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Last week, in response to a successful SAFER referendum, University of Arkansas administrators adopted and released new guidelines that equalized school penalties for student alcohol and marijuana use.  This week, Chancellor Dave Gearhart repealed them.

Last spring, the UA chapters of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) carried out the SAFER campaign, arguing that current penalties that are harsher for marijuana than for alcohol steer students toward drinking and away from using a less harmful substance.  After 67 percent of student voters approved the referendum, a board of administrators (including the dean of students and assistant dean for student life) worked with the students to develop new guidelines reflecting the referendum.  They then released them on-line and posted them in the residence halls.  Yet, once stories about the new guide appeared in the media -- such as this great piece in the campus newspaper -- UA Chancellor Dave Gearhart put the kibosh on the change in guideliness because he and other university officials felt it sent the wrong message.

Please CLICK HEREor visit http://tinyurl.com/367bb97and send Chancellor Gearhart a message urging him to reinstate the new guidelines or explain why he and the university would prefer to continue steering students away from using marijuana and toward using alcohol -- a FAR more harmful substance.

The University of Arkansas has an amazing opportunity to set a positive example for other colleges across the nation, so it is imperative that we hold our ground and stand up to the administration in support of these new guidelines.

Click the image below to watch a news story about this effort that appeared last evening:

Dear friends,

We need to fight back.

California's marijuana initiative, Proposition 19, would be the biggest drug law reform in U.S. history. But it's being threatened by opponents who are trotting out the same old drug war misinformation and scare tactics.

Tell the opponents of Proposition 19 that we won’t stand for their lies!

Prop. 19, which would make marijuana legal for adults in California, is a game changer. The special interests that benefit from the drug war know it, and are doing everything they can to scare voters away from reforming the state's failed marijuana laws.

Here are some of the outrageous statements the other side has already made:
• "It's going to cause crime to go up. There will be more drug babies."
• "It gives inmates in our prisons and county jails the right to both possess and smoke marijuana while incarcerated."
• "Next Health Nightmare If Marijuana Legalization Takes Place? Killer Black Mold."

And unless we call them on their ridiculous claims, they’re just going to ratchet up the rhetoric as Election Day draws near. Let's show our opponents that the whole country is watching – and that their scare tactics aren’t fooling anybody!

Sincerely,

Stephen Gutwillig
State Director, California
Drug Policy Alliance