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Dear
Friend 04 01 2004:
The Marijuana Policy Project is pleased to announce the following
fellowship, grant, and job opportunities ...
1. 2004 Summer Fellowships for Marijuana Policy Reform
MPP is offering $6,000 Summer Fellowship grants for qualified
students and activists to engage in grassroots organizing for
marijuana policy reform for three months this summer. Summer
fellows will be asked to organize in their cities/regions a list
of individuals who support reform, protests and other grassroots
events, the distribution of literature, and the generation of
favorable news coverage. Fellowships will begin on approximately
May 15 and will end on approximately August 15, depending on each
applicant's availability. The application deadline is May 1.
Please visit
http://www.mpp.org/grants/sum_fellow for more
information.
2. Request for Proposals: Grassroots Organizing in Targeted States
and Congressional Districts
The MPP grants program is seeking proposals from organizations
and individuals for comprehensive grassroots organizing for
marijuana policy reform in targeted states and congressional
districts. The areas of grassroots organizing that are eligible
for such funding fall into four categories: (1) organizing to
pass medical marijuana legislation in key states; (2) organizing
in key states to pass legislation to regulate marijuana similarly
to alcohol; (3) organizing in congressional districts to pressure
targeted members of Congress to support the Hinchey-Rohrabacher
amendment to de-fund the federal government's war on medical
marijuana; and (4) organizing in congressional districts to
pressure targeted members of Congress to support legislation to
allow states to determine their own marijuana policies. The
application deadline is May 1. For more information, please see
http://www.mpp.org/grants/organizing .
3. Job Opening: Membership Coordinator
MPP is seeking a Membership Coordinator for its main office in
Washington, D.C. The Membership Coordinator must be meticulous
and have an exacting attention to detail; even small degrees of
sloppiness or forgetfulness will be deemed unacceptable. The
Membership Coordinator should be highly organized, as the
position requires serving as the point of contact in the MPP
office for what will be 100 or more "e-mail petitioners" across
the nation. The application deadline is April 18. Please visit
http://www.mpp.org/jobs/member_coord.html for more information.
Thank you,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
======================================================================
The Marijuana Policy Project hopes that each of the 67,000 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 ............ $14,415 ....
less than $1,000 ....... $583,000 ............ $43,430 ....
$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 ........... $346,072 ....
Please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate0919 to make a
financial contribution now.
DATE: Thursday, March 24, 2004
I am happy to announce that Arkansas voters will
probably have the
opportunity to vote on a statewide medical marijuana ballot initiative
on November 2, thanks to the hard work of local citizens and the
assistance of the Marijuana Policy Project.
If passed by a majority of voters, the initiative would make Arkansas
the ninth state to protect patients from arrest -- and the tenth to
protect them from jail. (Maryland protects patients from jail but not
from arrest.)
Please visit
http://www.ArkansasAlliance.org to read all about this
new initiative or go straight to
http://www.mpp.org/donate0918 to lend
your financial support to the campaign.
This initiative is the fruition of four months of work by the Arkansas
Alliance for Medical Marijuana and MPP. Arkansas law requires that
proposed initiatives be submitted for review to the attorney general,
who may reject or approve them -- and ours was rejected five times!
Undeterred and determined to find language that the state government
would permit on the ballot, we finally succeeded. The attorney general
accepted the initiative -- on our sixth try -- on March 12.
If passed by Arkansas voters in November, the initiative would:
* protect seriously ill patients who use marijuana with their
doctors' approval -- as well as their caregivers -- from arrest
and prosecution by state authorities;
* permit qualifying patients or their caregivers to cultivate their
own marijuana for medical use, with limits on the amount they
could possess;
* create registry identification cards, so that law-enforcement
officials will be able to determine who is a qualified patient
and who is not; and
* allow patients and their caregivers who are arrested (for
whatever reason) to discuss their medical use in court.
Now the campaign must collect 64,465 valid signatures by July 2 in
order to place the initiative on the November 2 ballot.
Collecting those signatures -- as well as promoting the campaign
through TV ads and other media -- will be expensive. Please visit
http://www.mpp.org/donate0918 and
make a financial contribution today.
If you would like to earn money to work on the Arkansas campaign (or
MPP's campaigns in three other states), please follow the instructions
at
http://www.mpp.org/jobs/available_jobs.html to collect signatures
for the campaign. (Note that the canvassing is being coordinated by an
outside firm; please do not contact MPP with questions.)
Thanks in advance for anything you can do to help get this campaign
off the ground!
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. As you can see from the donation tally below -- which includes
the money that is needed to run the Arkansas campaign -- your
help is essential for us to carry out all of our planned work for
this year.
======================================================================
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/donate0918 to make a
financial contribution now.
DATE: Thursday, March 19, 2004
Drug Czar John Walters is at it again.
After illegally using the power of his White House cabinet-level
position to campaign against the Marijuana Policy Project's 2002
ballot initiative in Nevada, Walters is back in Nevada campaigning
against MPP's revised initiative that will appear on the November 2004
ballot.
In what Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Steve Sebelius deemed the
"Liarpaloozza 2004 tour," Walters appeared in Nevada last week to call
the initiative "reprehensible," declaring that it would "add to the
suffering" of Americans.
Walters has gone into attack mode early because our initiative is
ahead in the polls by a 49% to 47% margin. (To learn all about our
initiative, please see
http://RegulateMarijuana.org/learn .)
Please visit
http://RegulateMarijuana.org/donate0917 to help MPP
oppose John Walters' lies by running a good, solid, well-funded
campaign.
Our initiative would remove the threat of arrest and jail for the use
of marijuana by adults aged 21 and over. In addition, the initiative
would require the state legislature to establish a legally regulated
system for the manufacture, sale, and taxation of marijuana.
Walters further insulted the voters of Nevada by insisting that
marijuana policy isn't even "an area for legitimate debate."
These tactics aren't new for John Walters, who was rebuked by the
Nevada attorney general for "excessive" and "disturbing" interference
in the state's marijuana initiative vote in 2002.
Walters also refused to file with the state government any campaign
finance reports detailing the amount of taxpayer money that he spent
attacking MPP's 2002 initiative -- even in the face of a written
request from the Nevada secretary of state to do so. (Next month, MPP
will be filing a lawsuit to force Walters to report his 2002 campaign
expenditures.)
Walters has repeatedly avoided debates and joint appearances with
representatives of MPP and other drug policy reform organizations, yet
he feels free to spend taxpayer money interfering in local decisions
and spreading false information.
But we are not deterred. Our organization in Nevada is strong and
getting stronger. We are blanketing the Nevada airwaves with our TV
ads, which you can view at
http://www.StopTeenUse.com ... we're doing
door-to-door canvassing in the two counties that comprise 85% of the
state's population ... and we've assembled a top-notch field operation
that is being managed by the former head of the Nevada police
association.
But we need your help to fight back against the drug czar's mean-
spirited and unethical tactics.
Would you please visit
http://RegulateMarijuana.org/donate0917 to
donate to the campaign today? 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 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://RegulateMarijuana.org/donate0917 to
make a financial contribution now.
DATE: Thursday, March 6, 2004
You can help science and at the same time get a
chance to win a $500,
$250, or $100 cash prize. All you need to do is spend 20 or 30 minutes
completing the anonymous, on-line Life Experience Survey, which is
being funded by MPP's grants program. Prize winners will be e-mailed
on or before April 1, 2004.
The survey, which you can access by clicking on the link below, is
part of a research project being conducted by University of Southern
California researcher and psychology professor Mitch Earleywine,
Ph.D., author of the book "Understanding Marijuana."
This study seeks to learn more about the consequences of marijuana
use. People who have and have not used marijuana are invited to
complete the survey. Please pass this link on to your friends and
acquaintances!
Link to the Life Experience Survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?A=19470756E7727
Thank you,
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Washington, D.C.
DATE: Thursday, March 4, 2004
At the conclusion of an intense month-long campaign by the Marijuana
Policy Project, the voters of Burlington, Vermont passed a medical
marijuana ballot initiative yesterday by an 83% to 17% margin.
