Skip to main content

Announcement

Win Cash for your Reform Organization!

Today the Drug Truth Network announces another contest! Win $100 for the first LTE using a quote from the DTN transcripts. Win $300 for the individual or organization with the most LTE's referencing DTN transcripts on December 31, 2008. We may have 1/20 the coverage of Hannity or Limbaugh but our listeners are mighty! Here's a great example from Wednesdays Cultural Baggage program, from Judge Pat Lykos who is running for district attorney of the gulag city of Harris County, (Houston, Tx): "We need to go after those banks and other institutions that are laundering the money. The politicians who may aid and abet this evil trade. I see these, I see the dispensing of drugs in our minority community as sabotage and bigotry and they've destroyed neighborhoods." Here's one from Dr. Donald Tashkin, the esteemed NIDA scientist from the Cultural Baggage show of April 9, 2008: " there definitely are a number of studies that suggest an antitumoral effect of THC." There are now many dozens of our shows with transcripts available at www.drugtruth.net. I urge you to use them in you LTE's, Op-Eds and other correspondence and BONUS, make money for yourself and your organization. DTN interviews judges, congressmen, politicians of all stripes, scientists, doctors, patients, prisoners and providers. Working together, we can bring this drug war to a screeching halt. To enter the contest, simply send an email with a link to the newspaper story with the DTN quote to [email protected] Good luck! Dean Becker Producer - Drug Truth Network Member - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition 713-849-6869 www.drugtruth.net www.leap.cc

Obama speaks out on medical marijuana

[Courtesy of Marijuana Policy Project] 

Dear friends:

On the verge of becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) has renewed his commitment to protecting medical marijuana patients from arrest and jail.

Here is a quote from Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt from an article in today's San Francisco Chronicle:

"Voters and legislators in the states — from California to Nevada to Maine — have decided to provide their residents suffering from chronic diseases and serious illnesses like AIDS and cancer with medical marijuana to relieve their pain and suffering. Obama supports the rights of states and local governments to make this choice — though he believes medical marijuana should be subject to (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) regulation like other drugs.”

With Sen. Obama now widely expected to win the Democratic nomination and in a year when Democrats are favored to win the White House, this means we might be only eight months away from having a White House that stands with us on medical marijuana access.

You can also watch a video of Sen. Obama talking about medical marijuana here.

In the months leading up to the New Hampshire Democratic primary election, MPP helped persuade all of the Democratic presidential candidates and three of the Republican candidates to pledge to end the arrest of patients in states with medical marijuana laws.

In response to questions from MPP on the campaign trail, Sen. Obama stated that arresting medical marijuana patients is not a good use of resources and promised to end the federal raids on state medical marijuana patients and their caregivers.

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) has also promised MPP that she would end the raids.

Unfortunately, the Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), earned a grade of “F” from MPP for his inhumane stance on medical marijuana. In response to repeated questions from MPP on the campaign trail, Sen. McCain incorrectly stated that a majority of medical experts oppose medical marijuana, and he also gave a patient who was politely questioning him a glimpse of McCain's famous temper.

Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex.), who also remains in the Republican race, has been an outspoken opponent of marijuana prohibition and has consistently voted in favor of legislation to end the DEA's raids on patients.

Please visit MPP's campaign site, www.GraniteStaters.com/candidates, for statements from each of the candidates.

MPP is the only drug policy reform 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.

Prison Art Gallery: New 22 Million Dollar Home for Our Prison Art

Yes, the rumors you have heard are true! Our beautiful prison art has a new 22 million dollar home. Announcing the opening of the National Museum of Crime and Punishment on May 23 featuring many of our most striking and gorgeous pieces. Long in the planning, and generous in the funding, a new museum opens in Washington, DC, on May 23, 2008. Located on 7th Street NW (a half block from the popular Verizon Center and one block form the famous International Spy Museum), the National Museum of Crime and Punishment is destined to become the "must" place to visit in the Nation's capital. We are proud that many of the most beautiful and unusual pieces of prison art from our Prison Art Gallery are featured at the museum. In addition, the museum's large and innovative gift shop carries many of our prison art prints. You'll want to be among the first to visit this extraordinary museum. With exhibits such as a recreation of Al Capone's plush jail cell and John Dillinger's actual getaway car, and with equipment that will allow you to get your own authentic mug shots and test your skills at outsmarting a lie detector test, your visit will be both interesting and educational. For more information, please visit CrimeMuseum.org.

