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Law Enforcement Support for California Cannabis Initiative Growing (Press Release)

NEWS ADVISORY: September 10, 2010

CONTACT: Tom Angell - (202) 557-4979 or media//at//leap//dot//cc
                
LAW ENFORCEMENT SUPPORT FOR CALIFORNIA CANNABIS INITIATIVE GROWING

Cops and Judges to Endorse Prop 19 at Simultaneous Northern and Southern California Press Conferences Monday, Sept 13 at 10:00 AM PDT

Campaign Also Holding Telephone Press Conference Monday Afternoon at 12:30 PM PDT

(OAKLAND, CA) -- A group of police officers, judges, and prosecutors who support Proposition 19, the California ballot measure to control and tax cannabis (marijuana), will hold simultaneous press conferences Monday, September 13 in front of Oakland City Hall and in West Hollywood Park near Los Angeles at 10 AM PDT to release a letter of endorsement signed by dozens of law enforcers across the state.

"At each step of my law enforcement career - from beat officer up to chief of police in two major American cities - I saw the futility of our marijuana prohibition laws," said Joseph McNamara, former police chief in San Jose and Kansas City, MO, now a speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. "But our marijuana laws are much worse than ineffective: they waste valuable police resources and also create a lucrative black market that funds cartels and criminal gangs with billions of tax-free dollars."

Former LAPD sergeant and Los Angeles County deputy district attorney William John Cox, added, "This November, Californians finally have a chance to flip the equation and put drug cartels out of business, while restoring public respect for the criminal laws and their enforcement by passing Proposition 19 to control and regulate marijuana."

Also speaking at the press conferences will be current Oakland city attorney John Russo, former LAPD deputy police chief Stephen Downing, former Oakland drug nuisance prosecutor James Anthony, retired Orange County Superior Court judge Jim Gray, former Torrance Police Department beat officer and drug identification expert Kyle Kazan, former Wheatland, CA police officer Nate Bradley, and others.

In the sign-on letter being released at the press conferences, dozens of law enforcers outline their reasons for supporting Proposition 19, detailing how it will:

* Put our police priorities where they belong, by ending the arrests of non-violent cannabis consumers, and enabling police to focus instead on preventing violent crime
* Cut off funding to violent gangs and drug cartels, who generate the majority of their revenue from illegal marijuana sales
* Protect the lives of police officers now at risk in the "drug war" line of fire
* Reduce marijuana access to children by instituting strict age-limits and public safety controls
* Restore mutual respect and good relations between law enforcement and communities bearing the brunt of the current marijuana laws

For journalists who can’t physically attend the press conferences, the Yes on 19 campaign will be holding a conference call featuring several anti-prohibition law enforcers on Monday at 12:30 PM PDT. For dial-in info, please contact Tom Angell at 202-557-4979 or media at leap dot cc.

These law enforcement leaders join the National Black Police Association, the California NAACP, doctors, Latino community leaders, faith leaders, labor, business leaders, elected officials, political parties, and more, in endorsing Proposition 19. For a full list of endorsements, please visit: http://www.yeson19.com/endorsements.

Similar to current alcohol and tobacco laws, Proposition 19 will give state and local governments the ability to control and tax the sale of small amounts of cannabis to adults age 21 and older. As the California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), which provides non-partisan fiscal and policy advice, confirms, Prop 19 includes significant safeguards and controls: It maintains strict criminal penalties for driving under the influence of marijuana, increases the penalty for providing marijuana to a minor, expressly prohibits the consumption of marijuana in public, forbids smoking marijuana while minors are present, and bans possession on school grounds.
http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/initiatives/pdfs/i821_initiative_09-0024_amdt_1-s.pdf,
http://www.lao.ca.gov/ballot/2010/19_11_2010.pdf (Page 3)

California’s tax collector, the Board of Equalization (BOE), which currently collects alcohol and tobacco taxes, estimates that marijuana taxes could generate $1.4 billion in revenue each year, available to fund law enforcement, healthcare, and other critical needs.
www.boe.ca.gov/legdiv/pdf/ab0390-1dw.pdf

The California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) also says Prop 19 would enable California to put our police priorities where they belong, in that it “could result in savings to the state and local governments by reducing the number of marijuana offenders incarcerated in state prisons and county jails, as well as the number placed under county probation or state parole supervision. These savings could reach several tens of millions of dollars annually. The county jail savings would be offset to the extent that jail beds no longer needed for marijuana offenders were used for other criminals who are now being released early because of a lack of jail space."
http://www.lao.ca.gov/ballot/2010/19_11_2010.pdf (Page 6)

Multiple polls show that a majority of California voters support Proposition 19.
http://polltracker.talkingpointsmemo.com/contests/2010-ca-prop-19

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Victory Stolen - Help Us Get It Back! (Action Alert)

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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:

 

SAFER Campuses Initiative • P.O. Box 40332 • Denver, CO 80218 • 303-861-0033               A Project of SAFER

 

We Won't Stand For Their Lies (Action Alert)

 

We Are the Drug Policy Alliance.

Show our opponents that their scare tactics aren't fooling anybody!

Take Action!

Sign the Petition

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

Marijuana Initiative Challenges Costly, Bloody Drug War (Opinion)

Former California state senator Tom Hayden opines that he supports the November ballot initiative to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana because our country's long drug war is a disaster and there is an alternative that is better for our health, safety and democratic process.

Latino Voters League, National Black Police Officers Latest Groups to Endorse California Marijuana Legalization Measure

Representatives from the Latino Voters League (LVL) and the National Black Police Association have given formal endorsements of Proposition 19, The Regulate, Control & Tax Cannabis Initiative of 2010. If passed, the measure would legalize the private adult possession and cultivation of marijuana, and allow local government the option to regulate the plant’s commercial production and sale.
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