This is the all-time biggest margin of victory for any medical
marijuana initiative in any state or locale. The initiative read as
follows: "Shall the voters of the City of Burlington urge the State
Legislature to exempt seriously ill Vermonters from state arrest and
prosecution for the medical use of marijuana in the privacy of their
homes, with the guidance of their doctors, if registered with the
state?"
Please visit
http://www.mpp.org/donate0913 to make your most generous
donation today, so that we may continue our aggressive campaign to
pass medical marijuana legislation in Vermont and four other states.
In campaigning to pass the Burlington initiative, our main goal was to
persuade one state legislator from Burlington to provide the swing
vote we need to pass our bill out of a key House committee. During the
campaign, the legislator had said he was opposed to our bill. At the
conclusion of yesterday's vote, however, he told MPP's full-time
coordinator in Vermont that he would vote for our bill. (Our
coordinator, Nancy Lynch, was holding a medical marijuana campaign
sign next to him all day outside of his district's polling station.)
In the legislator's city council district in Burlington, the
initiative received 86% of the vote, while he received only 53% of the
vote. He is now convinced that he must vote for our bill.
Our bill probably now has the votes it needs to get through two House
committees and the House floor. And, because the Vermont Senate passed
our bill last year by a 22-7 vote, a victory in the House will mean
that our bill will be sent to the desk of Gov. Jim Douglas (R) by
May -- unless we relent.
During the Burlington campaign, MPP spent approximately $20,000 to
identify supportive voters and execute a "Get Out The Vote" program,
we distributed campaign signs around the city, we sent out two
targeted mailings, and we ran TV ads during the week before Election
Day.
Please visit
http://www.mpp.org/donate0913 so that we can afford to
finish the Vermont campaign ... and push forward in four other target
states ...
* RHODE ISLAND: MPP's medical marijuana bill was introduced in the
House with 20 sponsors, including the Republican Majority Leader.
We need only 38 votes to pass the bill on the House floor, and our
bill is virtually assured of passage in the more liberal Senate.
There is literally no one opposing our legislation, which is
coming up for a House committee hearing and vote this month.
* NEW YORK: One Assembly committee just passed our medical marijuana
bill with an 18-6 vote, and we expect similarly lopsided margins
in the next two committees and on the Assembly floor. Our bill has
already been endorsed by the New York State Nurses Association,
the New York State Association of County Health Officials, the
New York State Hospice and Palliative Care Association, the
New York County Medical Society, the New York State AIDS Advisory
Council, more than 1,200 physicians, The New York Times, and the
Albany and Buffalo city councils.
* CONNECTICUT: A joint House/Senate committee held a hearing on
MPP's medical marijuana bill on Monday, listening to testimony
from a pharmacist, a paraplegic patient, and two physicians -- one
of whom is a Republican legislator who attested to her husband's
illegal use of medical marijuana before he passed away from
cancer. The hearing and our team's news conference beforehand
generated a great deal of positive media coverage, which we expect
will jettison the bill through two committees and the House and
Senate floors. It is unclear whether Gov. Jim Rowland (R), who is
currently facing impeachment for financial improprieties, would
veto the popular legislation.
* ILLINOIS: Dr. Andrea Barthwell from the White House drug czar's
office visited Illinois yesterday, illegally using taxpayer money
to lobby against MPP's medical marijuana bill on the day of our
first committee hearing. At the beginning of the day, we had the
votes to pass our bill out of committee; by the end of the day,
the committee was wavering in the face of the White House's
threats, and victory is now uncertain. Our bill sponsor -- an HIV-
positive veteran and former police officer -- held a news
conference with other allies to respond to the White House's lies,
and he is committed to doing what he can to move the bill out of
committee. The Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune have both
endorsed our legislation.
We must do all that we can to defeat the White House's illegal
lobbying tactics, which are currently focused on Illinois but will
surely spread elsewhere as we near victories in other states.
Please visit
http://www.mpp.org/donate0913 without hesitation, so that
MPP can afford to apply maximum pressure in all five states. We are in
the thick of five heated lobbying campaigns right now. Thanks in
advance for anything you can do to help!
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
======================================================================
The Marijuana Policy Project hopes that each of the 55,000 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 ............ $36,603 ....
$1,000 to $1,999 ....... $200,000 ............ $10,000 ....
$2,000 to $24,999 ...... $300,000 ............. $2,277 ....
$25,000 to $99,999 ..... $400,000 ............ $85,000 ....
$100,000 and up ...... $1,100,000 ........... $130,000 ....
-----------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS ............... $2,643,000 ........... $276,130 ....
Please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate0913 to make a
financial contribution now.
DATE: Tuesday, February 27, 2004
Are you interested in getting paid to help the Marijuana Policy
Project grow larger and more effective? Are you willing to sign up
supporters in your region to receive MPP's e-mail alerts? If so,
please visit http://www.mpp.org/petition
to learn how to become an
e-mail petitioner for MPP.
All you need to do is follow the instructions on the aforementioned
Web page, including downloading and signing a short contract with MPP.
You will also see a downloadable petition form, which asks people who
are interested in receiving MPP's e-mail alerts to write down their
names, zip codes, and e-mail addresses. Then, for every person who
joins our list, you'll receive $1.00. (If you save MPP staff time by
typing this information into a spreadsheet yourself, you will receive
$1.25 instead of $1.00 per valid e-mail address.)
MPP has received a restricted grant of $400,000 from a generous,
visionary donor to launch this project, which will result in 300,000
to 400,000 new e-mail subscribers. We know this project will work, as
we have already conducted trial runs in Boston, Seattle, Portland, and
various parts of California. Petitioners report being able to collect
between 10 and 15 e-mail addresses per hour. College campuses and
marijuana-related festivals and rallies are the most fruitful
locations. Indeed, college students can simply carry MPP's sign-up
sheets with them to their classes, the student union building, and
various activist meetings. One dedicated student should be able to
collect 500 e-mail addresses in one month.
With more than 14,000 dues-paying members, MPP is already the largest
marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. But the
size of MPP's dues-paying membership isn't all that matters. It's just
as important to be able to call upon as many people as possible to
take action on key marijuana-related bills that are moving through the
50 state legislatures and Congress.
This e-mail alert has been sent to 52,000 people who share your
interest in ending marijuana prohibition. In the past, when MPP has
activated the subscribers on this list to use MPP's various
legislative Web pages to fax or e-mail their members of Congress or
state legislators, these elected officials have received tens of
thousands of letters -- and they have taken notice.
Imagine if there were 1,000,000 subscribers on this list whom MPP
could activate to take action on marijuana-related bills moving
through Congress. We would be an unstoppable force. With an army of
1,000,000 e-mail activists, MPP would be among the 10 most powerful
lobbying organizations on Capitol Hill, behind only the National Rifle
Association, the American Association of Retired People, major labor
unions, and MoveOn.org.
Would you please help MPP gain more power and credibility on Capitol
Hill? There are four ways you can help:
1. Please forward this message to your family, friends, and
colleagues to ask them to subscribe to MPP's e-mail list by
visiting
http://www.mpp.org/popup.html .
2. Please forward this message to anyone you know who might be
interested in getting paid to help MPP build its national e-mail
list.
3. Please visit
http://www.mpp.org/petition if you're interested in
getting paid to help with this project.
4. If you like this project, please consider making a financial
donation at
http://www.mpp.org/donate0912 so that MPP can afford
to pay even more petitioners to collect e-mail addresses for MPP.
MPP's goal is to amass 250,000 e-mail subscribers by December 2004,
500,000 e-mail subscribers by December 2005, and 1,000,000 e-mail
subscribers by December 2006. To meet these ambitious benchmarks, we
need your help.
I thank you for your support -- and hope you do decide to participate
in this landmark project.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
======================================================================
The Marijuana Policy Project hopes that each of the 52,000 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 ............ $33,483 ....
$1,000 to $1,999 ....... $200,000 ............. $8,012 ....
$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 ........... $264,635 ....
Please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate0912 to make a
financial contribution now.
DATE: Tuesday, February 19, 2004
I am pleased to announce that the Marijuana Policy Project is
launching another campaign to pass a marijuana ballot measure in
Nevada.
