Marijuana Policy

On November 4th Massachusetts voters will have the chance to pass a ballot initiative decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana -- removing the threat of jail time for possessing an ounce or less of marijuana for personal use. In response to the announcement that the initiative will be on the ballot a columnist for Boston's tabloid newspaper wrote the column below which was printed today. Letters to the editor of the Boston Herald need to be short and well written - under 200 words. The average printed letter is about 120 words in length. Please also support the initiative. For details visit http://sensiblemarijuanapolicy.org/ ********************************************************************** Contact: [email protected] Pubdate: Sun, 6 Jul 2008 Source: Boston Herald (MA) Copyright: 2008 The Boston Herald, Inc Author: Howie Carr SENSIBLE POT A HALF-BAKED POLICY, DUDE Marijuana makes you stupid. It's as simple as that. And now in Massachusetts, we are going to have a ballot question that asks the following: Do you really want to make it even easier than it already is to get stupid, and stay stupid? Yes, the Bong Brigade is on the march again. They want to put the high back into high school, the truckin' back in truck stops, the joint back in all those joint legislative committees. Stand by to see stoners at the Stone Zoo, potheads in Marblehead. The grass is always greener in Greenfield, dude. If you liked HempFest on the Boston Common every September, you're going to love legalized marijuana. This one's, like, totally for Jerry Garcia! This year, the front group is something called the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy, and it's pushing a Sensible State Marijuana Policy. Its flacks are available for media interviews to discuss their "sensible policy." Organizers include the usual "concerned citizens," with a few token "former law enforcement professionals" thrown in. Their goal is to use the initiative to abolish criminal penalties for less than an ounce of marijuana or, to use their preferred word, hemp, as in, "Dude, did you know, like, George Washington's army used hemp when it was fighting in, uh, like, was it the Civil War, man?" The sensible group's press release sounds like it was written after watching a "Dragnet 1967" marathon on TVLand. Harmless people, we are told, "are arrested, booked, entered into the Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) system, resulting in a possible sentence of up to six months in jail and a $500 fine." Key word: possible. Do you know how difficult it is to actually be thrown in jail around here? You can lie under oath and obstruct justice, and you don't have to do a day in the can - am I right Tom Finneran? Pot charges are usually meaningless add-ons, like piling a driving-to-endanger on top on an OUI, or like Neil Entwistle being charged with possession of an unregistered handgun. The potheads say 7,500 marijuana citations make it onto the CORI system every year. But how many of those Class B controlled-substance convictions are added to someone's CORI record along with more serious raps like, say, for possession of Class D controlled substances (cocaine) with intent to distribute? The ganja-guys then cite the alleged "collateral damage" of this CORI indignity: "inability to find employment, obtain housing and receive a college loan." Please. The reason stoners can't find employment is because they're too wasted. They forgot to turn on the alarm clock. They went out for a smoke break and never returned. They missed the bus, man. They can't "obtain housing" because they can't get it together to ever leave mom's rent-free basement. Unless you're in the cop's face when you light up - like they do at HempFest - you face almost zero chance of getting arrested. Decriminalizing pot doesn't seem like a big deal, I'll grant you. After the courts decreed Adam and Eve are going to be Adam and Steve, bringing Cheech & Chong along for the ride amounts to little more than a footnote. But the problem with this ballot question is, it will lead to more pot smoking, which this society needs like . . . like, fill in the blank, dude. How can the same health pests who loathe tobacco not care a whit about a different debilitating drug that you have to ingest into your lungs in the form of smoke? The fact is, once you make something legal, even if it's just de facto, it's easier to get. Pot does fry your brain. On my radio show, I can tell a stoner within 10 seconds. They . . . talk . . . slow. They mention "hemp." They talk about "thousands" of political prisoners locked up for pot. And since their vocabulary is so stunted, because their memories are shot, they keep repeating the same words over and over again. Sensible . . . sensible . . . sensible. ********************************************************************** Additional suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism Center: http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides Or contact MAP's Media Activism Facilitator for tips on how to write LTEs that are printed. [email protected] ********************************************************************** PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent letter list ([email protected]) if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to [email protected] if you are not subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list so others may learn from your efforts. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list ([email protected]) will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts.

