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Marijuana Policy Project: Watch new marijuana TV ads

Dear friends:

Today, the campaign to pass a marijuana decriminalization initiative in Massachusetts began airing two new TV ads.

In the ads, retired police officers urge voters to pass the initiative next month.

In one ad, Sergeant Howard Donahue, a 33-year veteran of the Boston Police Department, says, “Take it from a cop who walked the beat. Please vote yes on Question 2.”

In the other ad, Lieutenant Tom Nolan, a Boston police officer for 27 years, says, “I entered law enforcement to catch bad guys, not to deny someone an education for life just because they made a mistake.” (This is a reference to current law in Massachusetts, where simply getting arrested — not even convicted — for possessing a small amount of marijuana generates a permanent record in a database that employers, landlords, and schools can search and use to preclude offenders from getting jobs, housing, and school loans.)

 

Would you please help the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy keep these ads on the air between now and Election Day? Airing TV ads in major markets like Boston is always expensive — but even more so during a presidential campaign. With only 14 days remaining until Election Day, the campaign urgently needs supporters like you to chip in to push the initiative to victory.

Thank you so much for anything you can do to help.

Sincerely,
Kampia signature (e-mail sized)
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

P.S. You can opt out of receiving fundraising mentions in the e-mail alerts I send you in 2008 by visiting www.mpp.org/2008optoutpreference at your convenience.

Press Release: Data Quality Act Complaint Filed Against Drug Czar

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
OCTOBER 17, 2008

Data Quality Act Complaint Filed Against Drug Czar
MPP Charges White House Office with Distributing False Information; Charge Is Latest of Many Controversies Surrounding ONDCP

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ................................. 202-215-4205

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Marijuana Policy Project has filed a formal request for correction of erroneous information distributed by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, pursuant to the law commonly referred to as the Data Quality Act. The petition seeks correction of false information contained in ONDCP's 2008 Marijuana Sourcebook, released in July.

    The petition, filed late Thursday afternoon pursuant to Pub. L. 106-554, amending Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. §§ 3501 et seq., focuses on the Sourcebook's title, "Marijuana: The Greatest Cause of Illegal Drug Abuse," a claim that is not supported by scientific data, including the data in the Sourcebook -- and is actually contradicted by some of its contents, as well as by other ONDCP materials.

    "The claim that marijuana is 'the greatest cause of illegal drug abuse' is blatantly false," said Aaron Houston, MPP's director of government relations. "Marijuana is widely used, but any claim that it actually causes drug abuse -- much less that it's the greatest cause -- rests on the so-called 'gateway theory,' which has been debunked so often it's hard to believe drug czar John Walters can still mention it with a straight face."

    MPP's complaint notes that guidelines adopted by the Office of Management and Budget and ONDCP pursuant to the Data Quality Act require that information disseminated must be "accurate, reliable and unbiased" and presented in an "accurate, clear, complete, and unbiased manner" -- tests the Sourcebook clearly fails.

    Walters has been the subject of multiple controversies in recent days. A report released this week by the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform found that Walters attended 19 events suggested by Karl Rove's office in order to help Republican candidates, in apparent violation of the ban on use of public funds for partisan activities. And a study published online Thursday by the American Journal of Public Health found that ONDCP's anti-marijuana campaign had failed to change teen attitudes about marijuana despite expenditures of hundreds of millions of tax dollars.

    For a copy of the full complaint, contact Dan Bernath at 202-462-5747 ext. 2030 or [email protected].

