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In The Trenches
Don't let Congress get away with it
Tell Congress to Stand Up for Students
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Congress failed us.
Despite a decade-long campaign by Students for Sensible Drug Policy, supporters like you, and a large and powerful coalition of more than 500 prominent organizations, Congress finally reauthorized the Higher Education Act (HEA) last week but chose to ignore our demands that they overturn the provision that strips financial aid from college students with drug convictions.
How come?
Outrageously, staffers on Capitol Hill are telling us that some members of Congress were terrified of facing negative attack ads calling them "pro-drug" if they voted for a bill reinstating aid to students with drug convictions.
Even as Congress was debating the HEA bill last week, Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), the author and chief proponent of the aid penalty claimed on the House floor that his precious provision "has been much aligned [sic] by ***pro-drug groups*** around the country."
So you can see that one of the major roadblocks to reform is the false conventional wisdom that voters will punish politicians who do the right thing by repealing harmful and ineffective drug laws.Â
It's up to reformers like you and me to smash this false conventional wisdom by standing up and showing politicians that they will actually win votes for doing the right thing (and that, conversely, we may punish them at the polls for letting their unfounded fears stand in the way of progress). After all, it is this anti-education penalty itself that causes more drug abuse, right?
So no matter how many times you have taken action on this issue in the past, please take just one minute to edit and send a pre-written letter to your representative and two senators demanding that Congress stop letting senseless political fears keep deserving and hardworking students out of school.
Click here right now to take action. http://www.ssdp.org/speakup/
And please make sure you forward us any responses you get from your legislators so we can track who is standing in the way of change. Send those important responses to [email protected] when you get them.
Despite this setback, SSDP and our coalition allies are as determined as ever to see this senseless penalty repealed. We are already planning our strategy for the next Congress and presidential administration, and remain optimistic that despite the barriers we have yet to overcome, we will ultimately restore financial aid to the more than 200,000 students impacted by this penalty. In the meantime, members of Congress need to continue to hear an unwavering message from constituents that the public will not stand idly by as our elected officials continue to deny access to education in the name of the so-called "War on Drugs."
If we don't speak up and demand change when legislators need to hear it most, who will? Please take action today. http://www.ssdp.org/speakup/
Thanks for all that you do,
Tom Angell
SSDP Government Relations Director
P.S. If you'd like to see SSDP continue to work on this and other issues, let us know by making a donation today. http://www.ssdp.org/donate
P.P.S. If you are a student wishing to get involved in fighting back against Drug War attacks on youth, contact us about starting an SSDP chapter: http://www.ssdp.org/chapters/start
In The Trenches
Congress to skip vote on medical marijuana this year
[Courtesy of Marijuana Policy Project]Â
Dear friends:
Congress has recessed for the summer without voting on the medical marijuana amendment that Congressmen Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) offer every summer. Unfortunately, this means the amendment will not come up for a vote this year â the first year since 2002.
If passed, the amendment would have prevented the Justice Department â which includes the DEA â from interfering with the medical marijuana laws on the books in 12 states.
Congress decided that rather than considering the Justice Department's annual spending bill, which contains thousands of funding requests and issue-oriented amendments, Congress will instead simply vote to allow this year's funding levels to carry over until next year.  Â
However, there are two other pieces of legislation in Congress that your U.S. House member needs to hear from you about:
1. The Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act of 2008Â (H.R. 5842) would give states greater authority to determine their own medical marijuana policies.
2. The Personal Use of Marijuana By Responsible Adults Act of 2008 (H.R. 5843) would remove federal penalties for possessing up to 3.5 ounces of marijuana.
Would you please take one minute to visit MPP's online action center and ask your U.S. House member to co-sponsor these two bills?
Meanwhile, we're also gearing up for the changed â and more favorable â political climate that we can expect from a new presidential administration and Congress next year. You'll be hearing more from us about our plans for 2009 in the coming months.
As always, thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
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 $3.0 million that MPP can raise from the rest of the planet in 2008. This means that your donation today will be doubled.