Hello all, First, please save the dates of October 17-19, 2008 and make plans to join us for NORML's 37th annual national conference in Berkeley, California. This year's theme is "It's Not Your Parents' Prohibition!" Below is the basic information to make your discounted room reservation. Second, please forward any speaker or panel topic suggestions for this year's conference to '[email protected]'. The NORML conference planning committee is seeking activists' and stakeholders' input on potential speakers and topics to help round out the current schedule. This year's conference program is shaping up similar to last year's format in Los Angeles: Ten or so plenary sessions, two or three featured speakers, three breakout sessions and an entire day focusing on medical marijuana and ever-evolving medical marijuana industry (Sunday, October 19). Please make your room reservations and travel arrangements ASAP to assure that you're in attendance at America's most popular pro-cannabis reform conference. Conference registration information and a listing of social events will be posted shortly. Thanks for your attention, help and support, -Allen St. Pierre Executive Director NORML/NORML Foundation Member, Board of Directors NORML/NORML Foundation 1600 K St., NW Suite 501 Washington, D.C. 20006 ***** Who: National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) What: NORML's 37th National Conference Conference Theme: "It's Not Your Parents' Prohibition!" When: October 17-19, 2008 Where: Doubletree Berkeley Marina, Berkeley, CA Discounted room rates available ($159/night), call now as NORML's rooms always sell out! How: Reservation Line is 510-548-7920, use the code 'NOR' for the discount. Reserve online at: http://doubletree.hilton.com/en/dt/groups/personalized/JBKCADT-NOR-20081010/index.jhtml (use the code 'NOR' for the discount)

Dear David Guard:

Is there an event coming up in your community where you'd like to distribute literature about the need to reform our nation's disastrous marijuana laws?

MPP's "Marijuana Policy Monitor" makes for a great giveaway at conferences, concerts, festivals, and other events.

This four-page newspaper, printed on newsprint, contains a comprehensive overview of marijuana prohibition — and why it should be brought to an end. It includes information on the victims of the government's war on marijuana users, taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol, and safe access to medical marijuana for patients. You can find more information and view a copy here.

To place an order, contact MPP's Membership Department at [email protected] or (202) 462-5747, ext. 2015. Payment by credit card (American Express, Discover, MasterCard, or Visa) is preferred, but we can also accept checks or money orders through the mail. Copies are 3 cents each, and a minimum order of 1,000 copies (or $30) is required. The price includes shipping and handling.

Orders are shipped one a week from our fulfillment center in Maryland, so please allow time for delivery.

I hope you'll consider distributing MPP's newspaper at your next event and spread the word about the urgent need to reform our nation's marijuana laws.

Thank you, as always, for your support ...

Sincerely,

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.

Dear friends, Good news from Antwerp: Today, Thursday June 26th, 2008, the Belgian Cannabis Social Club Trekt Uw Plant and 5 of its members have been acquitted for the establishment of a cannabis plantation. On July 27th 2006 in the Botanic Gardens of Antwerp, with the permission of the local authorities and the police, we planted a cannabis seed that would become the first mother plant of our club. On December 12th 2006, again in the Botanic Gardens and again with the permission of the local authorities and the police, 6 members of Trekt Uw Plant each cut a clone of this motherplant. The 6 plants formed the first collective cannabis plantation of the association, on the basis of the principle 1 plant for each adult member. The aim of Trekt Uw Plant was to make concrete use of the possibility created by the Belgian legislation to grow cannabis for personal use. In January 2005 a ministerial guideline has been established according to which the possession of max. 3 grammes and 1 cannabisplant is no longer prosecuted. In the establishment of the plantation, Trekt Uw Plant has strictly implemented the rules of the ministerial guideline. In spite of that, the legal authorities decided to prosecute. In the end of October 2006, a member of Trekt Uw Plant was approached by a representative of the Antwerp District Attorney, who warned him for the fact that the planned activities of Trekt Uw Plant could lead to a prison term of max. 5 years. During the courtcase for the local court of Antwerp, on 27 March 2008, District Attorney Lins demanded max. 80 hours of community work for the members of Trekt Uw Plant, as well as the dissolution of the club, which he considered to be a criminal organisation. The Antwerp court finally judged that Trekt Uw Plant is not a criminal organisation, and condemned the members for nothing else than the possession of cannabis. On June 12th 2008, during the courtcase for the court of appeal, the District Attorney announced, in an unexpected move that surprised everyone who followed the case, that he would drop the charges against Trekt Uw Plant because the possession of cannabis is not a crime but an an offense, and too much time has passed since the offense was committed. This sentence has been provoked by the District Attorney himself, when during the first session of the court of appeal on January 24th 2008, when there was still time to condemn the offense, he asked for a delay of 5 months to deal with the case. It has been a trick of the District Attorney in order to cover up his defeat in this case. The charges have been dropped but a debate on the core question - can cultivating cannabis for personal use be prosecuted or not - has been avoided. This sentence implies an acquittance. The District Attorney stops the persecution it has started against us. This is a political message that the ministerial cannabis guideline of 2005, according to which the possession of max. 3 grammes and 1 cannabis plant for personal use is not persecuted, is still valed and can be applied. From this sentence, we conclude that the actions of Trekt Uw Plant fit completely within the ministerial guideline and these actions can be permitted in the future. We now consider the next steps that Trekt Uw Plant will take. New actions will follow in the autumn. Joep Oomen / Philippe De Craene TREKT UW PLANT (vzw ) Lange Lozanastraat 14 2018 Antwerpen Tel. +32 3 293 0886 GSM: +32 495-122644 / +32 494 - 807350 E-mail:[email protected] Website: www.trektuwplant.be