    With more than 25,000 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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Press Release: Medical Marijuana Initiatives on the Ballot November 4th, 2008 Voters in 15 towns to decide Medical Marijuana Public Policy Questions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 15, 2008 CONTACT: Scott Mortimer at 978-463-3788, Maddy Webster at 617-776-8344, or Bill Downing at 781-944-2266 Boston — Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts announces that, for the 5th consecutive election cycle, Massachusetts citizens will vote on marijuana reform Public Policy Questions. Since 2000, voters in over 125 towns representing one-third of the Commonwealth have voted overwhelmingly in favor of marijuana reform (see attachment PPQtotal.doc or http://www.dpfma.org for detailed election results). For the 2008 election, activists from DPFMA and MassCann/NORML have placed four Public Policy Questions in State Representative districts concerning the medicinal use of marijuana. Voters in 15 towns will be able to decide the following ballot question: “Shall the State Representative from this district be instructed to vote in favor of legislation that would allow seriously ill patients, with their doctor’s written recommendation, to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana for their personal medical use?” 1st Middlesex Representative Robert S. Hargraves Question 4 – Towns of Ayer, Dunstable, Groton, Pepperell, and Townsend. 13th Norfolk Representative Lida E. Harkins Question 4 – Medfield, Needham, and precincts 1 and 2 of Dover. (The PPQ will appear as Question 5 in Needham) 21st Middlesex Representative Charles A. Murphy Question 4– Bedford, Burlington, precinct 3 of Wilmington. 6th Plymouth Representative Daniel K. Webster Question 4– Hanson, Pembroke, precincts 2,3,4,5 of Duxbury, precinct 2 of Halifax. In January 2008 the American College of Physicians released a landmark position paper endorsing full legal protection for medical marijuana patients. (report available at http://www.acponline.org/acp_news/medmarinews.htm) The ACP represents 124,000 member doctors and is the second largest physician group in the US. Since 2000 Massachusetts voters have passed 41 marijuana reform PPQs by a wide margin, 68% yes for medical marijuana and 62% for decriminalization. This year all Massachusetts voters will also vote on Question 2, a binding referendum that will make simple possession a civil offense with $100 fine. DPFMA has been working with the state legislature to pass H.2247, “An Act to Regulate the Medical Use of Marijuana by Patients Approved by Physicians and Certified by the Department of Public Health” sponsored by Rep. Frank Smizik. Currently twelve states including Vermont, Rhode Island, and Maine have passed similar legislation to protect medical marijuana patients from arrest and imprisonment. ###

Marijuana campaign turns ugly in Massachusetts

Dear friends:

Last week, I sent you MPP's new video about the lies being spread about marijuana by the Drug Free America Foundation (DFAF).

DFAF is now taking its lies into Massachusetts, where a measure to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana is on the ballot this Election Day. Its new radio ad — which you can listen to here — claims that the initiative will “put marijuana, a dangerous and addictive drug, into the hands of our children.”

If you want to fight back against the dishonorable attempts to keep Massachusetts voters from passing a far more sensible law, please give what you can to the campaign today. With just three weeks remaining until Election Day, every dollar you can give will help. 

Bizarrely, the ad criticizes the campaign for accepting “out-of-state” contributions — yet the opposition ad itself is sponsored by the Florida-based Save Our Society from Drugs (SOS). SOS is DFAF's lobbying arm.

Even more disgustingly, DFAF was previously known as Straight Inc., one of the most notorious drug war abominations: It ran a network of “treatment facilities” that were shut down amid lawsuits and investigations regarding horrifying physical and emotional abuse of the young people in its care.

That's the sort of shady opposition that the campaign is up against in Massachusetts. They're willing to say and do anything to keep the initiative from passing on November 4. Would you please consider donating $10 or more today so that the campaign has the resources to continue fighting back?

Sincerely,
Kampia signature (e-mail sized)

Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

Press Release: Reformers Call For New Policy to Protect Forests From Marijuana Farms

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
OCTOBER 14, 2008

Reformers Call For New Policy to Protect Forests From Marijuana Farms
New Approach Needed to Curb Environmental Damage, Advocates Say

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ............... 415-668-6403 or 202-215-4205

SAN FRANCISCO -- Recent alarming reports of environmental damage caused by illegal marijuana farms in national forests and wilderness areas in California and elsewhere show that an entirely new approach is needed in order to solve the problem, officials of the Marijuana Policy Project said today.

