FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 25, 2010
CONTACT: Tom Angell - (202) 557-4979 or [email protected]
Amber Langston - (573) 239-8149 or [email protected]
Yes On 19 Campaign Releases TV Advertisement
Former San Jose Police Chief Says Marijuana Initiative Will Improve Public Safety
Law Enforcement Supporters to Hold Teleconference for Reporters on Tuesday
OAKLAND, CA -- The campaign to pass Proposition 19, the California ballot measure to control and tax marijuana, released a television ad today featuring former San Jose police chief Joseph McNamara, who makes a strong public safety case for ending the current prohibition laws.
The ad can be viewed online at http://www.YesOn19.com/ad
"Let's be honest: The war against marijuana has failed," Chief McNamara says in the ad. "I know from 35 years in law enforcement. Today, it's easier for a teenager to buy pot than beer. Proposition 19 will tax and control marijuana just like alcohol. It will generate billions of dollars for local communities, allow police to focus on violent crimes, and put drug cartels out of business. Join me and many others in law enforcement. Vote YES on Proposition 19!"
McNamara, who served as San Jose's chief of police for 15 years, is now a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He previously served as chief of police in Kansas City and as a beat officer in New York City
McNamara is just one of the many veteran law enforcers who have endorsed Prop. 19. A letter signed by dozens of police officers, judges and prosecutors who support ending prohibition can be read at: http://www.YesOn19.com/endorse/enforcement/text
Several of those law enforcers will be available on a telephone press conference call Tuesday at 11:00 AM PDT. Reporters who would like the call-in info should contact Amber Langston at (573) 239-8149 or [email protected].
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Californians are casting their votes on Proposition 19, the initiative to make marijuana legal and regulate it similarly to alcohol, and the latest polls show it is neck and neck heading down the stretch. Voter turnout could very well be the deciding factorin this close race, so it's time to crank up the effort to get out the vote. There are just about 8 days left before Election Day, and regardless of whether you live in California YOU CAN HELP!
SAFER and its project, the Women's Marijuana Movement, have teamed up with Just Say Nowto create an on-line phone banking tool that allows female marijuana activists across the country to place phone calls to women voters in California. Click HEREor visit http://fdl.me/Prop19Women to find out more and begin placing calls to female voters in California.
Call Young Voters SAFER allies Just Say Now and Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP)have set up a system that allows people in any state to contact young voters in California and urge them to get out to vote for Prop. 19. Click HEREor visit http://tinyurl.com/25xxms8to find out more and begin placing calls to young voters in California.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 16, 2010
CONTACT: Will Matthews, ACLU national, (646) 233-9572 or (212) 549-2582; [email protected]; Rebecca Farmer, ACLU of Northern California, (415) 269-6275; [email protected]
SAN FRANCISCO – In a letter made public late Friday, Attorney General Eric Holder said the Department of Justice will “vigorously enforce” federal laws against marijuana in California, even if the state’s voters next month approve Proposition 19, a ballot initiative that would decriminalize marijuana in the state. The proposed initiative would allow adults 21 and older to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana for their personal use and allow cities and counties to regulate and tax commercial sales. Holder’s letter was sent to nine former chiefs of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The criminalization of low-level marijuana possession has disproportionately impacted communities of color, has no impact on public safety and serves to divert criminal justice resources from the prosecution of more serious crimes.
In a letter sent to Holder several weeks ago, the former DEA chiefs urged him to take legal action challenging Proposition 19 in court if it passes and to make clear that it would be void even if passed because federal law would preempt it under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S Constitution. Holder’s letter this week was notably silent on both issues.
The following can be attributed to Allen Hopper, Police Practices Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California:
“Attorney General Holder’s silence speaks volumes. He does not say that the Department of Justice will seek an injunction against Proposition 19 being enacted because there is no constitutional basis for doing so. A bedrock constitutional principle underlying our federalist system of government prohibits the federal government from telling the state of California what laws it can and cannot pass or forcing the state to expend its resources prosecuting low-level marijuana offenses. It is deeply disappointing that the Obama administration would seek to impede a law that would go great lengths toward dismantling one of the defining injustices of our nation’s failed “war on drugs”: the fact that people of color, and especially youth of color, are disproportionately arrested for low-level marijuana possession. Such arrests do not increase public safety, and merely serve to divert already scarce criminal justice resources from the investigation of more serious crimes.”
It's coming down to the wire in California!
