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Press Release Contact: Luciano Colonna

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2008 Global Conference On Methamphetamine

Wednesday, June 4, 2008 Chair, Executive Program Committee

+00 (1) 801 635 7736 (USA / MTD, HAR; UTC – 6 hours)

[email protected]

FIRST GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON METHAMPHETAMINE TO CONVENE IN PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, ON SEPTEMBER 15-16, 2008

Experts in Science, Public Health, Government, Drug Policy, Treatment, Prevention, Law Enforcement, and the Private Sector Will Meet to Examine the Intersection between Methamphetamine, Public Health, Law Enforcement, and Civil Society.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic, June 4 ­­­­-- As the use of methamphetamine and other amphetamine-type stimulants proliferates across the globe, there is an emerging consensus among experts that methamphetamine use is a unique and complex problem that presents a significant challenge to existing philosophies and strategies. The First Global Conference on Methamphetamine will provide an arena for the world’s foremost scientists, leaders and professionals working on issues of drug use to come together to discuss a wide variety of topics centering around methamphetamine. The Conference will take place in Prague’s Historic City Hall on September 15 – 16 (Monday & Tuesday), 2008.

As the first event to gather global experts from a wide diversity of fields, the conference is assured to be an unparalleled event. Confirmed speakers from USA, China, Australia, Thailand, Russia, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, New Zealand, Indonesia, Poland, Iran, Serbia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Great Britain and the United Nations will address the conference theme of “Science, Strategy and Response.” Representatives from international agencies, civil society, academia, science, law enforcement and others will have the unique opportunity to discuss key issues including: Treatment, HIV, Trafficking, Production, Environmental Impact, Law Enforcement, Policy, Current Research, Regional Updates, and Innovative Global Approaches.

According to estimates by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Health Organization (WHO): More individuals worldwide now use stimulants than opiates and cocaine combined. Methamphetamine is the most widely used illicit drug in the world except for cannabis. Over 26 million individuals used amphetamine-type stimulants in 2006.

Established trends show methamphetamine use to be widespread in North American, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand; while India, Pakistan, Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation Sub-Saharan Africa and Western Europe represent emerging markets or areas of perceived risk. Yet the development of appropriate and effective responses to stimulants lags. In most cases, treatment and prevention are inappropriately modeled on opiate and alcohol treatment, ignoring both the physical properties of the drug itself, and the fact that methamphetamine use patterns vary widely, and effective responses must be tailored to the unique needs of regions, cultures, and individual users. A lack of infrastructure, of funding, and of experts trained specifically in methamphetamine response compounds the problem.

As nations struggle to develop appropriate responses to methamphetamine, it is crucial that the most current scientific research, information, and best practices be available to those seeking to implement solutions. The primary goal of the First Global Conference on Methamphetamine is to provide a context for this important work to take place.

Featured Speakers Will Include:

- Apinun Aramrattana, MD, PhD, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai

- Jeremy Douglas. Manager, Global SMART Program, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Vienna

- Ahmed Elkashef, M.D. Division of Pharmacotherapies & Medical Consequences, NIDA, Washington, D.C.

- Carl Hart, PhD, Professor, Neuroscience Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York

- Evgeny Krupitsky, MD, PhD, Prof., Bekhterev Research Psychoneurological Institute, St. Petersburg

- Prof. Lin Lu, MD, PhD, Director, National Institute of Drugs and Development, Beijing

- Donald Rothenbaum, Senior Vice President, Network Environmental Systems, San Diego

- Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch, MSW, Director, Open Society's Institute's Global Drug Policy Program, Warsaw

- Azarakhsh Mokri, MD, Iranian Nation Center for Addiction Studies, Tehran

- Ethan Nadelmann, JD, Executive Director, Drug Policy Alliance, New York

- Caitlin Padgett, Coordinator and Founder of Youth R.I.S.E., Vancouver

- Andreas Plüddemann, Senior Scientist, Alcohol & Drug Abuse Research Unit Medical, Cape Town

- Richard Rawson, PhD, UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, Los Angeles

- Michael Siever, PhD, Director of The Stonewall Project, San Francisco

- Pavlo Smyrnov, MPH., Deputy Executive Director, International HIV/AIDS Alliance, Kiev