In The Trenches
A Life and Death Issue
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Several months ago my colleague Naomi Long and I had an op-ed in The Washington Post calling for a repeal of the federal prohibition that blocks states from using their share of HIV/AIDS prevention money on syringe exchange programs. We had a hard-hitting conclusion: âAs many as 300,000 Americans could contract HIV/AIDS or hepatitis C over the next decade because of a lack of access to sterile syringes. This essentially makes the national syringe ban a death sentence for drug users, their partners and children.â Take action now to support a bill in Congress that would repeal the ban. Last year my colleague Jasmine Tyler lost her father to HIV/AIDS that he contracted from injection drug use and it really hit our D.C. office hard. She had this to share: âFrom the time he found out he was HIV-positive until the day he died in April of 2007, he suffered greatly and so did our family. Every day I know that the hell he lived through could have been avoided if only he had had access to sterile needles all the time. Itâs too late to bring him back, but every other life that can be saved should be.â While our country spends billions of dollars on efforts to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and other infectious diseases, the U.S. prohibits the use of prevention funds to support syringe exchange programs. This robs cities, states and private organizations of the right to do whatâs best for the people, and costs taxpayers a lot of money. Itâs far cheaper to distribute syringes and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis than it is to treat people who contract those infectious diseases after it's too late. Last year, District of Columbia Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and New York Congressman Jose Serrano successfully repealed a federal ban that prohibited D.C. from spending its own budget money on syringe exchange programs. This week Rep. Serrano introduced a bill that would repeal the national syringe funding ban. If enacted, it could save hundreds of thousands of lives and millions in taxpayer dollars. Please urge your representative to support this urgent, life-saving bill. Want to do more? Set up a meeting with your representative when he or she is in your district during Congress's August recess. Learn how. Sincerely, Bill Piper More Information --According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), of the 415,193 people reported to be living with AIDS in the United States at the end of 2004, about 30 percent of cases are related to injection drug use, either directly (sharing contaminated syringes) or indirectly (having sex with someone who used a contaminated syringe or being born to a mother who used a contaminated syringe). --Each year, approximately 12,000 Americans contract HIV/AIDS directly or indirectly from the sharing of dirty syringes. About 17,000 people contract hepatitis C. --Increasing the availability of sterile syringes through exchange programs, pharmacies and other outlets reduces unsafe injection practices such as syringe sharing, curtails transmission of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis, increases safe disposal of used syringes, and helps injection drug users obtain drug education and treatment. --The lifetime cost of treating just one person who contracts HIV/AIDS can be as high as $600,000. This cost is often borne by taxpayers. In contrast, syringe exchange programs can prevent thousands of new HIV/AIDS cases at very little cost. Funding syringe exchange programs saves both lives and taxpayer money. --A federal appropriations rider in the annual Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies spending bill prohibits states from spending their share of federal prevention money on syringe exchange programs. H.R. 6680 would repeal that provision. |
Dear friends,In The Trenches
4:20 Drug War News 080408 + Blackwater "PSA"
Drug Truth Network Update: 4:20 Drug War NEWS from 90.1 FM in Houston and dozens of radio affiliates in the US and Canada & on the web at www.kpft.org.
We provide the "unvarnished truth about the drug war" to scores of broadcast affiliates in the US, Canada and Australia.
4:20 Drug War NEWS 08/04/08 to 08/10/08 now online (3:00 ea:) Select online at www.drugtruth.net
Sun - Poppygate Report with Glenn Greenway + BLACKWATER "PSA"
Sat - Judge Arthur Burnett, director of National African American Drug Policy Coalition & Jay Rorty, Deputy Director of ACLU Drug Law Reform Project
Fri - Professor Marie Gottschalk, 2/2
Thu - Professor Marie Gottschalk, author: "The Prison and the Gallows: The Politics of Mass Incarceration" 1/2
Wed - Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project regarding potential changes to federal marijuana laws
Tue - Terry Nelson of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition reports on federal tactics against medical marijuana
Mon - US Representative Barney Frank discusses a new marijuana bill that would decriminalize small amounts under federal law + BLACKWATER "PSA"
Next - Century of Lies on Tues, Cutural Baggage on Wed (Now With Transcripts):
- Cultural Baggage 12:30 PM ET, 11:30 AM CT, 10:30 AM MT & 9:30 AM PT: TBD
- Century of Lies 12:30 PM ET, 11:30 AM CT, 10:30 AM MT & 9:30 AM PT: Marijuana, Threat or Menace?
Hundreds of our programs are available online at www.drugtruth.net, www.audioport.org and at www.radio4all.net.
Check out our latest videos via www.youtube.com/fdbecker:
Please become part of the solution, visit our website: www.endprohibition.org for links to the best of reform.
"Prohibition is evil." - Reverend Dean Becker, Drug Truth Network Producer
Dean Becker
713-849-6869
www.drugtruth.net
In The Trenches
LEAP on the Hill: Stories from Week of August 1, 2008
âIâm just a city slicker with a cowboy hat.â In the fall of 2003 Joan Covici of Dallas invited me to lunch, wanting to hear stories of riding Misty across North America. She then asked about my future plans. I told her of one day, going to Washington, DC and become a lobbyist but I expressed doubts if I would be effective. âIâm just a city slicker with a cowboy hat.â
âStop right there.â She commanded. âFirst, you can not ride a horse across a continent and still claim to be a city slicker. Second, your self-deprecation will limit yourself self-esteem and you will set goals that are too low. You are a powerful individual and can move this issue at any level.â Resistance to this sage analysis was, futile. The words of this wise woman generated a lot of thought and it did not take me long to adopt them.
âItâs just a high sidewalk in the sky Misty. No problem for you girl.â The 1928 tall bridge crossing of the Mississippi at Cape Girardeau on our journey across North America coincided with reaching the 1000 mile (1600 KM) mark to become a Long Rider. What a day!