Our new Nevada campaign -- the Committee to Regulate and Control
Marijuana -- filed new initiative language with the Nevada state
government today. We have until June 15 to collect 51,244 valid
signatures (70,000 gross signatures) to place the initiative on the
November 2004 ballot. Please see
http://www.mpp.org/NV/news_6230.html
to read the Las Vegas Review-Journal's account of MPP's campaign
launch from this morning.
If passed, the initiative would remove all penalties for the use of
marijuana by adults aged 21 and older, and it would require the state
legislature to implement a system for the manufacture, distribution,
and taxation of marijuana.
If you support this bold new campaign, please make a financial
donation today at
http://www.RegulateMarijuana.org/donate0910 .
Nevadans rejected a marijuana ballot initiative in November 2002 by a
39% to 61% margin. So why does MPP believe that Nevadans will pass
its ballot measure in November 2004?
Nevadans defeated the 2002 initiative because (1) it did not properly
address their concerns about teenage marijuana use and driving under
the influence of marijuana; (2) three freak, high-profile marijuana-
related DUI accidents scared voters into believing that the initiative
would increase marijuana-related deaths on the roadways; (3) the White
House drug czar's office used taxpayer money to start running anti-
marijuana ads nationwide seven weeks before the election;
(4) Republican candidates ran an incredibly effective "Get Out The
Vote" program that inspired large numbers of Republican voters to vote
for Republican candidates and against the ballot initiative; and
(5) some voters said they would have preferred the initiative to
permit one ounce of marijuana, instead of the three ounces that the
initiative allowed.
Our Nevada campaign operation has learned the lessons of 2002 and is
in a much stronger position to win this time around ...
1. The 2004 initiative increases penalties for distributing
marijuana to minors, as well as killing someone while driving
under the influence of marijuana, alcohol, or other substances.
2. The 2004 initiative reduces from three ounces to one ounce the
constitutionally protected quantity of marijuana that adults may
possess without being arrested and jailed.
3. MPP is making progress with lobbying Congress to reduce the
White House drug czar's TV ad budget. In addition, MPP will be
suing the drug czar's office in an attempt to prevent it from
using *any* taxpayer money to influence the outcome of the
Nevada initiative vote.
4. We have assembled an impressive campaign team that includes
(1) Andy Anderson, a retired 29-year street cop and former
president of the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs, who
is serving as campaign manager, and (2) Jennifer Knight, a
former reporter at the Las Vegas Sun who is serving as the
campaign's spokesperson.
5. The 2004 initiative will greatly benefit from being on the same
ballot as the presidential candidates. Only 500,000 Nevadans
voted in November 2002, yet there will easily be 650,000 voters
in November 2004. Most of the 150,000 voters who skipped the
November 2002 election but will vote in November 2004 are young
people, disenfranchised Libertarians and independents, and lazy
liberals -- all of these groups support our initiative in large
numbers.
If you are encouraged and agree that it makes sense to try to pass the
marijuana initiative in Nevada, visit
http://www.RegulateMarijuana.org/donate0910
today.
Our initiative strategy is to (1) promote the initiative in
persuasive, accurate terms through free media coverage, as well as TV
ads towards the end of the campaign; (2) assume that Democrats,
independents, and Republicans who have a history of voting regularly
will vote in November 2004 regardless of what we do; and (3) execute a
"Get Out The Vote" program that will be targeted at irregular voters
whom we identify between now and November as supporting our
initiative.
MPP's immediate need is to raise and spend money to collect the 70,000
gross signatures that are needed to place the initiative on the
November 2004 ballot. And then, later in the campaign, we will need to
spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on persuasive TV ads.
Would you please visit
http://www.RegulateMarijuana.org/donate0910 to
give our campaign an early vote of confidence?
I will send you many reports on this campaign in the months to come.
Thanks in advance for anything you can do to help get this campaign
off the ground!
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. The budget below includes the revenues that are needed for the
signature drive and TV ads in Nevada.
======================================================================
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.RegulateMarijuana.org/donate0910
to make a financial contribution now.
DATE: Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Since 1998, the Higher Education Act (HEA) has contained a provision
that denies federal financial aid to student applicants who have drug-
related convictions, including possession of marijuana. According to
the U.S. Department of Education, this drug provision has harmed more
than 128,000 students, particularly racial minorities and the
underprivileged. (Please see
http://www.mpp.org/USA/news_2471.html for
one example of the damage done by the drug provision of the HEA.)
Now is the best opportunity to repeal the drug provision, as Congress
is required to reauthorize the HEA this year. To that end, Students
for Sensible Drug Policy, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, the
Drug Policy Alliance, the Marijuana Policy Project, and other
organizations are asking you to call on Congress to repeal the HEA
drug provision.
I encourage you to visit
http://www.raiseyourvoice.com to e-mail your
three members of Congress right now and/or to make phone calls to
their offices. Please ask your U.S. representative to co-sponsor
H.R. 685, the bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) that
would repeal the drug provision. And please ask your two U.S. senators
to sponsor similar legislation on the Senate side. (There is currently
no bill in the Senate.) You can contact your members of Congress
through the Capitol Switchboard for free at 1-800-839-5276.
Thank you for taking the time to make your voice heard. Please
consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate0909 to make one donation
this year, so that MPP may reach others who share your interest in
ending marijuana prohibition.
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 ............ $21,226 ....
$1,000 donors .......... $300,000 ............. $1,000 ....
$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 ........... $95,366 ....
Please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate0909 to make a
financial contribution now.
Dear
friend: 02 09 2004
The University of California, San Francisco is seeking volunteers for
two important medical marijuana studies. Both studies are being
conducted at San Francisco General Hospital but are open to
participants from anywhere who are able to travel to San Francisco to
participate.
HIV-RELATED PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY
Peripheral neuropathy is a painful condition sometimes caused by the
AIDS virus or by medicines used to treat HIV/AIDS. This study will
examine marijuana's effectiveness at treating the pain caused by this
condition. This is an *inpatient* study: Participants must able to
spend seven days and nights in a San Francisco General Hospital
inpatient research unit, and they must also be HIV-positive, age 18 or
over, be diagnosed with HIV-related peripheral neuropathy, and not be
cigar or cigarette smokers. There are additional entry criteria as
well. Volunteers can receive up to $650 for participating. For more
detailed information about this study, please call Hector Vizoso, RN,
at 415-476-9554 ext. 366 or see
http://www.mpp.org/pdf/study1.pdf .
NAUSEA CAUSED BY TREATMENT FOR BREAST CANCER
This study will compare marijuana to Marinol (the prescription THC
pill) and a placebo for treatment of nausea caused by chemotherapy
treatment for breast cancer. This is an outpatient study. Participants
must be female, age 18 or older, be experiencing nausea rated as
moderate or worse from breast cancer chemotherapy, and not be cigar or
cigarette smokers. There are additional entry criteria as well. For
more detailed information about this study, please call Jill Israel at
415-502-5240 or see
http://www.mpp.org/pdf/study2.pdf .
Please pass this information along to anyone who might be interested.
Sincerely,
Bruce Mirken
MPP director of communications
======================================================================
Please distribute this memo widely. Forward to family and friends in
the Bay Area.
======================================================================
TO: S.F. Bay Area residents*
FROM: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications
DATE: Friday, February 6, 2004
SUBJECT: Volunteers Needed in MPP's S.F. Office
======================================================================
As you may know, I recently returned to California to establish a
small MPP office here in San Francisco. While the transition has been
pretty smooth -- and my being here has already gotten MPP some local
Bay Area television coverage we would not have received were I still
at our Washington, D.C., headquarters -- this is still a one-person
office, 3,000 miles away from the rest of MPP's staff and interns.
From time to time it would be extremely helpful to have some volunteer
assistance to make this office run more smoothly. This will usually be
just a few hours at a time, doing simple chores like filing and
photocopying. If you are able to help out occasionally, please contact
me at Bruce@mpp.org.
Thank you.
======================================================================
*If you live outside of the S.F. Bay Area, 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: February 8th 2004
The most recent national public opinion poll on
marijuana -- conducted
by Time magazine and CNN in October 2002 -- indicates that 34% of
American adults support the "legalization" of marijuana. And national
polling consistently indicates that about half of American voters
believe that adults should not be arrested for using marijuana.