New Report: ‘Drug War’ Unjust to African Americans

[Courtesy of The Sentencing Project] Friends: The Sentencing Project's new study, Disparity by Geography: The War on Drugs in America's Cities, is the first city-level analysis of drug arrests, examining data from 43 of the nation's largest cities between 1980-2003. The study found that since 1980, the rate of drug arrests in American cities for African Americans increased by 225%, compared to 70% among whites. Black arrest rates grew by more than 500% in 11 cities during this period and in nearly half of the cities, the odds of arrest for a drug offense among African Americans relative to whites more than doubled. Among The Sentencing Project report's key findings: - Six cities experienced more than a 500% rise in overall drug arrests between 1980 and 2003: Tucson (887%), Buffalo (809%), Kansas City (736%), Toledo (701%), Newark (663%), and Sacramento (597%). - Extreme city variations in drug arrests point to local enforcement decisions as prime contributor to racial disparity. - African American drug arrests increased 3.4 times the rate of whites despite similar rates of drug use. The report was released in conjunction with Human Rights Watch's Targeting Blacks: Drug Law Enforcement and Race in the United States, which documents that in 34 states the persistent racial disparities among drug offenders sent to prison. Both organizations urge public officials to restore fairness, racial justice and credibility to drug control efforts. They recommend public officials take a number of concrete steps, including: Eliminating mandatory minimum sentences and restoring judicial discretion to sentencing of drug offenders; Increasing public funding of substance abuse treatment and prevention outreach to make these readily available in communities of color in particular; Enhancing public health-based strategies to reduce harms associated with drug abuse and reallocating public resources accordingly. Both reports follow in the wake of the March 2008 recommendations of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The Committee urged that U.S. criminal justice policies and practices address the unwarranted racial disparities that have been documented at all levels of the system. -The Sentencing Project

Last chance to attend free seminar on May 17 to become a mentor to prison artists

[Courtesy of Prison Art Gallery] Free workshop by ex-prisoner artists and officials from Washington area jails and prisons on May 17 to train you to become a mentor to prison artists. Call 202-393-1511 to reserve your spot. Thanks to a grant we received from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, you can attend a free workshop to become a mentor to imprisoned artists. Work either as a volunteer or paid staff member in a jail or prison. Attend this free workshop on Saturday, May 17, 10 am to 4 pm. You'll learn what it takes to work in a jail or prison to foster artistic development among inmates. You'll receive this valuable training from experienced correctional officials (from both public and private jails) while also benefiting from the insights and knowledge of ex-prisoner artists who will also serve as workshop leaders. These knowledgeable people will share their experiences with you in a relaxed and fun setting at the Prison Art Gallery in downtown Washington, DC. Everything you need for a productive and nourishing day (including an authentic jail meal) will be provided free. This is a rare opportunity to make contacts and obtain valuable information. Plus, we have received word that the workshop will be covered by major media. You can be part of it all. Whether you're looking for a one afternoon per month volunteer opportunity or a full-time paid career position, you will find this workshop very worthwhile. Meet the people who make hiring decisions while finding out what it takes to be effective in the challenging setting of a jail or prison. Please call us at 202-393-1511 or email [email protected] for more information. We are also setting up a schedule of additional workshops to accommodate everyone who may be interested. Thank you.

House Judiciary Chair Questions DEA Tactics

[Courtesy of Americans for Safe Access]  
Dear ASA Supporter,

ASA’s ongoing campaign to hold the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) accountable for its continued efforts to undermine state medical marijuana laws is working. We are pleased to announce that US House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) has sent a letter to DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart challenging the DEA's actions.

ASA staff together with grassroots activists helped make it possible for Chairman Conyers to issue this letter. Please donate now to support our important work in Washington, D.C.!

As a follow-up to a public statement he made in December, Chairman Conyers’ letter questions DEA directly about its heightened raid activity across California and its intimidation of property owners owners with threats of prosecution and asset forfeiture because they rent to medical cannabis dispensaries. Chairman Conyers is the highest ranking elected official to question the DEA’s tactics since medical cannabis raids in California escalated dramatically in 2007. This letter is an important and necessary step towards Congressional hearings by the House Judiciary Committee, which oversees the actions of the DEA.

Over the past several months, ASA and advocates all over the country have lobbied Chairman Conyers to convene hearings. Dozens of legal, tax-paying dispensaries have been shut down or evicted by their landlords, and many more face the same fate if Congress does not intervene. ASA Director of Government Affairs Caren Woodson has been lobbying the offices of Chairman Conyers and Subcommittee Chairman Scott about this issue for months, and her persistence is paying off!

Caren’s work with the House Judiciary Committee was bolstered by a statewide effort to get California’s elected officials to call for an end to the harmful tactics of the DEA. ASA and its allies were successful in garnering strong letters of support from several elected officials, urging Chairman Conyers to hold hearings. Among those who spoke up were Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby, Los Angeles City Councilmember Dennis Zine, and the mayors of Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and West Hollywood.

I urge you to make a special commitment to support the kind of persistent, strategic, and effective organizing that ASA demonstrated in moving Chairman Conyers forward on this issue by making a monthly pledge of support or a one time contribution to ASA.

Please visit www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org/Donate and make a contribution today!


Steph Sherer
Executive Director
Americans for Safe Access

P.S. Please visit www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org/ConyersLetter to read the letter from Chairman Conyers.

Student Cannabis YouTube Presentation

Recently OCNORML was contacted  by  two  students, Lindsay and Erica, and asked to participate in their senior class project.  We are excited to share the YouTube presentation that resulted.  Please be sure to give positive YouTube feedback to the work of Lindsay and Erica, and forward this email widely.  They did an excellent  job. 

Lindsay may be emailed at  [email protected]

part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ashAPL94QQ

part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvR2Kr5ucjk

For still photos of Orange County Norml March and April rally events:

April 08 rally photos 1    April 08 rally photos 2   March 08 photos

Next Rally May 24th – Join us  - at the Pier in Huntington Beach 1-5pm.

Minnesota Medical Marijuana Bill Under Attack

[Courtesy of Marijuana Policy Project] 

Dear friends:

Some members of Minnesota's law enforcement community are lying in order to kill MPP’s medical marijuana bill in the state — in other words, in order to keep patients in pain. This small but vocal contingent is claiming that marijuana has no medical value, that “every prosecutor in every medical marijuana state” opposes its use, that you can “overdose” on marijuana, and more than a dozen other outrageous lies.

We’re fighting back. Yesterday, MPP held a news conference at the Minnesota statehouse to refute the outright false testimony that law enforcement officials have been providing the legislature and the news media. And we distributed to reporters and legislators an 18-page booklet cataloguing the opposition’s litany of mistruths — along with facts and proof to the contrary — and we’re releasing to the public, legislators, and media one video clip each day showing law enforcement's lies about medical marijuana.

But we're relying on the generosity of supporters to ensure we have the resources to combat our opposition. Would you please give whatever you can today so we can fight back?

MPP's bill, which passed out of the Senate last year, is currently awaiting an historic vote on the House floor. The vote could happen any day now, so it is urgent that supporters like you donate what you can today.

Our campaign has generated an enormous amount of media coverage in Minnesota, which you can read here. And the two largest papers in the state — the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press — have editorialized in favor of the bill, which also has the support of the Minnesota Nurses Association, the Minnesota Public Health Association, the Minnesota AIDS Project, the Minnesota Senior Federation, and 2-to-1 support among Minnesota voters.

Also yesterday, MPP debuted the second in a series of hard-hitting TV ads featuring seriously ill Minnesotans who are pleading with Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) not to veto MPP’s medical marijuana bill. The new TV ad features Ely resident K.K. Forss, who suffers from excruciating, debilitating pain after a disc in his neck exploded, causing extensive nerve damage. "This doesn't have anything to do with culture wars," Forss says in the ad, noting that he is a registered Republican and a born-again Christian. "We have people suffering in horrible pain, and we talk politics — it doesn't have to be that way."

If you agree that K.K. and others like him shouldn't face the threat of arrest and jail for trying to alleviate their pain, would you please consider donating $10 or more today so that we can keep these ads on the air at this critical moment?

Thank you,

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.

