Great, FREE event and reason to celebrate
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Marijuana Policy
Press Release -- New Report: Marijuana Arrests Don't Affect Use; Penalty Structure Boosts Illegal Market
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
NOVEMBER 5, 2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
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Most Exhaustive Set of Marijuana Arrest Data Ever Shows No Relation Between Arrests and Use Rates; Penalty Structure Boosts Illicit Market
Florida Has Toughest Penalties, Arrest Rate Highest in D.C, Black Arrest Rate 3 Times That of Whites
CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦ 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205
                Jon Gettman â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦...â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦540-822-5739
WASHINGTON, D.C. â The most exhaustive collection of data ever on U.S. marijuana arrests, penalties and related information, released today, finds no relationship between marijuana arrest and use rates, while penalty structures act as a price support mechanism that boosts the illegal market. Assembled by Jon Gettman, Adjunct Assistant Professor in Criminal Justice at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, the new report finds:
·     Marijuana arrests have nearly doubled since 1991, while levels of marijuana use remained fundamentally unchanged.
·     Penalties that escalate for increased amounts of marijuana encourage consumers to make multiple small purchases, acting as a price support for the illicit market.
·     Florida has the nationâs harshest marijuana penalties, while the District of Columbia has the highest arrest rate for marijuana offenses.
·     Although the rate of marijuana use is only about 25 percent higher for African-Americans than for whites, blacks are three times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession as whites.
        âThese figures paint a devastating portrait of a failed policy that burns through tax dollars while doing nothing but harm,â said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. âMost Americans agree that marijuana prohibition doesnât work, even if most politicians arenât yet ready to publicly agree with their constituents.â
         Gettmanâs summary report, âMarijuana Arrests in the United States (2007),â is available at http://www.drugscience.org/Archive/bcr7/bcr7_index.html. The full Marijuana Policy Almanac, including state rankings and individual reports for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, is at http://www.drugscience.org/States/US/US_home.htm.
        With more than 29,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.
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Victories in Maine and Colorado tonight
Dear friends:
Great news! Two marijuana-related ballot initiatives, one in Maine and one in a ski town in Colorado, won in voting booths on Tuesday.
By 59%-41%, Maine voted to become the third state to license nonprofit dispensaries to provide medical marijuana to qualified patients.
And by an overwhelming 73%-27%, Breckenridge, Colorado voted to allow adults over the age of 21 to possess up to an ounce of marijuana. The Breckenridge initiative was spearheaded by MPP grant recipient Sensible Colorado.
Maine's new law is enormously important. While 13 states permit medical marijuana use, until now only Rhode Island and New Mexico have had laws allowing dispensaries, both of which were adopted by the statesâ legislatures. Patients in the other states have had to grow their own marijuana, find someone to procure it for them, or buy it from the criminal market.
Tonight's vote is a dramatic step forward, the first time that any stateâs voters have authorized the state government to license medical marijuana dispensaries. Coming a decade after passage of Maineâs original marijuana law in 1999, this is a huge sign that voters are comfortable with these laws, and also a sign that the recent change of policy from the Obama administration is having a major impact.
The new Maine law also expands the number of conditions that make a patient eligible for medical marijuana use and protects patients from discrimination in employment, housing, education, and child custody.
A coalition of activists and marijuana policy reform organizations are responsible for this victory: MPP got the momentum going by drafting the initiative and providing start-up funding to Maine Citizens for Patients' Rights, and the Drug Policy Alliance provided assistance to help complete the signature drive.
If you support initiatives like this, would you please consider automatically donating $5 or more on your credit card each month to help us pass more laws like these?
We have momentum on our side, so now is the time to push even harder for change. Please consider helping us rack up more victories like these.
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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 $2.35 million that MPP can raise from the rest of the planet in 2009. This means that your donation today will be doubled.
MPP of Nevada Asks Law Enforcement: How Does Steering Adults Toward Alcohol Make Us Safer?
MEDIA ADVISORYÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
NOVEMBER 3, 2009
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MPP of Nevada Asks Law Enforcement to Explain How Steering Adults Toward Alcohol Over Marijuana is Making Us Safer
Demand comes as major new report shows marijuana arrest rates in Nevada increasing faster than the national average, while binge drinking in Nevada is also growing steadily
CONTACT: Dave Schwartz, MPP-NV Managerâ¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦702-727-1081
LAS VEGAS â At a news conference on Thursday in front of the new Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Headquarters construction site, the Marijuana Policy Project of Nevada will ask law enforcement officials to explain how steering adults toward the use of alcohol instead of marijuana is making our communities safer. Specifically, MPP-NV will display a sign asking members of law enforcement to complete this sentence: âSteering adults away from marijuana use and toward alcohol makes us safer by ___________.â
    This event coincides with the release of the most exhaustive collection of data ever on U.S. marijuana arrests, penalties and related information. Assembled by Professor Jon Gettman at Shenandoah University in Virginia, the new report finds that marijuana arrests in Nevada increased from 4,504 in 2003 to 7,950 in 2007. The arrest rate for possession per 100,000 residents in Nevada increased 57.9% over that time period, compared to just 12.7% in the U.S. While Nevada law enforcement was using its power to punish and intimidate marijuana users, binge drinking rates in the state rose 16% in those four years, but just 1.8% nationally.