Why is it, then, that almost all state legislators, governors, and
members of Congress are afraid to introduce or vote for marijuana
policy reform measures?
Because some supporters of marijuana policy reform aren't registered
voters, and those who are rarely withhold their votes from politicians
who support marijuana prohibition.
If you are an American citizen who is at least 18 years of age, please
visit http://www.truedemocracy.us to
register to vote today.
When politicians are confronted with the idea of supporting a
marijuana policy reform measure, they usually envision parents groups,
the Christian right, and other conservatives uniting to throw them out
of office.
Alternatively, when politicians consider the ramifications of opposing
a marijuana policy reform bill, they usually do not envision throngs
of disgusted voters throwing them out of office. Rather, they envision
no public outcry at all.
This must change.
Ideally, members and allies of the Marijuana Policy Project would be
single-issue voters on the marijuana issue. If a politician supports
reform, he or she would get your vote; if a politician opposes reform,
he or she would not get your vote. And, in addition to being a single-
issue voter, you would actually tell your elected officials and their
challengers that you are a single-issue marijuana voter.
Of course, many voters who share MPP's vision aren't willing to become
single-issue voters on the marijuana issue. But is it reasonable to
ask supporters of marijuana policy reform to withhold their votes from
all politicians who support marijuana prohibition? I think so.
If you aren't registered to vote, visit
http://www.truedemocracy.us to
do so today. In addition to making it easy to register to vote, this
Web site also provides informative statistics on voter participation
in the U.S. (As voter turnout slowly declines, your vote becomes
proportionally more and more important.)
And please consider making a commitment to yourself to vote only for
candidates who express their support for ending the arrest and
incarceration of adult marijuana users. I have made this promise.
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 ....
-----------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS ............... $2,643,000 ........... $93,513 ....
Please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate0907 to make a
financial contribution now.
Dear Friend: "We The People" 1 26 2004
Federal officials are subverting California's medical marijuana law
again, and California prosecutors are helping them do it.
After six months of pursuing the case, a California prosecutor
suddenly dropped state charges against a middle-aged couple who grew
marijuana for their own medicinal use. Then, as soon as
the two were
deceived into thinking their troubles were over, federal officials --
invited by the state prosecutor -- swarmed into the courtroom and
arrested the couple on federal charges.
This elaborate ruse was enacted for the sole purpose of getting around
California's medical marijuana law. It is an outrage.
If you're upset about this and want to do something to fight back,
please consider working for the Marijuana Policy Project on one of our
upcoming ballot initiative campaigns.
I co-founded MPP nine years ago because of my deeply held conviction
that marijuana prohibition is wrong -- and that I could help end it.
If you share this conviction and are able to move to a different state
to work for relatively low wages from February to June (and perhaps
all the way to November), please visit
http://www.mpp.org/jobs to
learn more.
If you cannot work for one of our state campaigns but instead want to
help pay for others to do so, please see
http://www.mpp.org/donate0905
to make a financial donation.
David Dean Davidson, 52, and Cynthia Barcelo Blake, 53, grew marijuana
on their own property for their own use. They had a doctor's
recommendation to take marijuana for their illnesses. Yet they were
arrested, and Tehama County prosecutor Lynn Strom pursued a case
against them for six months. Then, in the courtroom, she suddenly
dropped the charges.
Thinking the case was dismissed, the couple's lawyers were lured into
the judge's chambers. While the lawyers were absent, the feds swarmed
into the courtroom and arrested Davidson and Blake on federal charges.
The lawyers were deprived of the opportunity to advise their clients
of their rights. If convicted, the couple now faces a mandatory
minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. Please see
http://www.mpp.org/states/site/quicknews.cgi?key=6004 or
http://www.mpp.org/states/site/quicknews.cgi?key=6040 to read more
about this outrageous story.
Strom "knew she couldn't win," defense attorney Tony Serra said. "So,
she concocted this terrible, illegal, underhanded scheme to separate
David and Cindy from their attorneys and transition them into federal
jurisdiction, where she knows that medical necessity is not a
defense." I'm sure you agree that the people of California don't pay
Strom her salary so she can undermine the law they passed by a
statewide ballot initiative.
MPP staffers are working seven days a week to end marijuana
prohibition so that outrages like this will become a thing of the
past. More good people are needed to do this important work, however.
MPP's most pressing need is for an experienced political organizer
(from anywhere in the country) to mobilize voters in Vermont to
pressure the state legislature to pass MPP's medical marijuana bill.
Please visit http://www.mpp.org/jobs and
http://www.mpp.org/VT for
more information.
Other job opportunities -- in four other states that I will name in a
future e-mail alert -- include (1) collecting signatures for one of
MPP's ballot initiatives that will appear on the November 2004 ballot,
(2) doing door-to-door canvassing to persuade voters who are on the
fence, and (3) for those who have management or canvassing experience,
organizing teams of petitioners and canvassers. You must be willing to
travel for these positions.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. Please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate0905 to make
one financial donation this year or -- better yet -- to join our
monthly credit card pledge program. Donations early in the year
allow us to plan for the rest of the year. Thanks in advance for
anything you can do to help.
======================================================================
The Marijuana Policy Project 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
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 ............. $5,740 ....
$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 ........... $220,120 ....
======================================================================
Please share this memo widely. Forward to family & friends nationwide.
======================================================================
TO: Supporters of marijuana policy reform
FROM: Steve Fox, MPP director of government relations
DATE: Thursday, January 15, 2004
SUBJECT: Please urge Congress to remove provision in pending bill that
would block marijuana policy reform ads
======================================================================
With a provision that is in direct violation of the First Amendment of
the U.S. Constitution, Congress is on the verge of prohibiting ads
supporting marijuana policy reform from being displayed on public
transportation systems across the nation.
Please visit
http://www.mpp.org/action0903 today to tell your three
members of Congress that supporters of marijuana policy reform should
not and will not be silenced.
Please visit
http://www.mpp.org/action0903 to send a fax to your
U.S. representative and two U.S. senators to ask them to remove the
"Istook Amendment" from the federal government's omnibus spending
bill. MPP has prepared 10 pre-written letters from which you can
choose. Each of the letters not only objects to the Istook Amendment,
but also educates members of Congress about the need to reform our
nation's marijuana laws.
The provision at issue was inserted by U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook (R-OK)
into the Consolidated Appropriations Act - 2004 (H.R. 2673) while this
bill was in a House/Senate conference committee. The provision would
prohibit all local transit agencies from displaying marijuana policy
reform advertising if they receive funding from the federal government
-- which is most transit agencies.
This is just one more example of the desire by federal officials to
have the public hear only one message on the subject of marijuana:
"Marijuana is bad and must be prohibited." Over the past six years,
Congress has given the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to convey this
message. But now that advocates of marijuana policy reform want to
promote an alternative viewpoint -- with their own money, no less --
marijuana prohibitionists in Congress are trying to silence them. This
is called "viewpoint discrimination," and it violates the First
Amendment.
MPP has a two-part plan for fighting this provision:
* First, with your assistance, we will overwhelm congressional
offices with faxes that oppose the provision and support marijuana
policy reform. Please visit
http://www.mpp.org/action0903 to send
one of these faxes today.
* Second, if this wave of public opposition does not result in the
removal of the Istook Amendment, MPP will sue the federal
government to have the provision declared unconstitutional. MPP
will not only succeed in this legal fight, but we will also
succeed in embarrassing the drug warriors when our legal fight
generates free publicity for our issue.
Today, MPP is delivering a letter to Congressman Istook and the other
members of Congress who will decide the fate of the Istook Amendment,
outlining our plans to sue the government should this provision become
law. (See
http://www.mpp.org/pdf/kampia_to_istook.pdf for the letter.)
Now is the time to share your own outrage with your three members of
Congress. If you and the 41,000 other subscribers on this e-mail list
speak out against the Istook Amendment, we could win the fight in
Congress before it even makes it to the courts.
So please visit
http://www.mpp.org/action0903 and send a fax today.
The entire process will take just a couple of minutes. And remember,
your fax will not only encourage members of Congress to oppose the
provision, but it will educate them on the subject of marijuana policy
reform.