This past Wednesday I felt the same ânow I can do/handle anythingâ feeling. I spoke for (the maximum) three minutes (text below) to 130 conservative, VIPs at the Center Right Coalition brunch. Suffice to say, I recognized 4-5 persons I had seen on TV. There were five candidates for Congress, etc. A dozen or so attendees thanked me for having the courage to oppose modern prohibition. Later I learned that my inviter, Grover Norquist, was pleased with my presentation. That night Mr. Norquist invited me and 300 of his closest friends to a private screening of the filmâSwing Vote.â I met another Bush, political appointee who will return to a private think tank come January (and support the LEAP position, BTW).
After 4 months in Austin, Texas, after two years in DC, after 700 presentations to Hill staffers, many hundreds of chats with all sorts of folks & with the help, support and advice of many colleagues in reform, I am no longer a Rookie, rather a Journeyman. We are moving this policy into the history books. Thank you Joan for helping me set my sights higher.
BTW, Conservative MOCs are worth their weight in gold: In chatting with an aide of the House Judiciary Committee this week, I confirmed that focusing on and bringing Republicans & conservatives into the LEAP boat more valuable than a Dem(Democrat). The Rs (Republicans) will always hold the high ground on crime & drug issues in US.
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WAR on DRUGS! Modern Prohibition! How is that working for us in America? This liberal policy which uses the threat of government punishment, backed with govt police, prosecutors and prisons..... Is it reducing our crime?......is it reducing rates of death and disease? Is it keeping drugs and drug dealers away from our kids? Is this modern prohibition consistent with the ideals of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness? NO!! Our children live in a world awash in drugs and drug dealers. Is it time for a robust discussion? I challenge you to state one sensible, cogent reason to continue this policy.
Post Prohibition: Envision an America where there are no teen drug dealers on sidewalks selling drugs, shooting each other and destroying neighborhoods. Imagine a world where all drugs are sold in a state-regulated store by a clerk making 12 dollars an hour. See a world where al Qaeda and other terrorists groups do not make billions guarding the drug trade and selling drugs. Think of an America where crime is reduced by half which allows the police to focus on the deadly DUI, the child predator and other public safety threats. Envision the positive outcomes of redirecting the 70 billion tax dollars currently spent chasing non-violent drug users & their suppliers. See a world where, if one day you or a loved has a drug problem, you see a doctor not a judge. This world is possible when we find the courage to end the Modern Prohibition.
As a police officer, I spent 18 years in the trenches of the drug war in the 70s, 80s and 90s. I always believed that the policy was dysfunctional and ultimately immoral. Drug policy should be centered on these 5 conservative principles:
Individual Liberty: an adult should be free to be as stupid as they wish to be in the privacy of their own little castle.
Personal Responsibility: If an adult makes a bad choice, suck it up.
Limited Government: Sending government agents, AKA police officers into your home to arrest you for a consensual act is NOT consistent with limited govt intrusion into your life.
Effective Government: After a trillion tax dollars spent, drugs are cheaper, stronger and readily available to our kids. This has been a Bridge To Nowhere policy.
States Rights: Like alcohol & gambling, all drugs should be a matter for the states to decide. I ask you to join the spirits of William F. Buckley and Milton Friedman. Help LEAP end this disastrous modern prohibition.
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Hey Politicians, Reforming Marijuana Laws is Smart Politics
Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO) signed on to Barney Frank's marijuana decriminalization bill because he thought it was the right thing to do. He certainly wasn't trying to score political points, but look what happened:
Clay was worried about the reaction. Supporting the liberalization of marijuana laws is not often seen as a political winner, especially in Midwestern cities like St. Louis.
But instead of stoner jokes, derision and righteous indignation, Clay was surprised to start getting praise from complete strangers.
âPeople are coming up to me saying this is a common-sense, sensible way to deal with the issue of personal use,â Clay said.
So far, he said, his calls, mail and contacts are running 80-20 in favor of the bill. He was impressed enough that he decided to go ahead and step before the cameras last week with Frank and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) at a news conference touting the bill. [The Hill]
One of the most pernicious artifacts still tainting the marijuana policy debate is the false notion that reforming marijuana laws is "politically risky." As Lacy Clay just learned, it isn't nearly that simple. Support for marijuana legalization has increased steadily for the last 20 years, according to a 2005 Gallup poll. While full legalization is still not the majority position, decriminalization enjoys 72% support according to Time/CNN.
It is just a fact that most Americans believe our marijuana laws are deeply flawed. This view continues to gain momentum despite mountains of misleading government propaganda designed to achieve the opposite effect. We are on a trajectory towards reform in terms of public opinion, yet many of our politicians remain hamstrung by antiquated conventional political wisdom, which holds that reform can't be marketed to the public. It's wrong, and it can be proven so through a process as simple as voting for decriminalization and watching as your constituents glow with praise and enthusiasm.
It is really just a matter of time before the political viability of marijuana reform is fully revealed, and when that happens, I suspect we'll discover that our movement has friends we didn't know about.
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