    Who: Dave Schwartz, manager, Marijuana Policy Project of Nevada
    What: Press conference to challenge Nevada law enforcementâs marijuana arrest rates
    When: Thursday, November 5, at 11:00 a.m.
    Where: Southeast corner of Alta Blvd and Martin Luther King Blvd, Las Vegas, NV
     MPP of Nevada is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating Nevadans about the true nature of marijuana and about the harms caused by marijuana prohibition in the state. For more information about MPP of Nevada, please visit http://www.mppnv.org.Â
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Tell the Drug Czar...
One week ago today, Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske (aka the Drug Czar) issued a statement declaring the issue of marijuana legalization a "non-starter" not even worthy of discussion in the Obama Administration. The Drug Czar's statement also highlighted the extraordinary social and health care costs associated with widespread alcohol use, suggesting that similar problems would occur if marijuana were to be regulated and treated like alcohol. Yet every objective study on marijuana has concluded that it is far less harmful than alcohol both for the user and for society. In response to the Drug Czar's statement, SAFER has launched an on-line petition, calling on the drug czar to either start basing our nation's drug policies on reason and evidence instead of mythology and ideology, or start explaining why he'd prefer adults use alcohol instead of a far safer substance -- marijuana. Please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj32wxb or click on the button to the right to sign the petition today. Then forward word of it to anyone who might be interested in siging on before we present it to the drug czar. Along with launching the petition, SAFER has issued... An Open Letter to the Drug Czar About Marijuana Legalization On the afternoon of Friday, October 23, at a time when government bureaucrats make announcements they hope will not be picked up by the media, you issued a statement boldly declaring: Marijuana legalization, for any purpose, remains a non-starter in the Obama Administration. It is not something that the President and I discuss; it isn't even on the agenda. As the individual most directly responsible for marijuana policy in this country, this seems utterly irresponsible. Worse, your decision does not appear to be based on reason or evidence. Let's begin with one glaringly obvious omission in your statement. You failed to cite a single societal or health-related harm caused by the use of marijuana. Not one! Instead, you offered up some weak guilt-by-association scare tactics. To test the idea of legalizing and taxing marijuana, we only need to look at already legal drugs -- alcohol and tobacco. We know that the taxes collected on these substances pale in comparison to the social and health care costs related to their widespread use. Apparently, you believe that marijuana users should be punished and perhaps even jailed because alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceutical drugs are so harmful to users and society. Sorry, Mr. Kerlikowske, but that just doesn't cut it. If you are going to remain closed-minded in your approach to marijuana, you are going to need to step it up. Unfortunately, you know as well as we do that you don't have a whole lot going for you, which explains your flaccid, evidence-free statement. Sadly, we have come to expect this kind of nonsensical garbage from our nation's drug czars. (After all, you have Kevin Sabet, a Bush Administration holdover and former speechwriter for his drug czar, John Walters, feeding you the same old lines.) But what makes your position on marijuana legalization even more shameful is your background as a law enforcement officer on the streets. You know -- and maybe at some point during your tenure you will have the guts to admit -- that alcohol is really the drug in our society that causes the greatest amount of harm. This isn't an attempt to demonize alcohol, mind you; it's simply based on alcohol's close association with serious health problems and violent crime, as documented by scientific research and government statistics. The use of marijuana, on the other hand, does not have serious health consequences and is not associated with violent behavior. Again, you know this from your time on the streets. If you've forgotten, just recall the alcohol-fueled Seattle Mardi Gras riot that occurred on your watch. Or ask you're predecessor, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who called alcohol "the most dangerous drug in America today," during a 1999 ONDCP press conference. So just why is it that you want to punish people who use marijuana, when you know the likely result is that many of these people will simply turn to using alcohol instead? Ya know, because it's "legal." We don't want to hear that alcohol does not fall under the mission of ONDCP. You, sir, raised the subject by asserting -- contrary to everything known about the two substances -- that we should look at our experience with alcohol if we want to get a sense of the potential social and health care costs associated with more widespread marijuana use. Moreover, given that the two substances are so popular in our society, you simply cannot discuss the prohibition of marijuana without considering its impact on alcohol usage rates. You hold a great deal of power in your hands. You can help determine whether we continue to steer adults toward using alcohol -- which you know produces serious societal harms -- or whether we instead allow them to make the rational choice to use a safer substance: marijuana. Come on. Show us that it is possible to be the drug czar and be thoughtful, open-minded, and accepting of scientific evidence at the same time. Or, at the very least, why don't you find some actual statistics to back up your bluster? |
Press Release: State Assembly to Hold Historic Hearing on Marijuana Regulation Wednesday 10/28/09
MEDIA ADVISORYÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
OCTOBER 27, 2009
State Assembly to Hold Historic Hearing on Marijuana Regulation Wednesday 10/28
Press Conference at 9 a.m. Followed by Hearing in Public Safety Committee
CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦ 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA â On Wednesday, the California Assembly Public Safety Committee will hold a historic hearing on the implications of taxing and regulating marijuana similarly to alcoholic beverages. The informational hearing marks the first time Californiaâs legislature has considered ending marijuana prohibition since California first banned marijuana in 1913. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), chair of the committee, is author of AB 390, the Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act. A press conference will precede the hearing.
           WHAT: Press conference and Public Safety Committee informational hearing on taxing and regulating marijuana.
           WHO: Speaking at the press conference will be Assemblyman Tom Ammiano; Aaron Smith, Marijuana Policy Project; Stephen Gutwillig, Drug Policy Alliance; and Dale Gieringer, California NORML. Available to answer questions at the news conference and testifying at the hearing will be: Terence Hallinan, former district attorney, City and County of San Francisco; Dan Macallair, executive director, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice; Jim Gray, retired judge, Orange County Superior Court; Rev. Canon Mary Moreno-Richardson, Episcopal priest, Hispanic Ministries at St. Paulâs Cathedral, San Diego; Tamar Todd, staff attorney, Drug Policy Alliance Network; Allen Hopper, counsel, American Civil Liberties Union.
           WHERE: State Capitol, Sacramento. Press conference in Room 317, hearing in Room 126.
           WHEN: Press conference at 9 a.m., hearing at 10 a.m.
        With more than 29,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.
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Marijuana is Mainstream
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Marijuana Reform is Happening
You Can Make a Difference |
Dear friends, We're going into battle and we need your help. Congress has returned from August recess, and we're gearing up for our push to dismantle the war on drugs. That's why we need your help right now -- can you help us raise $12,000 to end the war on drugs? Polls show that a substantial majority of Americans in almost every state want to stop arresting people for possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use. And a majority of voters in some states want to make marijuana legal like alcohol. Now is the time to increase pressure on elected officials. Can you give $25 or more to help us stop the ill-conceived war on marijuana? With your contribution, we can meet with dozens of members of Congress to build support for Representative Frank's bill to decriminalize marijuana. We can also build support for legislation in California to make marijuana legal like alcohol. And we can expand our media operations so we continue getting positive marijuana stories in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and other influential outlets. Can we count on you to help us lobby Congress for marijuana reform? The American public is finally becoming aware of the futility of the war on drugs, and if we stand together we can bring it to an end. Sincerely, Bill Piper  |
Marijuana Reform is Happening
You Can Make a Difference |
Dear friends, We're going into battle and we need your help. Congress has returned from August recess, and we're gearing up for our push to dismantle the war on drugs. That's why we need your help right now -- can you help us raise $12,000 to end the war on drugs? Polls show that a substantial majority of Americans in almost every state want to stop arresting people for possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use. And a majority of voters in some states want to make marijuana legal like alcohol. Now is the time to increase pressure on elected officials. Can you give  or more to help us stop the ill-conceived war on marijuana? With your contribution, we can meet with dozens of members of Congress to build support for Representative Frank's bill to decriminalize marijuana. We can also build support for legislation in California to make marijuana legal like alcohol. And we can expand our media operations so we continue getting positive marijuana stories in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and other influential outlets.  The American public is finally becoming aware of the futility of the war on drugs, and if we stand together we can bring it to an end. Sincerely, Bill Piper  |
Press Release: Drug Survey Release Thurs. Raises Questions for New Drug Czar
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEÂ Â Â
SEPTEMBER 9, 2009
Drug Survey Release Thursday Raises Questions For New Drug Czar
Reformers Wonder: Is Kerlikowske's Promise of Smarter, Science-Based Policies Real?
CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ............... 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- This Thursday's scheduled release of the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health marks a critical test for new White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske, officials of the Marijuana Policy Project said today. The tone and priorities Kerlikowske stresses, they said, will offer important clues about whether the Obama administration will continue the failed marijuana policies of the past or make meaningful changes.
    "Gil Kerlikowske deserves credit for shifting the emphasis away from his predecessor's obsession with marijuana and toward true dangers like meth and prescription drug abuse, but that's small potatoes if he is afraid to tackle the reality of failed marijuana policies," said MPP director of government relations Aaron Houston.
    Houston noted that the previous drug czar, John Walters, was notorious for cherry-picking statistics to create the illusion of success -- claiming progress, for example, even though last year's survey showed an increase in the overall number of illicit drug users and in illicit use of highly dangerous prescription drugs like OxyContin. He urged Kerlikowske to adopt a new policy of honesty.
    "Kerlikowske has said repeatedly, 'Legalization is not in my vocabulary,'" Houston said. "In that case, let's talk about regulation. Let's talk about how teen marijuana use is up since the early 1990s while teen cigarette smoking is way, way down -- because regulation of cigarettes gives society some control over the businesses that produce and market tobacco. We can control marijuana and take profits away from the murderous Mexican drug cartels, but first we'll need to acknowledge that what we've been doing hasn't worked and can't ever work."
    With more than 27,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.
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