Thank you for taking action.
======================================================================
Please consider visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate0903 to make a
financial contribution to this effort.
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 ....
Democrat Kucinich Endorses Medical Pot Use
He says he'd issue executive order if elected president
San Francisco Chronicle; May 29, 2003
by Carla Marinucci, John Wildermuth, Chronicle Political Writers
Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio
became the first Democratic presidential candidate to endorse the legalization
of medical marijuana when he told The Chronicle on Wednesday it should be
available "to any patient who needs it to alleviate pain and suffering,"
regardless of the current federal drug laws.
"Compassion requires that
medical marijuana be available" Kucinich said during a telephone interview after
a campaign stop in Cupertino. "We must have health-care systems which are
compassionate . . . so I support it without reservation."
Federal law enforcement
authorities have raided medicinal marijuana clinics in California arguing that
despite the voters endorsement of the drug for medical purposes, its
distribution still violates federal laws. Federal law lists marijuana as an
illegal substance under the Controlled Substances Act, regardless of its use,
U.S. authorities say.
Ed Rosenthal, an advocate of
legalizing marijuana, was arrested and convicted in federal court of cultivating
marijuana, even though Oakland had made him an official supplier for a
city-approved pot dispensary. He is scheduled to be sentenced next Wednesday and
faces up to five years in federal prison.
Kucinich said that as
president, "I'd sign an executive order that would permit its use."
"I think that we're at a point
where we understand that the maintenance of human health and the alleviation of
human suffering involves a dialogue between the physician and the patient,"
Kucinich told The Chronicle. "This is a matter that many people find quite
vexing. I have known people who have had cancer and who have been in horrible
pain. Anything that can alleviate their suffering should be available."
According to the Medical
Marijuana Project, the position outlined by Kucinich makes him the first major
Democratic candidate to endorse the use of the drug for medical purposes.
"Dennis Kucinich has come a
long way since 1998, when he voted for a congressional resolution condemning
state medical marijuana laws, and we expect many other Democratic contenders to
follow suit," said Robert Kampia, executive director of the Washington-based
Marijuana Policy Project in a statement posted on the organization's Web site.
Kucinich's policy on the issue
has the potential to resonate with voters in California -- and beyond.
California voters approved the use and distribution of marijuana with a doctor's
prescription in 1996. Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon
and Washington have similar laws.
An October 2002 CNN/Time poll
showed that 80 percent of Americans believe that medical marijuana should be
legally available.
"This is a natural issue for
the Democrats: The Bush administration is completely out of step with the
public, which doesn't want to see sick people hauled off to jail for taking
their medicine," Kampia said in his statement.
With his statements, Kucinich
-- who has made headlines with his strong anti-war stance and proposals to
create a U.S. Department of Peace -- has stepped out in front of the Democratic
presidential candidates.
"I wouldn't change the
(marijuana) law now, but I would set up a committee to see if pain relief is
different with marijuana," North Carolina Sen. John Edwards told reporters
Wednesday after a San Francisco speech.
Edwards, however, showed little
sympathy for people arrested for behavior that's legal under California law.
"It's the job of the Justice
Department to enforce the law as it presently exists," said Edwards, a lawyer.
Former Vermont Gov. Howard
Dean, a doctor, is another candidate who has called for a study of the medical
use of marijuana. But he threatened to veto a measure that would have legalized
that use in Vermont.
Kucinich, a former mayor of
Cleveland, is seen as a longshot in the Democratic presidential derby. He is
scheduled to appear today at noon at the San Francisco's federal building and at
7:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church in Berkeley.
Other news from California
======================================================================
TO: Interested persons
FROM: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications
DATE: Tuesday, December 30, 2003
SUBJECT: CNN's "Inside Politics" Profiles MPP's New Hampshire Campaign
Today
======================================================================
Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana -- MPP's
effort to influence the
Democratic presidential candidates during the New Hampshire
presidential primary campaign -- will be featured today on CNN's
"Inside Politics." CNN's crew spent considerable time interviewing
GSMM Campaign Coordinator Aaron Houston and following Aaron and his
team of volunteers around the state. The program airs today at
3:30 p.m. Eastern time and 12:30 Pacific time.
======================================================================
HOW TO SUPPORT GRANITE STATERS FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA
The Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana campaign is staffed and
funded by the Marijuana Policy Project. If you find the campaign
useful, please consider donating:
http://www.GraniteStaters.com/donate
Dear
Friend: 12 27 2003
In stark contrast to the presidential campaigns of 2000 and previous
years, almost all of the current presidential candidates are calling
for an end to the federal government's raids on medical marijuana
patients.
And some candidates are calling for broader marijuana policy reform
measures. According to The New York Times on November 9 -- in response
to the question "Which of you are ready to admit to having used
marijuana in the past?" -- Congressman Dennis Kucinich replied that he
had never used marijuana and then added, "But I think it ought to be
decriminalized." Kucinich is one of the nine Democratic contenders.
Please see http://www.GraniteStaters.com
for details on the Marijuana
Policy Project's campaign to influence the presidential candidates in
New Hampshire, as well as the candidates' positions on medical
marijuana.
In addition to Congressman Kucinich, there are at least three other
presidential contenders who are calling for an end to the government's
war on all marijuana users -- not just medical marijuana patients.
* Aaron Russo, an independent candidate and accomplished movie
producer and director who spoke at MPP's national conference in
November 2002, has a video clip from his interview with the BBC
(that was aired internationally but not in the U.S.) in which he
expresses his support for medical marijuana.
http://www.russoforpresident.com
* Gary Nolan, a Libertarian, told MPP, "At the state and community
level, I believe that currently illegal drugs like marijuana
should be treated similarly to currently legal drugs like
alcohol. There should certainly be no restrictions on the ability
of a patient and his/her doctor to employ any treatment they
think might be effective, including marijuana."
http://www.garynolan.com
* Michael Badnarik, also a Libertarian, has this to say on his Web
site: "The government's war on drugs violates the rights of
Americans so egregiously that it is a bigger threat than the
drugs themselves. Libertarians do not want our children taking
drugs either, but we recognize that the several decades of drug
interdiction haven't slowed the flow of narcotics into this
country. Children take drugs because criminals actively sell
them. Criminals sell drugs because they are astronomically
profitable. Drugs are highly profitable only because they are
illegal. The Libertarian solution is to decriminalize drugs,
which will make drugs extremely cheap, which will remove the
profit motivation for selling drugs, which will result in fewer
children taking drugs."
http://www.badnarik.org
And there will likely be Green Party and other candidates who will
call for similar reforms; MPP will also report on these candidates in
the months to come.
While it is true that Libertarian, Green, and independent candidates
have the deck stacked against them and therefore are unlikely to win
the presidency in 2004, it is telling that virtually all of these
candidates -- from across the political spectrum -- are calling for an
end to marijuana prohibition.
And just as telling is the news that one of the Democratic candidates
-- a sitting member of Congress -- is also calling for an end to
marijuana prohibition. This is from Congressman Kucinich's Web page,
which is found at
http://www.kucinich.us/issues/marijuana_decrim.php :
"The rationale for continuing this draconian policy of marijuana
prohibition is unclear. Statistical evidence shows that marijuana
use follows a pattern very similar to that of alcohol. Most
marijuana users do so responsibly, in a safe, recreational
context. These people lead normal, productive lives -- pursuing
careers, raising families, and participating in civic life. In
addition, marijuana has proven benefits in the treatment of
numerous diseases, such as providing a valuable means of pain
management for terminally ill patients. In either of these
contexts, there is no rational justification for criminally
enforced prohibitions. These unnecessary arrests and
incarcerations serve only to crowd prisons, backlog the judicial
system, and distract law enforcement officials from pursuing
terrorists and other violent criminals."
When we launched our campaign in New Hampshire in April, we did not
predict this degree of success. Thanks to MPP's team of medical
marijuana patients and other dedicated activists in New Hampshire --
as well as other advocates who are in regular contact with the various
presidential campaigns -- we have changed the tenor of the marijuana
policy debate for next year's presidential elections.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. Please visit
http://www.GraniteStaters.com to donate to MPP's
work in New Hampshire. Or, to mail in your donation, please
direct it to MPP at P.O. Box 77492, Washington, D.C. 20013.