    "Year after year we hear from law enforcement and U.S. Forest Service officials about growing environmental damage caused by these criminal operations, even as law enforcement seizures of marijuana plants set new records every year," said Bruce Mirken, MPP's California-based director of communications. "What we've been doing is plainly not working and has actually caused the problem in the first place. It's time to get off the treadmill and try a new approach."

    An Oct. 13 Associated Press story quoted Forest Service agent Ron Pugh describing the problem as "a crisis at every level."

    "California is a world-leading producer of two popular psychoactive drugs -- marijuana and wine," Mirken said. "California's wine industry is a huge asset to our state's economy and reputation, generating tax revenue, tourism and prestige, with no meaningful environmental problems. There is no reason marijuana should be different. They're both agricultural products, and there is nothing inherently dangerous about marijuana cultivation. The difference is that wine is legally regulated, while we consign marijuana -- the state's leading cash crop, based on government figures -- to the criminal underground where it is completely unregulated and untaxed, while all the profits go to criminals. In the process, we've effectively invited the violence from the Mexican drug trade over our borders. The problem isn't marijuana, the problem is dumb policy."

    "Last year the number of Americans who have used marijuana reached an all-time record of over 100 million. It's time to stop imagining that we can make this industry go away and time to start bringing it under responsible regulation just like our wine industry."

    With more than 25,000 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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MPP: Watch these lies about marijuana!

Dear friend:

“Saying that marijuana is harmless is like saying that a dog is a cat.”

“Scientific research does not indicate marijuana is medicine.”

“All major national medical associations have rejected it.”

Sound wrong to you? It is. Blatantly so. But these lies, and others like them, are being spread by the Drug Free America Foundation, in a cynical campaign to undermine the enormous progress that marijuana policy reform has made. As we rack up more and more victories, our opposition gets more and more willing to lie outright.

Watch MPP's new video fact-checking these lies — and send it to your friends:

And as always, we need the help of people like you to continue fighting lies with the truth. If what you see in this video angers you, would you fight back against it, by making a donation of $10 or more to MPP's work today?

Sincerely,
Kampia signature (e-mail sized)
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.

MPP's Video Voter Guide

Dear friends:

I get a lot of questions about what the presidential candidates have said or done on marijuana policy.

There are a lot of rumors about what Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. John McCain, and the other candidates may or may not have said about marijuana — and MPP specializes in that.

In fact, during the presidential primary campaign, MPP helped persuade all of the Democratic candidates and three of the Republican candidates to pledge to end the arrest of patients in states with medical marijuana laws.

If you're interested in knowing what the candidates have said and done, please watch our new video:

voter guide video

MPP is the only organization that's systematically influencing the presidential candidates to take positive positions on medical marijuana — and punishing those who don't. Would you please consider making a donation to support our work today?

Sincerely,
Kampia signature (e-mail sized)

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.

Press Release: ONDCP Has Failed to Cut Marijuana Use, Misused Treatment Stats, New Report Shows

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
OCTOBER 8, 2008

ONDCP Has Failed to Cut Marijuana Use, Misused Treatment Stats, New Report Shows

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ............... 415-668-6403 or 202-215-4205
                   Jon Gettman, Ph.D. ..........................................................540-822-5739

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The major U.S. government study of drug use shows that the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy has badly failed to meet its own goals for reducing use of marijuana and other illegal drugs, according to a pair of new reports by George Mason University senior fellow Jon Gettman, Ph.D. In addition, ONDCP and its chief, "Drug Czar" John Walters, have misused treatment statistics to suggest that marijuana is dangerously addictive when the government's own data suggest that arrest-driven treatment admissions have wasted tax dollars by treating thousands who were not truly drug-dependent.

    Both reports and a summary of all the findings are available at http://www.drugscience.org/Archive/bcr5/bcr5_index.html.

    "The government's own statistics demolish the White House drug czar's claims of success in his obsessive war on marijuana," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C.  Kampia noted that during Walters' tenure, ONDCP has released at least 127 separate anti-marijuana TV, radio and print ads and 34 press releases focused mainly on marijuana, in addition to 50 reports from ONDCP and other federal agencies on marijuana or anti-marijuana campaigns. "The most intense war on marijuana since 'Reefer Madness,' including record numbers of arrests every year since 2003, has wasted billions of dollars and produced nothing except pain and ruined lives."

