Organizations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 25, 2010
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; [email protected]

Continued Criminalization of Marijuana Wastes Scarce Resources and Has Disproportionate Impact on Communities of Color

WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union and its three California affiliates today sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), arguing that there would be no legal basis for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to sue to overturn Proposition 19 should it be approved next month by California voters, and urging the Justice Department to not change its current law enforcement focus on major criminal activity in favor of new enforcement activities against California marijuana users.

The letter asks Holder and Kerlikowske to stop threatening costly litigation and the deployment of federal drug police to arrest individuals who might use marijuana if the state enacts the proposition, which would allow adults 21 and older to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana for their personal use and allow cities and counties to regulate and tax commercial sales. The letter calls such rhetoric "unnecessarily alarmist" and says it does little to foster a balanced discussion of a legitimate policy issue.

"Proposition 19 would remove state criminal penalties for certain adult marijuana use," says the ACLU's letter. "The new law would not require anyone to do anything in violation of federal law. There would be no positive conflict."

News reports have indicated that federal officials have not ruled out following a recommendation by nine former Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) chiefs to sue to overturn Proposition 19 under a wrongly-held belief that it would violate the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. In a letter to the nine former DEA chiefs made public earlier this month, Holder said he will "vigorously enforce" federal laws against marijuana in California, even if Proposition 19 is approved.

The ACLU's letter argues that states do not have to march in lockstep with the federal government's prohibition of marijuana possession and that California can decide for itself whether it wishes to remove state criminal law penalties for adult marijuana use. An explicit clause of the Controlled Substances Act, passed by Congress in 1970, holds that preemption of state drug laws is limited to a narrow set of circumstances where there is a "positive conflict" between state and federal law "so that the two cannot consistently stand together."

The ACLU's letter also highlights the fact that African Americans and Latinos are disproportionately arrested for low-level marijuana possession in California and across the nation even though their usage rates are the same as or lower than those of whites.
 
"The ACLU took heart from Director Kerlikowske's acknowledgement that the 'war on drugs' has failed," states the ACLU's letter. "But instead of scaling back the rhetoric associated with that ineffective and out-of-date campaign, it appears the administration would resist California's modest attempt to begin dismantling one of the defining injustices of our failed drug policies: that the war on drugs has become a war on minorities."

A new report released last week shows that from 2006 to 2008, police in 25 of California's major cities arrested blacks at four to 12 times the rate of whites.

"The historical and racially disparate enforcement of marijuana laws is a primary reason why [the ACLU of Northern California, the ACLU of Southern California and the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties] have endorsed Proposition 19," the ACLU's letter reads.

The ACLU's letter to Holder also questions why the federal government's response to the enactment of Proposition 19 should be any different than its approach to the existence in California and 13 other states of laws allowing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

"We commend DOJ's instruction last year to U.S. attorneys that prosecuting medical marijuana patients who comply with state laws should not be a federal law enforcement priority," the ACLU's letter reads. "The very same standards should apply if Proposition 19 is enacted. Regardless of the federal government's disagreement with California's choice to amend state criminal law, it makes no more sense for the federal government to waste scarce resources policing low-level, non-violent marijuana offenses after Proposition 19 passes, than before."

Californians have every right to enact Proposition 19, the ACLU's letter asserts, in an effort to curtail the wasting of criminal justice resources on the policing of low-level adult marijuana offenses and to help end the selective enforcement of drug laws.

"This is about priorities," the ACLU's letter reads. "Given the state of the economy, record unemployment and foreclosure rates, and thousands of troops deployed abroad, should voters enact Proposition 19, we hope the federal government will re-evaluate its priorities and use scarce federal enforcement resources wisely."