Dear
Friend: 12 21 2003
Do you know how to get a tax deduction, avoid the capital gains tax,
help end marijuana prohibition, and buy a gift for a friend or family
member ... all at the same time?
Transfer stock to the Marijuana Policy Project Foundation. Please
write back to me at RobKampia@mpp.org if
you are interested in
exploring this with me.
Or, if you don't have any stock to transfer, you can still accomplish
the above (minus the capital gains tax savings) by visiting
http://www.mpp.org/donate to make a more
traditional financial
contribution to MPP Foundation.
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. If we receive your donation by Sunday,
December 21, we will ship your order to you (or someone of your
choosing) on December 22. Orders received on December 22 or after will
be shipped approximately seven days later.
While you consider whether or not to make a year-end donation, I want
to share some good news with you: We have formed a new branch of MPP
that will be targeting bad elected officials for defeat. This new
branch -- the MPP Political Fund -- will be targeting one U.S. House
member (on the west coast) and 15 state legislators in Vermont in
November 2004.
After simply placing small classified ads in Vermont newspapers to
find a coordinator for our Vermont project, MPP received statewide
news coverage. Newspaper articles even quoted the job description from
our Web site:
http://www.mpp.org/VT/news_5144.html
http://www.mpp.org/VT/news_5170.html
We have since hired our Vermont coordinator, who is surveying all
constituents in 15 state legislative districts on whether they support
MPP's medical marijuana bill. Fully 75% of the voters are expressing
their support. We are activating these voters to lobby their state
legislators -- legislators who are the swing votes for our bill, which
will be debated and voted on in March or April. Then, in November, we
will activate the same supportive voters to vote out any legislators
who vote against our bill.
The National Rifle Association is one of the most effective lobbying
organizations in the country because elected officials know that those
who do not support the NRA's legislative agenda will be knocked out of
office.
In the same way, the MPP Political Fund is working to defeat
legislators who oppose MPP's legislative agenda. Currently, our litmus
test is whether or not a candidate supports our medical marijuana
legislation; in a year or two, after we perfect our system, our litmus
test will be whether or not a candidate supports marijuana prohibition
or regulation.
We already have some experience in this arena: Don Murphy, the
Republican sponsor of MPP's medical marijuana bill in Maryland,
targeted the Republican state senator and the Democratic House Speaker
who opposed our bill. Almost single-handedly, Murphy defeated both in
November 2002, which made it possible to pass our bill into law, which
Republican Gov. Bob Ehrlich signed in May 2003.
By flexing our political muscle in Vermont, we intend to pass our
medical marijuana bill early next year -- or in early 2005 after we
defeat bad legislators in November 2004. We will be sending targeted
"Get Out The Vote" mailings to our supporters, in addition to calling
and visiting them in person.
And we will be doing the same thing on a larger scale in one
U.S. House district on the west coast. After we defeat this particular
congressional opponent in November 2004, other members of Congress
will get the message that they, too, could be targeted in 2006.
Members of Congress know we don't have the money to play in every
race, but we do have the money to defeat at least one U.S. House
member during each election cycle -- and each of our opponents will
understand that he or she could be the one who is targeted the next
time around.
If you haven't already made up your mind about donating to our
efforts, please consider visiting http://www.mpp.org/donate
to donate
to MPP or MPP Foundation today. (Donations to MPP, our lobbying
branch, are not tax-deductible.)
Or, if you prefer, you can send a non-tax-deductible check to the
MPP Political Fund at P.O. Box 77492, Washington, D.C. 20013. Please
note that -- unlike people who donate to MPP or MPP Foundation --
those who donate to the MPP Political Fund must be listed on publicly
available campaign reports.
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: Interested persons
FROM: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications
DATE: Thursday, December 11, 2003
SUBJECT: MPP's Rob Kampia on national TV - Saturday, December 13
======================================================================
MPP Executive Director Rob Kampia will discuss
the need to change U.S.
marijuana laws this Saturday, Dec. 13, on "Jesse Ventura's America,"
on the MSNBC cable network. Also scheduled to appear are Tom Riley,
spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy,
and Stanton Levenson, one of the attorneys representing actor/comedian
Tommy Chong, who is now serving a federal prison term for distributing
marijuana paraphernalia.
The program, hosted by the outspoken former governor of Minnesota,
airs nationally at 7 p.m. Eastern time, 4 p.m. Pacific.
Increasingly, national news media are turning to MPP for comments and
expertise on marijuana policy issues. In just the past three months,
MPP staff members have appeared on PBS' "NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" and
CNN Headline News -- and have been quoted in several Associated Press
wire stories that received wide national circulation. We've also been
quoted or cited in articles in the Los Angeles Times, Houston
Chronicle, Seattle Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and many other
newspapers, along with "The Note," the ABC News on-line political
column that is considered a must-read for political insiders -- all
since early September.
I want to thank our more than 14,000 members for making it possible
for MPP to continue to educate the public and the news media about the
folly of our government's war on marijuana users. We literally cannot
do this without you.
Sincerely,
Bruce Mirken
Director of Communications
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.
The
following message is being sent by the Marijuana Policy Project
as part of a message exchange agreement with the Drug Policy Alliance.
MPP will never sell, rent, or give your e-mail address to any other
organization or person.
======================================================================
Attend the Drug Policy Alliance 2003 Conference, Nov. 5-8, in
New Jersey
The Drug Policy Alliance 2003 Biennial Conference:
Reason - Compassion - Justice
November 5-8, 2003, in East Rutherford, New Jersey
http://conference.drugpolicy.org
The Drug Policy 2003 Biennial Conference: Reason - Compassion -
Justice is two weeks away! The conference will be held this Nov. 5-8,
2003, at the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel and Conference Center,
East Rutherford, New Jersey. The conference will be a comprehensive
three-day crash course on drug issues, connecting the dots between
medical marijuana, the RAVE Act, European drug policies, new advances
in drug treatment, syringe access, Latin America and civil liberties.
The conference will include over 50 sessions (with panels,
roundtables, and plenaries) and 10 activist training sessions. As
someone interested in marijuana policy, we think the following agenda
items will be of particular interest to you:
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6
1:00 - 2:30 p.m.
Training: Lobbying 101
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7
8:45 - 10:00 a.m.
Major Session: Marijuana
10:15 - 11:45 a.m.
State-Based Lobbying Roundtable
Training: Making the Case for Legalization
3:00 - 4: 15 p.m.
Major Session: Those Wild and Crazy Canadians
4: 30 - 6:00 p.m.
Medical Marijuana: Law and Regulation
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8
10:30 - 12:00 p.m.
A Lifetime of Punishment: Higher Education Act
Training: The Activists Toolbox for Developing and Implementing
Political Strategy
For a comprehensive day-by-day agenda, please visit:
http://www.drugpolicy.org/events/dpa2003/agenda/
For an up-to-date list of the over 100 speakers coming to the
conference, visit
http://www.drugpolicy.org/events/dpa2003/speakers/ .
REGISTRATION INFORMATION:
* Space is still available! Online and fax registration is available
until Monday, November 5 at 5:00 pm EST. Register today before on-
site registration rates apply. Please visit the conference website
at http://conference.drugpolicy.org
to register.
NEW JERSEY RESIDENTS AND STUDENTS:
Special discounts are available for New Jersey residents and students
who would like to attend the conference. Please call Julie Ruckel at
1-212-613-8053.
HOTEL INFORMATION:
* The conference will be held at the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel
and Conference Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, just fifteen
minutes from midtown Manhattan. Please call the Sheraton Hotel at
1-800-325-3535 to reserve a room at the discounted conference rate.
Please reference the "Drug Policy Alliance Conference" to receive
that rate.
OTHER DETAILS:
* This program has been approved by the National Board for Certified
Counselors and the National Association of Social Workers.
Application for accreditation of this program by the New York State
Continuing Legal Education Board is currently pending.
* The conference is organized by the Drug Policy Alliance, a national
nonprofit with offices in New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C.,
California, and New Mexico. The Alliance is the nation's leading
organization working to end the war on drugs.
Dear
Friend - 10 15 2003
The Marijuana Policy Project is pleased to announce one job opening in
Los Angeles, one in Alaska, one in Vermont, and four at MPP's main
office in Washington, D.C.
The expansion of MPP's staff will enable us to better leverage the
energy of the organization's growing grassroots base. MPP's dues-
paying membership now stands at 13,000 and is projected to grow to
16,000 by the end of this year. In addition, 39,000 activists are
currently subscribed to MPP's national e-mail list, which is now
growing at a rate of 1,000 new subscribers per week.
The seven job openings are as follows:
* Celebrity Liaison
* Membership Coordinator
* Membership Director
* National Field Director
* National Outreach Coordinator
* Spokesperson for Alaska initiative campaign
* Vermont Coordinator
Please do not respond to this message with questions. The application
process and descriptions for all seven jobs are explained in detail on
our Web site at http://www.mpp.org/jobs .
Based on the number and quality of resumes we've received during past
hiring rounds, the competition for the seven job openings will be
fierce. Because of this, I recommend applying only if your
qualifications are clearly and convincingly appropriate for the
position in question. (I say this as a way of reducing the burden on
the MPP staffer who must vet the estimated 1,000 resumes that will
pour into our office this month.)
I also want to take this opportunity to thank the 13,000 members who
are making it possible for MPP to fight -- more and more aggressively
every year -- to bring an end to our government's war on marijuana
users.
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.
======================================================================
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: Sunday, October 5, 2003
SUBJECT: Let's get S.B. 420 signed into law
======================================================================
Please call Gov. Gray Davis (D) today and ask him to sign S.B. 420
into law.
Gov. Davis has not yet taken any action on this important medical
marijuana bill and, with the recall election just days away, he may be
running out of time. He needs to show his support for California's
medical marijuana patients and sign S.B. 420 into law before the
October 7 election.
Please take two minutes to give the governor a call and let him know
that you want him to sign S.B. 420 before the vote. You can leave a
message for Gov. Davis at any of the following numbers:
916-445-2841 ... Sacramento
559-445-5295 ... Fresno
213-897-0322 ... Los Angeles
909-680-6860 ... Riverside
619-525-4641 ... San Diego
415-703-2218 ... San Francisco
And if you still have not done so, 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 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.
In chorus with hundreds of other Californians' voices, your fax and
phone call will help improve California's medical marijuana law. 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.
Dear Friend: 9 25 2003
The Marijuana Policy Project's campaign to influence Democratic
presidential candidates on the medical marijuana issue in
New Hampshire enjoyed tremendous success this past weekend.
Two of the leading candidates -- former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and
U.S. Sen. John Kerry (MA) -- markedly improved their respective
positions on medical marijuana. Dean agreed to impose a moratorium on
the DEA's raids on medical marijuana patients and providers in states
that have reduced or eliminated criminal penalties for the medical use
of marijuana. And Kerry said he would stop the raids entirely.
Kerry's and Dean's evolution on this issue didn't happen in a vacuum.
This is the result of a carefully coordinated plan by MPP to influence
the candidates through a mixture of grassroots and direct activism. We
have commissioned a poll and provided the campaigns with the results,
provided them with documentation on the medical benefits of marijuana,
asked the candidates for their positions at every available
opportunity, and even protested against candidates who would rather
have patients arrested than show a little compassion.
(U.S. Sen. John Edwards from North Carolina has been the primary
target of our protests. He seems almost proud to have adopted the
position that seriously ill people should be put in prison for
following the advice of their physicians.)
All of our hard work paid a huge dividend at a town hall meeting in
Henniker on Saturday, September 20. MPP's New Hampshire project,
Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana (GSMM), asked John Kerry, "Would
you stop the raids, as president?" Kerry responded by saying simply,
"Yes." This came one day after Howard Dean, in response to a GSMM
question, pledged, "Will I do what [Attorney General] Ashcroft is
doing? No, absolutely not." GSMM then specifically asked, "You would
stop the raids?" and Dean responded, "Yeah, I'm not going to do that,
anyway." To read about these encounters in greater detail, please see
our press release:
http://www.mpp.org/releases/nr092203gsmm.html
More good news: The candidates are not the only people taking note of
our activism. We're generating a substantial amount of press as well.
Read all about our efforts:
http://GraniteStaters.com/news/press.html
And there will be more news coverage over the next few days. On
Friday, we expect to have an opportunity to appeal to retired
Gen. Wesley Clark -- the tenth and most recent Democratic candidate to
enter the fray. And a reporter from a major New Hampshire newspaper is
planning to do a major story about our efforts.
If you support our New Hampshire plan, I would very much appreciate
your financial support -- see
http://GraniteStaters.com/donate -- so
that MPP does not run a deficit because of this campaign. Thank you in
advance for anything you can do to help.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. Please visit
http://GraniteStaters.com/donate to make a financial
donation to MPP's New Hampshire campaign, or mail a check to MPP
at P.O. Box 77492, Washington, D.C. 20013. Thanks again for
considering this request.
Dear Friend: 9 20 2003
The citizens of Seattle struck a blow against
marijuana prohibition on
Tuesday, September 16, when they voted to make marijuana offenses the
lowest priority of city law enforcement. Despite fierce opposition to
the measure from White House Drug Czar John Walters, Initiative 75
passed by a comfortable 59% to 41% margin. Please visit
http://www.mpp.org/states/site/quicknews.cgi?key=4929 to read the
Seattle Times article about the initiative victory.
In the September 17 edition of Seattle Weekly, in an article
describing Walters' visit to Seattle to campaign against
Initiative 75, the drug czar is quoted as calling for a "national
debate" about marijuana. In the past, he has repeatedly avoided
debates or joint appearances with representatives of MPP and other
drug policy organizations. In response to his change of opinion, MPP
immediately faxed a letter to Walters' office, proposing a debate on
national television within the next six months. Please see
http://www.mpp.org/releases/nr091703walters.html for MPP's news
release.
You can help to make sure this debate happens by sending (1) a letter-
to-the-editor to your local newspapers and (2) a similar letter to
Drug Czar John Walters himself (e-mail:
ondcp@ncjrs.org;
fax: 301-519-5212). Here are a few points you might include:
* According to an October 2002 Time/CNN poll, 80% of the American
people think "adults should be able to use marijuana legally for
medical purposes."
* An estimated 83.2 million Americans age 12 and over -- or 36.9%
of the population -- have used marijuana at least once in their
lives, according to the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug
Abuse. And the aforementioned Time/CNN poll found that the number
could actually be closer to 100 million.
* Recent surveys of teen drug use -- including the national PRIDE
Survey that was released on September 3 -- show big increases in
the use of both marijuana and hard drugs, suggesting that the
drug czar's TV ad campaign is backfiring.
* Eight states -- Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine,
Nevada, Oregon, and Washington -- currently have laws protecting
medical marijuana patients from arrest and jail. And in May of
this year, Maryland's Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich signed into
law a bill providing for greatly reduced marijuana possession
penalties for seriously ill patients.
* Canada and the Netherlands have legalized the medical use of
marijuana and have acted to make it available to patients.
* Canada, Great Britain, and Switzerland are currently considering
plans to reduce or eliminate criminal penalties for adult
marijuana possession and use. Other nations, including Spain,
Italy, and the Netherlands, have already done so.
* If the drug czar really believes his policies are beneficial to
our nation, he should have the courage to debate knowledgeable
opponents.
The same day that Seattle residents passed Initiative 75, MPP
challenged the drug czar on another front. Walters held a press
conference in Washington, D.C., to announce a new campaign to reduce
the incidence of teens' driving under the influence of marijuana.
Though the drug czar's staffers refused to admit MPP representatives
to the event, MPP Director of Government Relations Steve Fox appeared
on CNN Headline News that night to criticize the effort. Fox noted
that while the drug czar's office focuses its time and considerable
resources on marijuana, not only has past-month use of marijuana by
junior high students risen by 51% in the past year -- according to the
PRIDE Survey mentioned above -- but cocaine and heroin use by teens
skyrocketed as well. (For more information, please see
http://www.mpp.org/releases/nr091603ondcp.html .)