- Alex Wodak, MD, Director, Alcohol and Drug Services Vincent's Hospital, Sydney

- Chris Wilkins, PhD, Senior Researcher & Drugs Team Leader at SHORE/Whariki, Massey University, Auckland - Gady Zabicky, MD, Centro Nacional para la Prevención y Control del VIH/SIDA, Mexico City - Tomas Zabransky, MD, PhD, R and D Manager, Centre for Addictology, Charles University, Prague

FOR MEDIA: The major sessions of the conference are open to reporters. Site visits, photo opportunities and interviews can be arranged. For journalists not traveling to Prague, interviews and briefings with key spokespeople and presenters can be arranged on request.

Sponsors and Partners include: The Czech Republic, Charles University, the City of Prague, Network Environmental Systems, Podane Ruce, Cranstoun Drug Services, Sananim, Institute Scan, Systems, Inc, and The Thorne Group.

Website: www.globalmethamphetamine.com

Contact: Luciano Colonna Chair, Executive Program Committee - 2008 Global Conference On Methamphetamine +00 (1) 801 635 7736 (USA); [email protected]

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Dear friends:

Yesterday, MPP began airing this TV ad in New York State, urging concerned citizens to ask their state senators to make New York the 13th medical marijuana state.

The ad features Burton Aldrich, a quadriplegic father of five who relies on medical marijuana to control the excruciating pain and violent spasms related to his condition. In the ad, Aldrich says, "I don't know if I would be around if it wasn't for marijuana. It shouldn't be a crime to treat pain and suffering.”

The New York Assembly passed MPP's bill last June with a 95-52 vote, and now we need the state Senate to act before it adjourns on June 23. You can read media coverage of our campaign here.

As you may know, MPP is 100% dependent on financial help from supporters like you to keep this ad on the air over the next few weeks. If you support MPP's aggressive and effective campaigns to pass medical marijuana laws, would you please help today?

And last week, MPP began airing this radio ad in Rhode Island. You can listen here as medical marijuana patient George Des Roches asks, "Have you ever had a gun held at you to buy your medicine? I have, seven times." You can also see the Providence Journal's coverage of the ad here.

MPP passed a law protecting Rhode Island medical marijuana patients from arrest and jail in 2006. However, because some patients are unable to grow their own marijuana or to find a caregiver who can, they must risk buying marijuana on the criminal market. At least three, including George, have either had guns held at them or been mugged while trying to obtain medical marijuana on the streets.

The radio ad urges Rhode Islanders to pressure the Rhode Island House to pass legislation to allow three nonprofit organizations to dispense medical marijuana to registered patients. The Senate passed such legislation by a 29-6 vote on May 15 but — so far — the House has yet to take action.

The bill is supported by the state medical and nurses associations, as well as the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, the Rhode Island chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Rhode Island Office of the Public Defender, and — according to MPP's new poll — 69% of Rhode Island voters.

We're only able to press forward with ads like these with the financial support of our e-mail subscribers and other dues-paying members. Would you please help us keep these ads on the air by making a donation today?

Thank you,

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.

There’s a powerful tool everyone interested in improving drug policy can put to good use, “Google Alerts”. Just visit: http://www.google.com/alerts and type in the information requested. We suggest the search terms (drug) and (marijuana). When you get an alert check out the story, a lot of them allow comments. Voice your opinion by posting comments every chance you get. This is an effective and free way to get the word out about the need for drug policy reform. I’ve been doing this for about a week and I can tell it’s working by the number of hits on our website from areas where I posted comments. Nate Miller, a Legislative Analyst for Marijuana Policy Project suggested using Google Alerts for this purpose. Nate’s been helping us be more effective at implementing drug policy reform. He stressed that public opinion is powerful when it comes to getting politicians to take action and politicians pay great attention to both articles and comments. I chose to include a few facts that a lot of people don’t know and invite readers to visit our website. Here’s a copy of one of my posts, please include a link to our website when you post comments:

