ..... $ RAISED IN 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------
monthly pledgers ........ $60,000 ............. $4,380 ....
less than $1,000 ....... $583,000 ............ $19,316 ....
$1,000 donors .......... $300,000 ................. $0 ....
$1,001 to $25,000 ...... $200,000 ............. $5,000 ....
$25,001 to $100,000 .... $500,000 ............ $60,000 ....
$100,001 and up ...... $1,000,000 ........... $145,000 ....
-----------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS ............... $2,643,000 ........... $233,696 ....
Dear Friend: January 21st, 2003
The Marijuana Policy Project is releasing our
second new TV ad in one
week -- this time in New Hampshire. The new ad follows on our
successful campaign in New Hampshire that resulted in four of the
eight Democratic presidential candidates' taking strong, positive
positions on medical marijuana.
Please see
http://www.GraniteStaters.com/TVad to preview the
commercial. (Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana is MPP's grassroots
operation in New Hampshire.) The ad rotates through unflattering
stills of the four Democratic presidential candidates who have the
worst positions on medical marijuana ...
U.S. Sen. John Edwards (NC), U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt (MO), and U.S.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (CT) all refused to pledge to end the DEA's
raids on medical marijuana patients and their caregivers. And Howard
Dean, the former governor of Vermont, said he would put a moratorium
on the raids but left open the possibility that they would resume
after one year.
As the faces continue to rotate, the voice-over announces, "There was
a time when the federal government was arresting some very sick people
... and these men refused to say they would stop it." Then the year
"2004" flashes on the screen. The voice-over concludes, "There was a
time."
Please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate0904 to donate to
MPP's campaign to influence Congress and the presidential candidates
to support our federal medical marijuana legislation.
MPP and GSMM have been preparing for New Hampshire's first-in-the-
nation primary election since April 2003. And on January 7 of this
year, GSMM released its final report card on the candidates' medical
marijuana positions. Edwards, Gephardt, and Lieberman all failed, as
there is no discernable difference between their positions and that of
Pres. George Bush (despite our best attempts to convince them
otherwise). And Dean received a D-, in part because he has bragged
about killing MPP's medical marijuana legislation in Vermont when he
was still governor in 2002.
The other five candidates scored much better. Topping the list with an
A+ is U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (OH), who not only supports an end to
marijuana prohibition, but also proudly links to GSMM's voter guide
from his Web site. (To see for yourself, please visit
http://www.kucinich.us/issues/medicalmarijuana.php .)
Thanks to GSMM's persistent questions at town hall meetings held by
all the candidates, and the report card itself, the medical marijuana
issue is now a legitimate part of the campaign dialogue.
Our new TV ad puts the four bad candidates on the defensive, forcing
them to defend their unwillingness to end the DEA's raids against
seriously ill people for taking their medicine. Please see
http://www.mpp.org/releases/nr011404gsmm.html for an example of how
poorly the Edwards campaign has handled the pressure. And visit
http://www.mpp.org/states/site/quicknews.cgi?key=6003 to see press
MPP's new ad is already generating.
The issue of medical marijuana -- and the cruelty of the DEA's raids
against seriously ill patients in states where medical marijuana is
legal -- has received extensive nationwide press coverage thanks to
GSMM's efforts. (See
http://mpp.org/states/site/quicknews.cgi?key=5881
for one article that appeared in The Washington Post.)
With the Iowa caucuses yesterday, the presidential primary season has
truly begun. All attention now turns to New Hampshire, the first
national primary. This next week provides a crucial opportunity to
cement medical marijuana as one of the major issues of the 2004
presidential campaign.
Please help MPP do everything possible to support the new TV
commercial and our other efforts to keep medical marijuana on the
agenda throughout the 2004 presidential campaign. Consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate0904 to
make a contribution. Thank you for
your support.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
======================================================================
The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) hopes that each of the 41,000
subscribers on this e-mail list will make at least one financial
donation to MPP's work in 2004. MPP will be able to tackle all of the
projects in its strategic plan if you and other allies are generous
enough to donate the following sums in 2004:
TYPE OF DONOR ..... $ GOALS FOR 2004 ..... $ RAISED IN 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------
monthly pledgers ........ $60,000 ............. $4,380 ....
less than $1,000 ....... $573,000 ................ 445 ....
$1,000 donors .......... $500,000 ................. $0 ....
$1,001 to $25,000 ...... $200,000 .............. 5,000 ....
$25,001 to $100,000 .... $600,000 ............. 60,000 ....
$100,001 and up ...... $1,000,000 ............ 145,000 ....
-----------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS ............... $2,933,000 ........... $214,825 ....
Dear Friend: January 9 2003
As you will see in the 2004 strategic plan below, this year will be
the most ambitious, bold, and expensive year ever for marijuana policy
reform in the United States.
Bigger than in 1977, when President Jimmy Carter pledged to
decriminalize marijuana. And bigger than in 1996, when California
became the first state to make it legal for patients to use and grow
medical marijuana.
Please expect to receive approximately two e-mail alerts per week
until Election Day in November. Each alert will keep you apprised of
different aspects of the Marijuana Policy Project's work across the
United States. In addition, each alert will contain a standard footer
that will update you on the overall progress of our fundraising
program, starting with this alert.
If you like what you see below, please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate0901 to
donate early to our work.
======================================================================
REGULATING MARIJUANA SIMILARLY TO ALCOHOL
1. ALASKA: The Alaska state government just announced that a ballot
initiative to remove all penalties for adult marijuana use will
appear on the November 2004 general election ballot. (Please see
http://Alaska2004.org .) We have
already hired three campaign
staffers and opened an office in Anchorage to spearhead this
high-profile campaign.
2. NEVADA: For three weeks in November 2003, we ran TV ads (see
http://StopTeenUse.com ) in the Reno
media market which
explained that 67% of Nevada teenagers have used marijuana under
the current prohibitionist system, as compared to only 28% of
their counterparts in Holland. According to our polling, this ad
succeeded in boosting support for marijuana regulation. We will
continue to run similar ads in Nevada until -- at some point in
the future -- there is sufficient public support to pass a
marijuana regulation initiative (similar to the one that failed
in November 2002) in Nevada.
3. "WAR ON DRUG CZAR" CAMPAIGN: Thanks to MPP's collaboration with
Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), the White House drug czar's office
is under investigation for illegally using taxpayer money to
urge prosecutors across the country to lobby for harsher
marijuana penalties. MPP is also about to sue the Nevada
Secretary of State to force him to require Drug Czar John
Walters to file campaign finance reports for the taxpayer money
he spent to oppose our 2002 ballot initiative. And, of course,
we are continuing to lobby Congress to eliminate all funding for
the drug czar's deceptive $145,000,000 advertising campaign.
4. ORGANIZING CELEBRITIES: MPP has just hired a full-time employee
in Hollywood for the sole purpose of organizing celebrities to
speak out in favor of ending marijuana prohibition. MPP will
elaborate on this in a future e-mail alert.
5. CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION: We will soon announce the
introduction of a bipartisan bill in the U.S. House of
Representatives that would end the federal government's war on
marijuana entirely. Once this bill is introduced, we will ask
you and other allies to lobby your three members of Congress to
sponsor this legislation. After a few years of lobbying,
committee hearings and votes, and a lively national debate, we
intend for Congress to pass this legislation so that states will
be allowed to implement their own marijuana laws without federal
interference.
======================================================================
REMOVING CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA
1. TWO STATE BALLOT INITIATIVES: Every state and national public
opinion poll ever conducted shows that a clear majority of
voters support the removal of criminal penalties for the medical
use of marijuana. To increase the pressure on Congress to change
federal law, MPP will be placing medical marijuana initiatives
on the ballots of two states in November 2004.
2. CONNECTICUT, ILLINOIS, NEW YORK, RHODE ISLAND, AND VERMONT: We
are retaining professional lobbyists in the capitals of these
five states for the purpose of passing our medical marijuana
legislation through each state legislature, similar to how
Hawaii and Maryland passed medical marijuana bills in 2000 and
2003, respectively. The five state legislatures will debate and
vote on our bills between now and this summer.
3. NATIONAL COALITION OF PHYSICIANS: By sending a series of
mailings to physicians nationwide, we are building a coalition
of 15,000 supportive physicians who will lobby their state
legislators and members of Congress, testify at committee
hearings, and do media interviews in support of MPP's state and
federal medical marijuana bills.
4. CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION: We are working with U.S. Sen. Richard
Durbin (D-IL) to gather co-sponsors for the first-ever medical
marijuana bill in the Senate, which will be introduced this
month. In the meantime, we are organizing grassroots supporters
in the districts of 70 swing House members who -- when added to
the 156 House members who are already supportive -- will take us
past the 218 votes we need to pass medical marijuana legislation
on the House floor. Our next House floor vote is expected in
June or July.
5. TARGETING TWO OR THREE U.S. HOUSE MEMBERS FOR DEFEAT: The
outcome of the House floor vote this coming summer will
determine the two or three House members we will be targeting
for defeat in November 2004. We intend to demonstrate to members
of Congress that their political futures depend, in part, on
voting for MPP's medical marijuana legislation.
======================================================================
Please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate0901 if you support
this strategic plan for 2004.
By supporting our work, you will also be empowering us to engage in
the day-to-day battles that come up, including (1) debating White
House officials on national television, (2) filing a complaint with
the FCC against Comcast to overturn Comcast's current ban on all
marijuana policy reform ads, and (3) lobbying Congress to defeat
Congressman Ernest Istook's (R-OK) amendment that would prohibit all
local transit systems that receive federal money from running any
marijuana policy ads reform ... and, if we fail in Congress, then
suing to overturn the Istook amendment in court.
As you can see, we're busy, and we can't do this without your help.
Thank you, as always, for your support.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. Donations to MPP are not tax-deductible. To make a tax-deductible
donation, please direct it to MPP Foundation instead. The mailing
address for both organizations is P.O. Box 77492, Washington,
D.C. 20013.
======================================================================
MPP hopes that each of the 41,000 subscribers on this e-mail list will
make at least one financial donation to MPP's work in 2004. MPP will
be able to tackle all of the projects in its strategic plan if you and
other allies are generous enough to donate the following sums in 2004:
TYPE OF DONOR ..... $ GOALS FOR 2004 ..... $ RAISED IN 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------
monthly pledgers ........ $60,000 ............. $4,380 ....
less than $1,000 ....... $573,000 ................. $0 ....
$1,000 donors .......... $500,000 ................. $0 ....
$1,001 to $25,000 ...... $200,000 ................. $0 ....
$25,001 to $100,000 .... $600,000 ................. $0 ....
$100,001 and up ...... $1,000,000 ................. $0 ....
-----------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS ............... $2,933,000 ............. $4,380 ....
Dear Friend: 1 6 2003
The Marijuana Policy Project's campaign to influence the presidential
candidates in New Hampshire was covered three days in a row last week
by major news outlets.
On December 30, CNN's "Inside Politics" covered our campaign to
pressure the nine Democratic candidates to adopt good medical
marijuana positions. Then, on December 31, The Washington Post
published an article that started with this:
KEENE, N.H. -- At a retirement home here on a recent Monday
morning, a young man asked presidential candidate Sen. John
Edwards (D-N.C.) about federal drug raids on people smoking
marijuana for medical purposes.
Two hours later and 80 miles away on the campaign trail, another
concerned citizen waited patiently to ask former Vermont governor
Howard Dean that same question at a town meeting in Exeter.
That evening in Concord, the state capital, 10 protesters picketed
the local Comcast cable television office because the company
refused their ads outlining each presidential candidate's position
on marijuana issues.
An uninitiated observer could be forgiven for thinking a full-
blown marijuana movement had sprung up in famously conservative
New Hampshire. And that, said activist Aaron Houston of the
Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project, was the point.
"Everyone is paying attention now, and it gives us the opportunity
to get our message out," he said.
As the Jan. 27 presidential primary here nears, Houston's crew has
plenty of company along New Hampshire's other campaign trail.
Capitalizing on media attention -- and the unrivaled access to
candidates the political culture here affords -- interest groups
are waging a parallel drive to push their issues to the top of the
national political agenda.
(See
http://www.mpp.org/states/site/quicknews.cgi?key=5881 for the full article.)
And, on January 1, The Washington Post ran another story --
http://www.mpp.org/NH/news_5882.html -- this time on how the
presidential campaigns and MPP are using auto-calls to educate
New Hampshire voters on the candidates' positions. "At least one
interest group campaigning in the state -- the Washington-based
Marijuana Policy Project -- has also adopted the technique" of calling
mass numbers of voters, the Post reported.
Media coverage isn't the goal, however. It is but one tool that MPP
uses to increase its credibility with the presidential campaigns. And
it is working.
A few weeks ago, MPP notified all nine campaigns that we would be
assigning final grades to the nine Democratic candidates on January 1,
saying that any candidate who did not pledge to end the DEA's raids on
medical marijuana patients would receive an "F" -- the same grade as
President Bush. As late as 8:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve, we were still
negotiating with one of the campaigns to improve the position of their
candidate.
Please visit
http://www.GraniteStaters.com to view the candidates'
final grades. Between now and January 27 -- when New Hampshire will
hold its first-in-the-nation presidential primary election -- we will
be using TV ads and mass literature drops to educate Democratic and
independent voters about the candidates' positions on medical
marijuana.
When we launched this campaign in April 2003, we underestimated the
amount of attention and credibility our campaign would be able to
garner in just eight months. Incredibly, MPP has persuaded six of the
nine candidates to adopt positive positions on medical marijuana, to
varying degrees.
A+ - Dennis Kucinich: On May 29, Kucinich was quoted in the San
Francisco Chronicle as supporting medical marijuana "without
reservation" and indicated that as president he would be
willing to sign an executive order permitting its use.
A - Carol Moseley Braun: When asked at a campaign stop in Durham on
November 3 if she would sign legislation allowing seriously ill
people to use medical marijuana with their doctors' approval,
Moseley Braun responded, "Yes ... You don't have to record me,
I'm already on record on this."
A- - John Kerry: During a town hall meeting in Henniker on Sept. 20,
an MPP staffer asked Kerry, "Would you stop the raids, as
president?" Kerry responded by saying simply, "Yes."
B+ - Wesley Clark: During a November 13 town hall meeting in
Portsmouth, a volunteer for MPP's campaign asked Clark if, as
president, he would stop the DEA's raids on seriously ill
medical marijuana patients in the nine states that have removed
the threat of jail for medical marijuana patients. Clark
replied, "In a simple yes-or-no answer: Yes."
B - Al Sharpton: When an MPP volunteer asked Sharpton on December 9
if, as president, he would stop the DEA's raids on medical
marijuana patients, he replied, "I think that medical marijuana
patients should not be arrested for using medical marijuana. I
think that's something that I wouldn't do."
D- - Howard Dean: At a town hall meeting in Hampton on November 13,
an MPP volunteer asked Dean if he would promise to permanently
stop raids on medical marijuana patients in the states that
have reduced or eliminated criminal penalties for the medicinal
use of marijuana. Dean responded, "I don't believe in what
Ashcroft's doing about medical -- putting people in prison who
are, who have AIDS. Let me tell you what we have to do on
medical marijuana. I stopped a medical marijuana bill in my
legislature, and I'll tell you why. Because I'm a doctor, I
think substances taken into your body have to be treated the
same if they're meant to be medicines, no matter what they are.
And I don't like people -- for the same reason I'm pro-choice
-- I don't like people who are not in a position to make
decisions about people's lives, like politicians particularly
... In the meantime, you know, I'm not in favor of legalizing
marijuana -- I mean, maybe for medicinal use ... And so I'm not
in favor of the kinds of raids that John Ashcroft is doing in
those states where people have decided that medical marijuana
is okay. I don't agree with the way it came about from a
political process, but I'm not in favor of locking people up
for medical marijuana like John Ashcroft is doing." Dean has
called for a one-year moratorium on the DEA's raids; the notion
of restarting the raids after one year, in combination with his
actions as governor, have earned him a D- grade.
F - George Bush, John Edwards, Richard Gephardt, and Joe Lieberman:
We tried our best, but Edwards, Gephardt, and Lieberman simply
would not pledge to end the DEA's raids on patients. Edwards is
particularly hypocritical, given that he admitted to having
smoked marijuana recreationally.
Yours truly,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. Please visit http://www.mpp.org/donate
if you want to make a
donation to MPP's work. Or you can send a check to MPP at
P.O. Box 77492, Washington, D.C. 20013. Thank you ...
Dear Friend: December 17, 2003
Marijuana Legalization under attack
Comcast, the largest
cable TV provider in the nation,
has told the
Marijuana Policy Project that it will not run any kind of marijuana
policy reform ads, including medical marijuana ads. This national
policy, which Comcast
refuses to put in writing,
was brought about by
MPP's campaign in New Hampshire.
Call Comcast
and tell them your concern on this issue!!!
MPP was seeking to spend approximately $10,000 on "issue ads" in mid-
January to pressure the presidential candidates to strengthen their
medical marijuana positions before they leave the state on January 27
(the date of New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation presidential primary
election).
We are fighting back. As a short-term solution, a congressional
candidate in New Hampshire said he is willing to run MPP's medical
marijuana message in his own TV ads. (Under federal law, TV networks
and cable TV providers cannot refuse advertising money from federal
candidates!)
As a long-term solution, however, MPP must sue Comcast.
Would you
please visit http://www.mpp.org/donate
to help get this unexpected
lawsuit off the ground? If you so choose, your donation can be tax-
deductible.
For the long-term health of MPP and the marijuana policy reform
movement, it is absolutely crucial that we change Comcast's policy. If
we do not, we will not be able to purchase the necessary airtime to
pass ballot initiatives, pressure elected officials, and educate the
public about the need to end marijuana prohibition.
This year alone, the White House drug czar's office is spending
$145,000,000 of taxpayer money to run anti-marijuana scare ads. And,
in the meantime, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America is receiving
$50,000,000 worth of free airtime to run its own untruthful TV ads.
Yes, that's right ...
To add insult to injury, Comcast recently announced it is donating
$50,000,000 worth of free airtime to PDFA. Please see
http://www.mpp.org/releases/nr122203gsmm.html for MPP's news release,
which features our protest outside of Comcast's Manchester office on
December 22.
We have been researching our legal options, and it's pretty clear that
the case law makes it very hard for us to win a broad-based lawsuit
against Comcast.
However, we have a fighting chance in court if (1) Comcast has a
virtual monopoly in a geographic region, and (2) this monopoly has
been granted by a local or state government (as opposed to a voluntary
lack of competition by other companies). In addition, in order to
strengthen our First Amendment argument, we plan to sue Comcast in a
state where a marijuana policy reform initiative is likely to appear
on an upcoming ballot.
Please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate to help pay for the
MPP staff time and legal fees associated with this lawsuit. Given
what's at stake, we absolutely must file this lawsuit -- and soon.
One added benefit of this lawsuit is that it is sure to generate a
substantial amount of free media coverage. This media coverage will be
enormously positive for MPP and the forces of medical marijuana.
Newspaper editorial boards across the nation -- which almost
universally oppose censorship and support a free and open political
debate -- will run editorials against Comcast and in favor of MPP.
We are playing to win in court. But, even if we lose in court, we
might be able to cause Comcast to buckle because all of this free
media coverage will (1) be bad for their business, and (2) help
promote a political cause they oppose.
To supplement this barrage of publicity, MPP is now also calling for a
nationwide boycott of Comcast. The boycott starts with me, as I will
be signing up with Starpower at home instead of Comcast in a couple of
days.
Please visit http://www.mpp.org/donate
to fight Comcast's censorship
of the marijuana policy reform perspective.
Comcast's ban is particularly chilling when one considers that
Congress is poised to enact a law banning all marijuana policy reform
advertising on public transit systems that receive federal money
(which is almost all of them). See
http://mpp.org/DC/news_5704.html
for details.
If you are one of the 31,500 people on this e-mail list who have never
donated to our work, your donation to the lawsuit will automatically
make you an MPP member. If you are one of the 8,800 supporters who
have let their MPP memberships lapse, your donation today will renew
your membership.
If you are one of MPP's 5,000 current members ... which includes 158
Lifetime Members who have donated $1,000 or more in one calendar year
... as well as 515 people who make automatic credit card donations
each month ... thank you, thank you, thank you.
Would you please make a year-end donation at
http://www.mpp.org/donate
so that we can launch our lawsuit against Comcast as soon as possible?
Thank you in advance for considering this request.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. To mail in a check, please direct it to "MPP" or "MPP Foundation"
at P.O. Box 77492, Washington, D.C. 20013. Donations to MPP are
not tax-deductible, while donations to MPP Foundation are tax-
deductible.
Dear Friend: December 17, 2003
The federal government's war on medical marijuana users is crumbling.
Yesterday, the largest federal appeals court in the country ruled that
federal laws against marijuana may not apply to sick people who use
medical marijuana with the approval of their physicians in states
where medical marijuana is legal. (Please see
http://www.mpp.org for
MPP's news release and various news articles.)
As a result, Angel Raich and Diane Monson -- the two California
patients who originally sued the U.S. Justice Department on October 9,
2002 -- are now legally allowed to use, possess, and grow their own
marijuana. The DEA and John Ashcroft's thugs are now prohibited from
arresting or harassing Raich and Monson unless a future court ruling
overturns yesterday's court victory.
Yesterday's ruling falls on the heels of our October 14 victory with
the U.S. Supreme Court, which decided not to hear the U.S. Justice
Department's appeal to criminalize physicians who recommend the
medical use of marijuana. (See
http://mpp.org/releases/nr101403.html
for details.)
The MPP grants program has been the primary funder of this litigation,
but the courts are not what concern me. Congressman Mark Souder (R-IN)
has announced his intention to introduce legislation to impose
mandatory minimum prison sentences for patients who grow a few dozen
marijuana plants, and Congressman Ernest Istook (R-OK) is responsible
for legislation that will soon ban any marijuana policy advertising --
including privately funded medical marijuana ads -- on public transit
systems in most U.S. cities.
Please donate today at
http://www.mpp.org/donate so that MPP can
afford to fight the monumental battle of preventing Congress from
nullifying yesterday's court victory.
Randy Barnett, the Boston University constitutional law professor who
successfully argued the case for Raich and Monson, is saying this case
sets a new precedent. "It's the first time there's been a ruling that
the application of the Controlled Substances Act to the application of
cultivation of medical cannabis is unconstitutional," he said.
The California court drew on major court decisions that in recent
years have limited the federal government's authority to control guns,
pornography, and domestic violence. As with those matters, the court
yesterday ruled that attempts to regulate purely intrastate medical
marijuana activity fall outside the federal government's reach.
The U.S. Justice Department will surely appeal yesterday's ruling.
Sometime next year, the courts will decide whether yesterday's ruling
will protect patients in all western states that have medical
marijuana laws (which would include Alaska, California, Hawaii,
Nevada, Oregon, and Washington), all medical marijuana states in the
nation (which would also include Colorado and Maine) or -- if
yesterday's decision is overturned -- no states at all.
As the end of the year approaches, please consider donating to MPP's
work at http://www.mpp.org/donate so
that we will have the resources
to lobby on Capitol Hill, generate grassroots pressure on Congress,
and stimulate positive news coverage to preserve yesterday's court
victory.
In short, the court ruled that Congress likely doesn't have the
constitutional authority to ban the following activities: "The class
of activities at issue in this case can properly be defined as the
intrastate, noncommercial cultivation, possession and use of marijuana
for personal medical purposes on the advice of a physician and in
accordance with state law. This class of activities does not involve
sale, exchange, or distribution." (page 14)
Below my signature line is the court's description of Raich's and
Monson's medical conditions. When you read it, please keep in mind
that the Bush administration's Justice Department was litigating -- at
taxpayer expense -- that these two women should be prevented from
using their medicine. And, should they use their medicine, they should
be arrested and put in prison.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. The court wrote the following on pages 5-6 of its opinion:
"Angel McClary Raich and Diane Monson (the "patient-appellants")
are California citizens who currently use marijuana as a medical
treatment. Appellant Raich has been diagnosed with more than ten
serious medical conditions, including an inoperable brain tumor,
life-threatening weight loss, a seizure disorder, nausea, and
several chronic pain disorders. Appellant Monson suffers from
severe chronic back pain and constant, painful muscle spasms.
Her doctor states that these symptoms are caused by a
degenerative disease of the spine.
"Raich has been using marijuana as a medication for over five
years, every two waking hours of every day. Her doctor contends
that Raich has tried essentially all other legal alternatives
and all are either ineffective or result in intolerable side
effects; her doctor has provided a list of thirty-five
medications that fall into the latter category alone. Raich's
doctor states that foregoing marijuana treatment may be fatal."
Dear Friend: December 17, 2003
As 2003 comes to a close, would you please consider visiting
https://secure.mpp.org/donate/ann_index.php?ref=792 to join the
Marijuana Policy Project? Without the financial support of our 14,000
dues-paying members, MPP would not be able to continue our campaign to
end the government's war on marijuana users.
If you so choose, your donation can be tax-deductible. And if you
donate $40 or more -- or pledge just $5 per month on your credit card
-- we will send you our new MPP t-shirt or the new video, "BUSTED",
which explains how to use your Fourth Amendment rights to refuse
police searches. The t-shirt and video make for perfect gifts for your
family and friends.
The need to understand our constitutional rights has never been
greater, as American police agencies and the U.S. government edge
closer and closer toward authoritarianism ...
On November 5, police raided a high school in Goose Creek, South
Carolina, in an effort to purge the school of drugs. After rounding up
the students and searching their lockers, no drugs were found and no
charges have been filed. Throughout much of the search, police pointed
guns at the students' heads.
According to "The New York Times" on December 9, two-thirds of the 107
students caught up in the sweep were black, even though black students
comprise less than one-quarter of the student body.
Please visit http://www.mpp.org to see the
photo from the school's
surveillance tape, which shows police drawing guns on the students,
handcuffing them, and making them lie on the floor or kneel with their
faces to the wall.
"I assumed that they were trying to protect us, that it was like
Columbine, that somebody got in the school that was crazy or
dangerous," one student said. "But then a police officer pointed a gun
at me. It was really scary."
A local prosecutor has asked the state attorney general and the
U.S. attorney's office to decide whether the students' rights
were violated.
And a coalition of 17 students has filed a class action lawsuit
against the school district and the police department for an
unspecified amount of money, an injunction against another such raid,
and a declaration that their constitutional rights had been violated.
The suit also levels charges of assault, battery, and false arrest.
In response to the police's Gestapo tactics, "The Augusta Chronicle"
in Georgia wrote the following as part of a stinging editorial, which
you can read at http://www.mpp.org:
"Let's talk about what these frightening tactics say. They say
that our children are all presumed guilty. That law enforcement
can do whatever it wants to search for drugs. That fishing with a
net, rather than a hook, is a good way to catch drug dealers. That
lazy police work can carry the day. And that our children have
more to fear from police than from the bad guys. This raid was
un-American. We do not want to live in a country in which storm
troopers are liable to swoop down on us at any time to demand we
prove our innocence."
As we all know, the war on drugs is mostly a war on marijuana users.
If and when MPP succeeds in our goal of regulating marijuana similarly
to alcohol, dangerous and un-American police raids like the one in
South Carolina will become things of the past. (While alcohol remains
illegal for young people, police officers are not pointing guns at the
heads of adolescents who are caught with beer.)
Please visit
https://secure.mpp.org/donate/ann_index.php?ref=792 to
make your most generous donation to MPP today.
And Congress is also doing its best to subvert the American ideal of
freedom ...
On December 8, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that
prohibits any local transit system that receives federal funding from
running privately funded ads that call for marijuana policy reform.
Worse yet, the bill also gives the White House drug czar's office
$145,000,000 of taxpayer money to run anti-marijuana propaganda ads.
That's right. Congress wants to run anti-marijuana ads with your tax
money, while at the same time banning you from using your own money to
run ads in support of marijuana policy reform, including ads about
medical marijuana.
In three or four weeks, MPP will e-mail you an update to advise you on
what you can do to fight this legislation, which the U.S. Senate will
debate and vote on in late January. In the meantime, please visit
https://secure.mpp.org/donate/ann_index.php?ref=792 to make a donation
to MPP, which will be working over the holidays to lobby Congress and
generate media coverage to oppose this outrageous legislation.
For more details, please visit http://www.mpp.org
to read the "Oakland
Tribune" and "The Washington Post" articles on this controversy.
And while you're there, would you please visit
https://secure.mpp.org/donate/ann_index.php?ref=792 to fund MPP's
efforts to oppose this terrible federal legislation?
Thanks again for anything you can do to help.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. Again, by donating $40 or more -- or pledging just $5 per month
on your credit card -- we will send you our new MPP t-shirt or
the new video, "BUSTED", which explains how to use your Fourth
Amendment rights to refuse police searches. Thank you ...
======================================================================
TO: Marijuana policy reform advocates
FROM: Steve Fox, MPP director of government relations
DATE: Thursday, November 20, 2003
SUBJECT: Take action -- New bill in Congress would increase penalties
for marijuana-related offenses and increase harms to
marijuana users
======================================================================
Can you imagine a bill that intentionally forces marijuana users to
inhale a greater amount of tar and carbon monoxide? What about a bill
that dramatically increases penalties on medical marijuana providers
who develop high-quality strains of marijuana for seriously ill
patients?
The Drug Sentencing Reform Act, scheduled to be introduced by
U.S. Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) within the next few days, would
accomplish these "goals." Please call your U.S. representative today
and urge him or her not to cosponsor this bill. See below for details
about how to do this.
While the most prominent objective of this bill is to ensure that
individuals convicted of drug-related offenses in federal court
receive the longest possible prison sentences, the bill would also --
for the first time in history -- increase penalties for marijuana
producers based on THC levels. For example, under the provisions of
this bill, a medical marijuana provider in California convicted in
federal court for possession of just 33 plants with a THC content of
between 13 and 25 percent would be sentenced "to a term of
imprisonment which may not be less than 5 years." Previously, a 5-year
mandatory minimum applied to the possession of more than 100 plants.
By dramatically increasing penalties on the distribution of marijuana
with higher THC content, this bill would ensure that lower-quality
marijuana is sold to children (and adults, of course). This will not
decrease the number of Americans smoking marijuana; it will simply
increase the amount of tar and carbon monoxide inhaled by Americans
while they are smoking.
Members of Congress must understand that their constituents support
harm reduction policies, not harm exacerbation policies.
Please call your U.S. representative toll-free by using the Capitol
Switchboard at 800-839-5276. This switchboard operates 24 hours a day.
So if you are inspired to call after normal business hours, the
operator will transfer you to your U.S. representative's office and
you can leave a voice mail message. Of course, calling during business
hours is preferable.
Here is a sample script for you to use when you call:
"Hello, my name is ______________ and I live in ______________.
I am calling to urge Representative __________________ not to
cosponsor the Drug Sentencing Reform Act being introduced by
Representative Souder [rhymes with powder]. This bill would
dramatically increase penalties on individuals growing medical
marijuana in accordance with state law. It would also ensure that
smoking marijuana is even more harmful to children than it is
under current law. This is not a bill that Representative ________
should support."
If you are not certain who your U.S. representative is, go to
http://www.house.gov/writerep ,
enter your state and zip code (your
five-digit zip should work), and click the "Contact My Representative"
button. The name of your U.S. representative should appear on the next
page.
As noted above, this bill is also designed to limit the ability of
federal judges to reduce prison sentences for defendants convicted of
drug-related offenses. For example, under the provisions of this bill,
a judge would be prohibited from reducing a defendant's sentence based
on family or community ties -- factors that could still be considered
in non-drug-related cases.
The Marijuana Policy Project will be working with many other
individuals and organizations to fight this bill. It will not be
passed without a major fight. Thank you for doing your part to stop
it.
======================================================================
Please visit
http://www.mpp.org/USA/donate.html or write to MPP,
P.O. Box 77492, Washington, D.C. 20013 to donate to our lobbying work
on Capitol Hill.
Dear Friends October 16, 2003
In an historic victory for medical marijuana
patients and doctors, the
U.S. Supreme Court today declined to hear "Conant v. Walters", letting
stand an appellate court ruling barring the federal government from
punishing physicians who recommend medical marijuana to patients. The
ACLU was instrumental in this victory.
Today (Tuesday) at 6:37 p.m. Eastern time, MPP's Rob Kampia will
debate a spokesperson from the White House drug czar's office on PBS's
"NewsHour with Jim Lehrer". (The debate will take place live at 6:37,
but the program may not air live in your area -- please check local
listings at http://www.pbs.org .) The drug
czar's office, whose
official name is the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy, will be represented by Andrea Barthwell, M.D. The debate will
last nine minutes.
Please see ...
*
http://www.mpp.org/releases/nr101403.html for MPP's news release
*
http://www.mpp.org/states/site/quicknews.cgi?key=5167 for the
AP article
By deciding not to hear this case, the U.S. Supreme Court has
eliminated any doubt that states have the right to protect medical
marijuana patients under state law, and that physicians have the right
to give patients honest advice and recommendations, whether the
federal government approves or not.
At issue in "Conant" was the right of physicians to recommend
marijuana to patients when they believe its use would be beneficial.
After California voters passed the state's medical marijuana law,
Proposition 215, in 1996, the federal government threatened to revoke
the DEA registrations of physicians who recommend marijuana -- taking
away their right to prescribe any controlled substance and effectively
putting them out of business.
A group of California physicians and patients, led by AIDS specialist
Marcus Conant, M.D., sued in federal court, arguing that physicians
have a First Amendment right to freely discuss any potentially
beneficial treatment with patients. The doctors and patients won on
both the district court and appellate levels, winning a unanimous
ruling in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The U.S. Justice
Department, led by Attorney General John Ashcroft, asked the
U.S. Supreme Court to review the 9th Circuit ruling. Today, the
U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, thereby letting the
9th Circuit court victory stand.
Our phones are ringing off the hook, so you might see or hear other
MPP representatives in the news over the next 24 hours. For instance,
I'll be on the national "Here and Now" radio show tomorrow (Wednesday)
at noon Eastern time; the show airs on 45 NPR affiliates nationwide.
Sincerely,
Bruce Mirken
Director of Communications
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. To join MPP or otherwise donate to our work, please visit
http://www.mpp.org/donate or mail
your contribution to MPP at
P.O. Box 77492, Washington, DC 20013. Thank you for your support.
======================================================================
Please distribute this memo widely. Forward to family and friends who
live in California, or ask them to visit
http://www.mpp.org/CA
======================================================================
TO: California residents*
FROM: Larry Sandell, MPP assistant director of state policies
DATE: Monday, October 13, 2003
SUBJECT: Gov. Davis signs medical marijuana bills
======================================================================
On the evening of Sunday, October 12, Governor
Gray Davis (D) signed
medical marijuana bill S.B. 420 into law. If the lame-duck governor
had not signed this bill, it would have become law without his
signature.
The signing of S.B. 420 marks a major milestone for marijuana policy
reform in California. This new, comprehensive law is the first to
modify California's medical marijuana statutes since Proposition 215,
California's 1996 medical marijuana initiative. Among its many
provisions, S.B. 420 further protects patients and caregivers from
arrest by establishing an optional statewide ID card system, and it
specifically declares that patient cooperatives and collectives are
legal under state law. For more information or for the text of the new
law, please visit
http://www.mpp.org/CA/bills_621.html .
If you called or faxed Gov. Davis in support of S.B. 420 over the past
weeks, thank you. In his last days in office, Gov. Davis did the right
thing ... and your activism did make a difference.
On October 10, Gov. Davis signed S.B. 295, which reauthorized the
California Marijuana Research Program at the University of California.
The text of S.B. 295:
http://www.mpp.org/CA/bills_604.html
Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. Please forward
this e-mail to your family and friends so that even more voices can
speak out for reform.
======================================================================
HOW TO SUPPORT THE MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT
MPP's state legislative alerts service is funded entirely by the
contributions of MPP allies and members nationwide. If you find MPP's
state legislative alerts service helpful, please consider making a
donation at:
http://www.mpp.org/MoneyForStates
Because MPP devotes 100% of its efforts toward influencing public
policy, contributions are not tax-deductible. However, the above link
also provides a way to make a tax-deductible donation.
======================================================================
*If you live outside of California, please reply with your city and
state or zip code so that we can send you alerts that are of local
interest. To completely unsubscribe from MPP's lists, simply e-mail
us with the word REMOVE in the subject line. Thank you.
======================================================================
TO: Opponents of the federal government's current anti-drug media
campaign
FROM: Steve Fox, director of government relations
DATE: Monday, September 29, 2003
SUBJECT: Immediate action is needed to prevent the U.S. House of
Representatives from approving $1 billion for the drug czar's
media campaign
======================================================================
Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 30, the U.S. House of Representatives is
scheduled to vote on the Office of National Drug Control Policy
(ONDCP) Reauthorization Act of 2003. This bill authorizes the drug
czar to spend more than $1 billion dollars over the next five years
for the continued funding of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media
Campaign. If you do not call your U.S. representative immediately,
this bill -- along with the media campaign funding -- will almost
certainly be approved.
Please call your U.S. representative toll-free by using the Capitol
Switchboard at 800-839-5276. This switchboard operates 24 hours a day.
So if you are inspired to call after normal business hours in D.C.,
the operator will transfer you to your representative's office and you
can leave a voice mail message. Of course, calling during business
hours would be preferable, if possible.
Here is a sample script for you to use when you call:
"Hello, my name is ________________ and I live in ________________.
I am calling to urge Representative __________________ to oppose
the ONDCP Reauthorization Act. I do not believe that the federal
government should be spending an additional one billion dollars on
the anti-drug media campaign when it is actually causing an
increase in teen drug use. I will be watching to see how
Representative __________________ votes on H.R. 2086. Thank you."
If you are not certain who your U.S. representative is, go to
http://www.house.gov/writerep ,
enter your state and zip code (your
five-digit zip should work), and click the "Contact My Representative"
button. The name of your representative should appear on the next
page.
The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign has been a staggering
failure. Not only is it ineffective, but it is actually leading to
increased drug use among teens. The most recent PRIDE Survey, which
measures youth illegal drug use and was released on September 3,
reported a dramatic (51%) rise in past-month marijuana use among
junior high students and a slight increase in past-month marijuana use
by senior high students. More distressingly, the PRIDE Survey also
reported similar increases in past-month cocaine and heroin use among
all students surveyed (up 40% and 50%, respectively).
Until our government is prepared to produce serious ads that provide
honest information about harm reduction, this media campaign must be
ended. Thank you for taking action to help accomplish this goal.
======================================================================
Please visit
http://www.mpp.org/USA/donate.html or write to MPP,
P.O. Box 77492, Washington, D.C. 20013 to donate to our lobbying work
on Capitol Hill.
======================================================================
Please distribute this memo widely. Forward to family and friends who
live in California, or ask them to visit
http://www.mpp.org/CA
======================================================================
TO: California residents*
FROM: Larry Sandell, MPP assistant director of state policies
DATE: Tuesday, September 23, 2003
SUBJECT: Help protect California's medical marijuana patients from
arrest
======================================================================
Gov. Gray Davis (D) has been given a golden
opportunity to strengthen
California's medical marijuana law, and he should use this opportunity
to prove himself to the marijuana policy reform community before the
recall vote.
S.B. 420 is a comprehensive medical marijuana bill that -- among other
improvements -- formally recognizes patient cooperatives and
collectives. Importantly, it creates an optional statewide medical
marijuana ID card system, which would thoroughly protect its
participants from arrest or harassment by police.
Please take a few moments to visit
http://www.mpp.org/CA/action.html
now. After you choose your favorite pre-written letter and type in
your address, our site will automatically fax your letter to
Gov. Davis ... all with the click of a few buttons. The whole process
takes less than two minutes, but it makes a world of difference. Also,
you can print the letters and send them to the governor through
regular mail.
Let Gov. Davis know that you support S.B. 420 and are carefully
watching his actions on this bill -- especially with the impending
recall vote. If Gov. Davis neither signs nor vetoes this legislation
by October 12, it will become law without his signature.
S.B. 420 specifically allows cooperative and collective patient-run
gardens and the exchange of money for incurred expenses and services
performed by caregivers, as long as it is not for profit.
It mandates the creation of a state medical marijuana registry and
the distribution of state medical marijuana ID cards. The ID cards,
which would be optional for both patients and caregivers, would
guarantee cardholders protection from arrest. This is an improvement
over current law, which simply guarantees an affirmative defense and
affords significant protection from prosecution. Importantly, the
information contained in the registry would be confidential and,
under S.B. 420, sharing this information -- even with the federal
government -- would carry criminal penalties.
S.B. 420 allows for intrastate travel with medicine, which is not
protected under Proposition 215.
S.B. 420 sets a default limit of eight ounces of dried marijuana and
six mature plants or 12 immature plants per patient. MPP is aware that
some activists may feel that these limits would make life more
difficult for some patients who grow for themselves. However, this
bill creates a floor, not a ceiling; counties and municipalities are
permitted to raise -- but they cannot lower -- the limits. S.B. 420
will not overturn existing local guidelines. Moreover, any individual
patient who requires greater amounts of medicine will be allowed to
possess more with a recommendation from his or her doctor. This
feature of the bill is intended to specifically protect patients who
are growing medicine in "less tolerant" areas of California.
Finally, S.B. 420 invokes the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,
asserting that the use and intrastate distribution of medical
marijuana is a power reserved for the state of California and its
people, and it should be free from federal interference.
For the text of the bill, see
http://www.mpp.org/CA/bills_621.html .
Please fax Gov. Davis today. Thank you for supporting the Marijuana
Policy Project. Please forward this e-mail to your family and friends
so that even more voices can speak out for reform.
======================================================================
HOW TO SUPPORT THE MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT
MPP's state legislative alerts service is funded entirely by the
contributions of MPP allies and members nationwide. If you find MPP's
state legislative alerts service helpful, please consider making a
donation at:
http://www.mpp.org/MoneyForStates
Because MPP devotes 100% of its efforts toward influencing public
policy, contributions are not tax-deductible. However, the above link
also provides a way to make a tax-deductible donation.
======================================================================
*If you live outside of California, please reply with your city and
state or zip code so that we can send you alerts that are of local
interest. To completely unsubscribe from MPP's lists, simply e-mail
us with the word REMOVE in the subject line. Thank you.
======================================================================
Please distribute this memo widely. Forward to family and friends who
live in California, or ask them to visit
http://www.mpp.org/CA
======================================================================
TO: California residents*
FROM: Larry Sandell, MPP assistant director of state policies
DATE: Monday, September 15, 2003
SUBJECT: Two medical marijuana bills sent to Gov. Davis
======================================================================
After some last-minute amendments, medical marijuana bill S.B. 420
passed the California Assembly on Wednesday, September 10, by a 42 to
32 vote. Two days later, the Senate approved these changes by a margin
of 24 to 14, sending the bill to Governor Gray Davis' (D) desk.
Gov. Davis now has until October 12 to sign or veto this medical
marijuana bill. If no action is taken, the bill will become law.
S.B. 420 modifies California's medical marijuana law by specifically
allowing co-operative and collective patient gardens and the exchange
of money for incurred expenses and services performed by caregivers,
as long as it is not-for-profit. It mandates the creation of a state
registry and the distribution of state medical marijuana ID cards,
which would be optional for both patients and caregivers. The bill
sets a default limit of eight ounces of dried marijuana and six mature
plants or 12 immature plants per patient. Counties and municipalities
are permitted to raise -- but cannot lower -- these limits. Moreover,
an individual patient who requires greater amounts of medicine will be
allowed to possess more with a recommendation from his or her doctor.
Finally, this final version of S.B. 420 invokes the 10th Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution, asserting that the use and intrastate
distribution of medical marijuana is a power reserved for the state of
California and its people, and it should be free from federal
interference.
S.B. 295, the bill that authorized the continuation of the California
Marijuana Research Program, is also awaiting the signature of
Gov. Davis. This legislation passed the Assembly on September 4 by a
vote of 49 to 27. And on September 9, the California Senate approved
minor changes to this research bill by a vote of 24 to 12, passing the
bill out of the legislature and onto the governor's desk.
MPP will keep you posted on the governor's actions on these bills.
S.B. 131, needing a majority vote of 41, failed by a 36 to 36 Assembly
vote on September 11. The bill would have lowered the classification
of marijuana possession (less than one ounce) from a misdemeanor to a
criminal infraction. If you had contacted legislators in hopes of
having the bill reconsidered last Friday, September 12, thank you.
Unfortunately, the bill did not receive enough support for another
Assembly vote to be called. However, S.B. 131 will still be eligible
for reconsideration when the two-year legislative session resumes in
January 2004.
And just a reminder, if you want to vote in the recall election but
are not yet registered, you must register 15 days before the election.
Visit
http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/votereg1.html to register on-line
and then visit
http://www.mpp.org/CA_survey2003 to see the
gubernatorial candidates' opinions on marijuana policy.
Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. Please tell
others about this site so that even more voices can speak out for
reform.
======================================================================
HOW TO SUPPORT THE MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT
MPP's state legislative alerts service is funded entirely by the
contributions of MPP allies and members nationwide. If you find MPP's
state legislative alerts service helpful, please consider making a
donation at:
http://www.mpp.org/MoneyForStates
Because MPP devotes 100% of its efforts toward influencing public
policy, contributions are not tax-deductible. However, the above link
also provides a way to make a tax-deductible donation.
======================================================================
*If you live outside of California, please reply with your city and
state or zip code so that we can send you alerts that are of local
interest. To completely unsubscribe from MPP's lists, simply e-mail
us with the word REMOVE in the subject line. Thank you.
Dear
Friend: 9 11 2003
The campaign leading up to the October 7 vote on
whether to recall
California Gov. Gray Davis (D) shows that the medical marijuana issue
is truly mainstream. Indeed, support for California's medical
marijuana law is literally the only issue that six major candidates
agree on.
On September 3, in a debate between five of the most visible
gubernatorial candidates in California -- State Sen. Tom McClintock
(R), Peter Camejo (Green), Peter Ueberroth (R), Lt. Gov. Cruz
Bustamante (D), and Arianna Huffington (I) -- all expressed support
for Proposition 215, the 1996 ballot measure that made California the
first state to have legal medical marijuana.
Noted conservative Sen. McClintock took his support for medical
marijuana a step further, stating, "the federal government has no
right to intervene." And liberal political pundit Huffington pledged
that she "would actually fight the Bush administration's efforts ...
to try to circumvent the will of the people of California."
Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) did not participate in the debate, but his
support for California's medical marijuana patients was documented in
The New York Times on August 27.
Additionally, MPP sent surveys on marijuana policy to all 135
registered California gubernatorial candidates. Survey answers from
the 35 candidates who have returned them (as of September 9) are
available at http://www.mpp.org/CA_survey2003
. Amazingly, every one
of them is favorable to medical marijuana.
One particularly interesting response was from MPP member Jonathan
Miller (D) who, as governor, might consider moving medical marijuana
"dispensing locations onto state government property where it would be
more difficult for federal agents to enter and apprehend providers and
patients."
Unfortunately, support for medical marijuana is far from unanimous
among candidates in the presidential election. To see where these
candidates stand today, please visit http://www.GraniteStaters.com
.
Perhaps, in just a few short years, political leaders across the
nation will learn from the sensible and compassionate example set by
their peers in California.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. To join MPP or otherwise donate to our work, please visit
http://www.mpp.org/donate
or mail your contribution to MPP at
P.O. Box 77492, Washington, DC 20013. Thank you for
your support.
Dear
Friend: 9 4 2003
In an historic decision on Friday, August 29, the Alaska Court of
Appeals ruled that the privacy clause of the Alaska Constitution
protects personal possession of marijuana. This ruling -- which
overturned the conviction of a North Pole man charged with marijuana
possession -- re-legalizes the possession and/or cultivation of up to
four ounces of marijuana in one's home anywhere in Alaska.
The Alaska state government has vowed to appeal the case to the Alaska
Supreme Court, which will presumably rule on the matter sometime next
year. Please visit http://www.mpp.org to read
two news articles about
the decision.
In 1975, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in "Ravin v. State of Alaska"
that a fundamental constitutional right to privacy protects personal
marijuana possession. Because of "Ravin," an individual could legally
possess up to four ounces of marijuana for personal use after 1975.
In 1990, a voter initiative changed state law to make possession of
any amount of marijuana illegal, even in one's own home.
The appellate court decision on Friday deemed the 1990 voter
initiative unconstitutional, on the grounds that a popular voter
initiative cannot overturn a core constitutional principle. Please
visit http://www.mpp.org/pdf/AK_decision_082903.pdf
to read the court
ruling.
When this case is decided by the Alaska Supreme Court, Alaska could
serve as a model for states to allow responsible adult use of
marijuana without the fear of arrest or imprisonment.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. To join MPP or otherwise donate to our work, please visit
http://www.mpp.org/donate
or mail your contribution to MPP,
P.O. Box 77492, Washington, DC 20013. Thank you for
your support.
======================================================================
Please distribute this memo widely. Forward to family and friends who
live in California, or ask them to visit http://www.mpp.org/CA
======================================================================
TO: California residents*
FROM: Larry Sandell, MPP assistant director of state policies
DATE: Wednesday, August 27, 2003
SUBJECT: The recall, the legislature, and marijuana policy
======================================================================
With the impending recall election, California politics have been even
crazier than usual. But where do the gubernatorial candidates stand
when it comes to marijuana policy? Well, MPP has already asked them.
And by mid-September we will report back to you so that you can be
better informed when you vote on October 7.
On the legislative front, medical marijuana supporters have already
had a victory this session. With the enrollment of Assembly Joint
Resolu |