If you haven't already, please consider donating to our "War on Drug
Czar" campaign at
http://www.mpp.org/WarOnDrugCzar/donate .
Thank you in advance for your help.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
======================================================================
TO: Marijuana law reform advocates
FROM: Steve Fox, MPP director of government relations
DATE: Monday, September 15, 2003
SUBJECT: Ask your U.S. Senator to cosponsor first-ever Senate medical
marijuana bill
======================================================================
The Marijuana Policy Project is pleased to
announce an historic step
forward in the national movement for patients' rights to medical
marijuana. For the first time ever, a federal law recognizing the
validity of state medical marijuana laws will be introduced in the
U.S. Senate. U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) will introduce the Senate
version of the Truth in Trials Act in October. Now is the time for you
to write to your U.S. senators urging them to be original cosponsors
of this medical marijuana legislation.
Please take two minutes to fax your senators a pre-written letter
explaining why it is necessary to provide federal protections to
patients and caregivers who use and provide medical marijuana in
compliance with state laws. Visit
http://www.mpp.org/USA/action.html ,
enter your address, select a letter, and click a button to send it to
your senators.
We can stop the federal war on doctors, patients, and caregivers! All
we need to do is to turn the 80 percent public support there is
nationally for medical marijuana into a political force. More and more
national organizations are making formal declarations of their
willingness to work to change medical marijuana laws. For example, in
June, the American Nurses Association, representing 2.6 million
registered nurses, passed a resolution in support of "legislation to
remove criminal penalties ... for bona fide patients and prescribers
of therapeutic marijuana."
The Truth in Trials Act would create an affirmative defense that could
be used against the outrageous federal prosecutions of patients and
caregivers acting with the approval of state authorities and in
accordance with state medical marijuana laws. The Department of
Justice is holding medical marijuana patients in federal prison and
actively trying to increase their numbers. It is urgent that your
senators hear your outrage! Use
http://www.mpp.org/USA/action.html to
tell your senators to be original cosponsors of the Senate Truth
in Trials Act.
======================================================================
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: Friday, September 12, 2003
SUBJECT: Help downgrade the classification of marijuana possession in
California
======================================================================
Yesterday, September 11, S.B. 131 failed on the Assembly floor by a
vote of 36 to 36. In order to pass, the bill must receive at least 41
votes. However, many assembly members did not vote on S.B. 131
yesterday, and if we can convince enough of them to vote for it, the
bill will be brought up for reconsideration today.
If passed, this bill will lower the classification of marijuana
possession (for less than one ounce) from a misdemeanor to a criminal
infraction for the first offense.
Today is the last day of the legislative session, and it has already
begun, so this is our very last chance to pass this bill ... and we
need your help.
Please take five minutes -- right now -- to call at least one
legislator on the list below, especially if one of them is your
assembly member. (You can look up your legislators at
http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/acsframeset9text.htm
.) Urge him or her
to vote for S.B. 131. Let each member know that the Judicial Council
supports this bill because it would save the state of California large
amounts money and time that is currently wasted on court proceedings
for marijuana possession cases.
Below are the targeted legislators who are most likely to give a
crucial "yes" vote:
Assemblywoman Rebecca Cohn (D)
of San Jose, Saratoga (calls from Santa Cruz & SLO are
encouraged)
916-319-2024
Assemblyman Lou Correa (D)
of Anaheim, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, OC
916-319-2069
Assemblyman Manny Diaz (D)
of San Jose
916-319-2023
Assemblyman Dario Frommer (D)
of LA, North Hollywood, Burbank, Glendale
916-319-2043
Assemblywoman Barbara Matthews (D)
of Tracy, Stockton, Merced, Newman, Atwater
916-319-2017
Assemblywoman Cindy Montaez (D)
of San Fernando, North Hollywood, Pacoima, Panorama City,
Sun Valley, Sylmar
916-319-2039
Assemblyman George Nakano (D)
of Los Angeles, Venice, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Lomita
916-319-2053
Assemblywoman Nichole Parra (D)
of Bakersfield, Wasco, Coalinga, Dinuba, Kingsburg
916-319-2030
Assemblywoman Sara Reyes (D)
of Fresno, Sanger
916-319-2031
Assemblyman Simon Salinas (D)
of Salinas, Monterey, Santa Cara, San Benito, Santa Cruz
916-319-2028
Please take five minutes and pick up the phone right now! Thank you
for making a difference!
======================================================================
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 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.
Dear
Friend: 8 31 2003
Good news. A new Zogby poll, released on August 27, shows overwhelming
support for legal access to medical marijuana among likely New
Hampshire Democratic primary voters -- and shows that presidential
candidates who support medical marijuana are likely to gain support
from the electorate.
Eighty-four percent of voters said they support changing federal law
to allow patients to use medical marijuana without fear of arrest,
with only 14 percent in opposition and two percent not sure. Of those
who said the issue would affect their votes, medical marijuana
supporters outnumbered opponents by nearly seven to one. To read
Zogby's detailed report of the poll results on medical marijuana
questions, please visit http://www.mpp.org/pdf/nh_poll_rpt.pdf
.
The public's overwhelming -- and growing -- support for protecting
seriously ill patients is starting to affect media coverage of the
presidential race. You may remember that, on July 17, New Hampshire's
largest newspaper, the Union Leader, referred to MPP's New Hampshire
project -- Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana (GSMM) -- as "the
most active and most visible" of any of the special interest groups in
the presidential election. Most recently, on August 28, GSMM Campaign
Coordinator Aaron Houston was interviewed about the Zogby poll during
the 5:00 p.m. newscast on WMUR, New Hampshire's only statewide
television station and network affiliate. See all of the press GSMM
has been generating at http://www.GraniteStaters.com/news/press.html
.
Meanwhile, we're continuing our attempt to get all of the candidates
on record as supporting medical marijuana. We've turned up the heat on
candidates who state that they are willing to let the DEA's attacks on
the sick continue. Last week, GSMM had three memorable encounters with
U.S. Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) -- who told the San Francisco Chronicle
in May that he favored continuing DEA raids in California, simply
because they are permitted by federal law.
At one New Hampshire encounter, Sen. Edwards appeared to modify his
stand -- but then quickly backtracked, reiterating his support for the
raids. So we responded in our nation's democratic tradition -- with
peaceful protests -- only to learn that an Edwards administration
might not tolerate dissenting opinions.
In a shocking series of encounters from August 20 to 24, GSMM members
attempting to peacefully picket at Sen. Edwards' campaign events were
repeatedly met by campaign staffers who tried to block our entry into
public parks, seize our signs and flyers, and finally, when we
asserted our First Amendment rights, sent campaign workers to hold up
Edwards lawn signs, blocking the press and public from seeing our
placards. Despite this harassment, we successfully gained entry into
two of the three events and slipped a GSMM member into the hall at the
one event that wasn't held on public land. When the volunteer we
slipped in asked Sen. Edwards if he would stop arresting patients, the
senator responded that to do so would be "irresponsible."
On August 24, Sen. Edwards' attempt to block our protest at a public
park in Keene, New Hampshire, backfired. One voter approached an
Edwards staffer and asked, "What are you afraid of?" Another --
unaffiliated with GSMM -- got up during the question-and-answer period
and asked, "Are there going to be supporters with the John Edwards
signs all along the campaign trail blocking access to other people
with dissenting views?" In response to this question, Edwards rewrote
the truth in order to excuse his actions, claiming that one of our
signs said "Edwards Hates Cancer Patients." At no time has GSMM ever
displayed such a sign.
The story of our encounters with Sen. Edwards and other New Hampshire
developments can be found on the GSMM Web site. Please visit
http://www.GraniteStaters.com/guide
regularly.
If you support our New Hampshire plan, I would very much appreciate
your financial support -- see http://www.GraniteStaters.com/donate
--
so that MPP does not run a deficit because of this campaign. Thank you
in advance for anything you can do to help.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. Please visit http://www.GraniteStaters.com/donate
to make a
financial donation to MPP's New Hampshire campaign, or
mail a
check to MPP at P.O. Box 77492, Washington, D.C. 20013.
Thanks
&n |