Important news about the Rockefeller Drug Laws

[Courtesy of Drug Policy Alliance] Dear Friends: Back in February, I wrote you about our efforts to create a new paradigm in New York, an approach to drug policy that is centered in public health, not prison politics. Many of us have worked together in this effort. We agreed that getting rid of the failed Rockefeller Drug Laws is not enough—New York needs a coordinated drug policy guided by public health principles that will save taxpayer dollars while enhancing safety in our communities. I write you now to let you know about an important development in this effort: The New York State Assembly has taken the first step towards heeding our call. On Monday, the Assembly announced an unprecedented joint hearing on Rockefeller Drug Laws and the future of drug policy in New York. The joint hearing is being convened by six Assembly Committees: Codes, Corrections, Judiciary, Health, Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, and Social Services. We know of no other time that this has ever happened in New York, making this an unprecedented opportunity for us to advance our cause. The hearing announcement is enclosed. There are two hearings: the first on May 8th – the 35th anniversary of the Rockefeller Drug Laws – in New York City, and a second one on May 15th in Rochester. This is a remarkable opportunity to let the Assembly know that we want not only reform of the Rockefeller Drug Laws, but to shift the discussion of drug use and abuse from a criminal justice framework to one of public health. The Assembly hearing announcement states that “Drug addiction is a treatable disease, so among issues raised is whether a system that focuses on preventing and treating drug addiction rather than simply incarcerating individuals will result in a reduction in the use and sale of drugs – something mandatory imprisonment laws have failed to accomplish.” There are four things you can do now to get involved: 1. Sign up to testify at the hearings in New York City or Rochester. Can you testify at one of the hearings in New York or in Rochester? If you would like to testify at the hearing, please contact us and we will help you apply to testify and make your voice heard. Not everyone will be able to testify, which is why we are going to hold a rally outside the hearings on May 8 in NYC (see below). 2. If you are in NYC on May 8, join us at a rally for Public Health, not Prison Politics. Please join us and hundreds of other New Yorkers on May 8th for a rally outside 250 Broadway, the location of the hearing in New York City. We will call on the Assembly to go beyond Rockefeller and treat drug use and abuse in New York State as a public health issue. Details to follow next week. 3. Send this message to three other people. Let your friends, family, and co-workers know about the hearings. 4. Join our Legislator Education Teams: Drug Policy Alliance is spearheading a project to meet with every New York State Legislator from the New York City area. Want to talk with your elected representatives about the Rockefeller Drug Laws? Come join us on May 5, 2008, from 6 – 7:30 for the training to learn how to be part of the Education Teams. The training is free and there will be food. After the training, you can join one of our education teams in New York City. For more info, please email Jill Battagline at [email protected], or call 212-613-8053. That’s it. If you have any questions, please email me directly. Thanks for all you do. Onward, Gabriel ----------------------------------------------------------------- Gabriel Sayegh Director, State Organizing and Policy Project Drug Policy Alliance 70 West 36th Street, 16th Fl. New York, NY 10018 (212) 613-8048 ph. (212) 613-8021 fax www.drugpolicy.org

INPUD Congress: Program and Registration

[Courtesy of INPUD] Dear fellow activists, This is a call to register for all DU Activists who want to attend the 3rd INPUD Congress. The 3rd annual INPUD Congress takes place in Barcelona on Sunday May 11, 2008. You don't need to be registered for the IHRA Conference to be able to attend the INPUD Congress. Registration for the INPUD Congress is free of charge. The registration is needed to be able to estimate the needed translation equipment and to order some food and drinks. If you plan to attend the congress, please send an email to [email protected] Your name: Country: Are you registered for the IHRA conference? O Yes O No Are you presenting in one of the sessions during the IHRA conference? If yes, please provide the name and time/date of the session Session title: Time and date of the session: Please copy and paste the above and email to [email protected] Hope to see you all in Barcelona! Stijn Goossens Executive Director International Network Of People Who Use Drugs INPUD vzw GuldensporenStraat 88/2 2140 Borgerhout Belgium Phone: +32 3 297 8451 Mobile: +32 479 982 271 -- DrugUsersNeverQuit www.Inpud.org www.HarmReduction.be (DrugWarLog) www.HarmReduction.eu (ArtCoreFromTheHardCore) www.HaRdCOREhARMREdUCER.be
Subscribe to Announcement