[Courtesy California NORML] June 20, 2008 In final election returns, Mendocino's anti-marijuana Measure B eked out a narrow 52-48% victory. The final margin was the same as the one announced after election day, before 11,000 absentee ballots were counted. California NORML, which supported the No on B campaign, regards the result as a moral victory, given that Measure B had been widely expected to win by a lopsided margin. Pre-election polls had suggested a victory margin of 60 - 65% , leading Measure B proponents to express disappointment at the narrowness of their win. The final margin was so close that opponents would have won in a general election, where turnout is larger, younger, and more liberally inclined. Marijuana proponents intend to return to the county with more workable proposals for legally regulating the county's marijuana industry. The No on B campaign succeeded in raising substantial doubts about Measure B, arguing that it in no way addressed the underlying problems of large-scale growers. http://nomeasureb.org. Measure B repeals Mendocino's Personal Use of Marijuana Initiative, Measure G, passed by an overwhelming 58% of the vote in 2000, but otherwise leaves the county's marijuana policy in doubt, since it seeks to establish the same state limits for marijuana growing that were recently declared unconstitutional in the California appeals court Kelly ruling. Measure B's validity will be subject to two immediate court challenges. The No on B campaign thanks supporters and volunteers for helping wage a strong mail, media, and get-out-the-vote campaign. "Everything was stacked against us from the beginning," said No on B campaign director Laura Hamburg. Measure B was placed on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors, with support from the city councils of Willits and Ukiah, the district attorney, the county's leading newspaper and major media, and local development interests upset by the difficulty of paying wages competitive with the marijuana industry. California NORML is proud to have played a leading role in supporting the No on B campaign, along with a devoted core of Mendocino activists, the Mendocino Marijuana Patients Union, and the Mendocino Green Party. Thanks too to the Drug Policy Alliance for their financial support.

Dear friends, Today, the case in appeal against the conviction of the Cannabis Social Club Trekt Uw Plant and 5 of its members because of possessing 1 cannabis plant per person has taken a strange direction today. The Prosecutors Office has requested the Court of Appeal to acquit us because of the fact that too much time has passed since the date of the facts (12 december 2006). According to the prosecutor we can only be accused of growing cannabis for personal use, which is not considered a crime but an offense, which can only be punished by so-called police convictions (fines or community work) and because this offense has been committed more than 1,5 years ago he requests to acquit us. This seems to be a childish trick in order not to have to deal with the principle matter: the Prosecutors Office itself had requested in January 2008 to postpone the case until June, possibly in order to be able to request acquittance and in this way dismiss the case. But in fact it means that the possession of 1 plant by adult citizens is tolerated also by the highest echelons of the legal system. On June 26th we will have the final sentence, but due to the fact that the court of appeal has not even heard our defense lawyer (who made his extensive preparation - referring to the legality principle included in the European Convention on Human Rights - for nothing) it is quite sure that we will be acquitted. The next step is to find out what this means concretely for our club. But today is a happy day :-) best wishes Joep / Philippe / Kris www.trektuwplant.be -- EUROPEAN COALITION FOR JUST AND EFFECTIVE DRUG POLICIES Lange Lozanastraat 14 - 2018 Antwerpen - Belgium Tel. + 32 (0)3 293 0886 - Mob. + 32 (0)495 122644 E-mail: [email protected]