    Gettman, who made international headlines in December 2006 with an analysis showing that marijuana is the top cash crop in the United States, noted the following in his new report:

    **In 2007 there were 14.5 million current users of marijuana in the United States, compared with 14.6 million in 2002, while the number of Americans who have ever used marijuana actually increased.

    **ONDCP has not come close to meeting its goal of reducing illegal drug use by 25 percent by 2007.

    **There was a marked jump in the percentage of marijuana treatment admissions referred by the criminal justice system from 1992 to 2006, while just 45 percent of marijuana admissions met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria for marijuana dependence.

    With more than 25,000 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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Massachusetts DAs claim that tobacco is safer than marijuana

Dear friends:

Opponents of Massachusetts' marijuana decriminalization ballot initiative just can't stop lying.

Here are some the lies they're flooding the media with, in a cynical attempt to scare voters into defeating the measure on November 4:

  • Marijuana is more dangerous than alcohol or tobacco — because tobacco takes a long time to kill you and alcohol has health benefits. (Yes, you read that right.) That's according to Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter.

And here are four gems from the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association:

  • “By empowering drug dealers with decriminalization of marijuana, we would be empowering them to continue their violent ways: carrying and brandishing weapons; ripping off kids who get in over their heads; engaging in bloody turf wars; and indiscriminately assaulting or murdering when things don't go the way they want.”
  • “Marijuana arrests are strongly associated with violent crime — dangerous criminals who make the wrong choice time and time again.” (In reality, research shows unmistakably that marijuana — unlike alcohol — is almost never the cause of aggression or violence.)
  • “Very few arrests involving marijuana charges are for simple possession.” (In reality, according to FBI statistics, a full 89% of marijuana arrests are for simple possession.)
  • The initiative “will allow drug dealers to operate with impunity and make it easier for them to do business with your children.”

You and I know this is outrageous. Don't sit by and let law enforcement officials get away with this blatant lying and fear-mongering — help the campaign fund an aggressive response.

This is the first time in history that an initiative to decriminalize marijuana will be on any statewide ballot, and the campaign needs our help to fight back hard in the little time that remains. Will you please visit www.SensibleMarijuanaPolicy.org/donate to donate $10 or more today?

As always, thank you for your generous support of MPP and our allies.

Sincerely,
Kampia signature (e-mail sized)

Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

Press Release: Federal Court Throws Out Nevada Petition Rule as Unconstitutional

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
SEPTEMBER 29, 2008   

Federal Court Throws Out Nevada Petition Rule as Unconstitutional
Marijuana Policy Project, ACLU Had Challenged Rule That Gave Excess Clout to Smallest Counties

CONTACT: Neal Levine, MPP director of state campaigns, 612-424-7001

LAS VEGAS — U.S. District Judge Philip M. Pro today ruled in favor of the Marijuana Policy Project, its Nevada campaign committee and co-plaintiffs, invalidating a Nevada rule for petition signatures that gives voters in the state's smallest counties as much as 1,000 times the clout of voters in Clark or Washoe counties.

    The law, NRS 295.012, was passed by the Legislature after federal courts tossed out the old "13 counties rule" because it discriminated against residents of the more populous counties by giving extra weight to initiative petition signatures from smaller counties. MPP and its Nevada campaign committee, the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana, were joined by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada and four individual Clark County voters in seeking to overturn the new law, arguing that it actually magnified the disparities that had caused the 13 counties rule to be judged in violation of the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.

    MPP director of state campaigns Neal Levine urged the state not to appeal the judge's decision. "With Nevada's economy in such a dire situation, you would think the state would have better things to do than pass and defend unconstitutional laws and pay our lawyers fees," Levine said. "This is now the second time we've defeated the state on the exact same issue. How many more times do you think it's going to take before they stop passing unconstitutional initiative laws?"

    With more than 25,000 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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