Drug prohibition has never worked, from the place of origin to the point of sale there can be up to 17000% markup. People aren’t going to stop dealing when they can get rich selling drugs. We're building 900 new prison beds and hiring 150 more correction officers every two weeks in the USA. We arrest someone on a drug charge every 17 seconds. We jail more people than any nation. We spend $69 billion a year on the drug war. In 1914 when all drugs were legal 1.3% of our population was addicted to drugs, today 1.3% of our population is still addicted to drugs. Over 100,000 people have been killed because of this war on our own citizens. The only way to control drugs is to regulate them and end the profits available to criminals just like ending alcohol prohibition did. No argument justifies devastating society with drug prohibition. Watch the video:

Internet Explorer: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/home

All other browsers: http://jsknow.angelfire.com

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Once again another life has been needlessly sacrificed in the name of our heinous drug laws. Rachel Hoffman would still be with us today except for the way we choose to deal with drug use and addiction. To Ms. Hoffman’s family and friends, please accept our deepest condolences and heartfelt regret for your loss. The pain and suffering Ms. Hoffman and you have been forced into by those sworn to protect us is inexcusable. This absolutely unnecessary tragedy will not be forgotten. There is no excuse for this. The shameful unfounded defense offered by the authorities attempting to shift responsibility for the tragedy of their own incompetent actions to the victim is nothing short of reprehensible. This story should outrage all of Florida, all the USA and all the world. Florida has some of the toughest drug laws in the country and they have not accomplished any positive results, only harms. The harms of our drug policy are vividly reflected in Ms. Hoffman’s case. By all accounts in the news stories about her, Ms. Hoffman was a vibrant, well educated, well adjusted young woman with a bright future. She was loved by her family, a college graduate, well liked by her peers… in short the reflection of the vast majority of casual drug users. We also learned Ms. Hoffman supported at least two of the drug policy reform organizations we work with. Most people who use drugs are not addicts or criminals by any stretch of the imagination, except that we have allowed their right to ingest certain substances to be criminalized. The results of prohibition are well documented. Any time you prohibit anything you instantly create a black market commerce for that item and the results are always the same… criminals take over the business and violence and death follow. We’ve seen our ridiculous drug policy cause tragedy, corruption, waste of resources, harm to citizens and society beyond imagination and once again needless death. There’s a growing movement to change this but we must all take action or tragedy will continue. Visit our site and take civic actions that will make a difference. Sending an email or making a phone call to your elected representatives can do more good than you might think. If not now, when? If not you, who? Enough is enough! Just shaking your head and saying “that’s a shame” will not stop this. We posted another “Law Enforcement Against Prohibition” video on our home page. Take a few minutes and watch it and then be sure to contact your elected representatives and tell them to end the drug war now! There are much better ways to deal with drug use and addiction without the death, disease, violence, corruption, arrest of 1.9 million non-violent Americans each year and countless other harms directly caused by drug prohibition. Tobacco is the only success story in dealing with drug use. Almost half of all tobacco users have stopped and no one was arrested or killed. These amazing results came about through honest education and regulation not a war on tobacco users. PROHIBITION DOES NOT WORK, NEVER HAS AND NEVER WILL!

If you’re using internet explorer web browser use this link: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/home

If you’re using any other web browser use this link: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/index.html

Use this link to locate and contact your congressional representatives. Tell them you are in favor of HR 5842 (medical marijuana patient protection act) and HR 5843: (act to remove federal penalties for the personal use of marijuana by responsible adults). These two important legislative measures will greatly improve the lives of all Americans. HR 5842 Will provide for the medical use of marijuana in accordance with the laws of the various states and HR 5843 will remove federal penalties for the personal use of marijuana by responsible adults.

If clicking the text above doesn’t take you to the web page, copy and paste this into your web browser:

http://capwiz.com/norml2/home/

You can also contact your representatives by calling this number: 202-224-3121.

This is critical! Take action now, don’t wait. Ask all your associates to take action too!

CLICK HERE AND ENTER THE SEARCH WORDS BELOW TO READ THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION THAT NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT:

http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c110query.html

TO READ H.R.5842, SEARCH USING THESE WORDS:

Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act

TO READ H.R.5843, SEARCH USING THESE WORDS:

Act to Remove Federal Penalties for the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults