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California considers junking marijuana prohibition

Submitted by dguard on

Dear friends:

On Monday, a California state legislator introduced historic legislation that would end marijuana prohibition in California. The bill — authored by Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) — would eliminate criminal penalties for responsible marijuana use and set up a system to regulate and tax marijuana sales similarly to alcohol.

Last night, I appeared on "Glenn Beck" on the Fox News Channel to discuss the legislation. You can watch the segment here:

As the nation's largest state, California's serious consideration of ending marijuana prohibition is making huge waves. Within hours of the bill's introduction, it made national headlines and has since generated media coverage across the country, including the Associated Press, USA Today, Washington Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, MSNBC, CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox News, and much more. MPP has already been featured in at least 20 TV, radio, and print stories about the bill. For instance, one of California's most respected political columnists, Dan Walters, opined in support of the bill in his Tuesday column, quoting MPP's Aaron Smith.

While the legislation isn't likely to become law this year, it's a strong signal that we're making tremendous strides. And California has a reputation for leading the way for other states. When I co-founded MPP in 1995, most people thought medical marijuana wasn't going to become legal anytime soon, but a year later California approved the nation's first medical marijuana law, and since then a dozen other states have followed suit.

MPP is the leading organization working on this and other efforts to end the government's war on marijuana users. Would you please consider investing in this important work by making a contribution today so that we can continue changing laws across the nation?

Thank you in advance for anything you're inspired to give.

Sincerely,
Kampia signature (e-mail sized)

Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

P.S. As I've mentioned in previous alerts, a major philanthropist has committed to match the first $2.35 million that MPP can raise from the rest of the planet in 2009. This means that your donation today will be doubled.

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