A copy of the ACLU's letter to Attorney General Holder is available online at: www.aclu.org/drug-law-reform/aclu-letter-holder-arguing-there-no-basis-challenging-californias-prop-19.The letter is signed by Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, Jennifer Bellamy, ACLU Criminal Justice Legislative Counsel, Jay Rorty, Director of the ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project and Allen Hopper, Police Practices Director for the ACLU of Northern California.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 6, 2010
[email protected]

Students Across California Mobilize to Control Marijuana Like Alcohol
Students to Rally with Yes We Cannabis Fire Truck to Sound Alarm For Prop 19

SAN DIEGO, CA –Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP),announced plans today to mobilize student voters in support of Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010.  SSDP, the nation’s largest student drug policy group with over 150 chapters nationwide, will rally an army of student canvassers at its regional conference to be held at San Francisco State University October 16-17. Many eventshave been scheduled between now and the election on campuses up and down the state.  With a massive fire truck touring California, the students will ‘Sound the Alarm to Vote Yes on Prop 19.’ (See schedule below.)  Members of the media are invited to tour with the Yes We Cannabis Fire Truck.

“Young voters are the primary victims of the drug war and logically the largest group of supporters of Prop 19,” says Aaron Houston, SSDP’s Executive Director. “We plan to register thousands of students in the next 10 days and help many first time voters develop plans for Election Day.  Meshing good old fashioned one-on-one on college campuses with mobile alert technology sums up our strategy to turnout young voters,” adds Houston.

SSDP already planned a massive canvass in Northern California months ago, but last week the group received a surprise $75,000 dollar donation from David Bronner, President of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps and another $25,000 from Capitol Hemp Clothing and Accessories. “We are ramping up our outreach to even more students thanks to the surprise support,” says Houston.

Dr. Bronner’s is providing the company’s promotional fire truck to ‘sound the alarm’ on college campuses across California before November’s election.  A California based company, Dr. Bronner’s buys 20 tons of hemp oil for their soaps from Canada each year.  For ten years the Bronner family has financially supported bringing back non-drug industrial hemp farming in the US as an environmentally sustainable crop that can be made into a wide variety of products including food, cosmetics, clothing, building materials and much more. Traditionally Dr. Bronner’s has publicly supported ‘hemp only’ advocates; however Mr. Bronner is now publicly calling for the end of cannabis prohibition entirely in light of the bloody conflict being fueled in neighboring Mexico and the enormous waste of California taxpayer and police resources in the current budget crisis.

Mr. Bronner stated:  “I’m calling up businesses like ours that I know are socially and environmentally conscious with a simple message, “Just Say Now, now is the time to step up support.”  Prop 19 will free up police for fighting real crimes and stop renegade cannabis cultivation by gangs that are destroying our national parks.  Cannabis prohibition, not the herb itself, has been ruining productive and upstanding citizens’ lives with courts and jails for decades.”

The Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, is a California ballot proposition which will be on the November 2, 2010 California statewide ballot. It legalizes various marijuana-related activities, allows local governments to regulate these activities, permits local governments to impose and collect marijuana-related fees and taxes, and authorizes various criminal and civil penalties. In March 2010 it qualified to be on the November statewide ballot. It requires a simple majority in order to pass. Yes on 19 is the official advocacy group for the initiative.SSDP is the lead student organization working with the Yes on 19 campaign.

The following is a tentative schedule for the Yes We Cannabis Fire Truck Tour and is subject to change.  To confirm exact times of events email Adam Eidinger at [email protected].

MEDIA ADVISORY 10/10/2010   12:00 NOON ET
PhillyNORML and NORML-NJ
Working to reform marijuana laws
www.phillynorml.org and  www.normlnj.org

CONTACT: Lawrence Frydman at [email protected] or Chris Goldstein at [email protected] or 505-577-5093 (mobile)

Philadelphia: Hundreds plan pro-marijuana presence for Obama visit today

A rally was organized by Philadelphia area college students to show President Obama that America is serious about legalizing cannabis.

The President and Vice President Joe Biden are making a campaign stop in the Germantown section of Philadelphia.

The Facebook group shows over 600 people plan on attending today to hold signs or wear buttons and stickers. The theme is ‘Tax and Regulate’ using the marijuana leaf.

“We want President Obama to start working on legalizing marijuana nationally,” said Lawrence Frydman, one of the key organizers.

“This is also a way for people on the East Coast to support Prop. 19 in California.”

The upcoming CA ballot initiative would legalize and tax recreational marijuana. California voters get the measure on November 2 and current polls favor it passing by a slim margin.

PhillyNORML and NORML-NJ are the local chapters of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Volunteers and advocates from both groups are attending today to participate and support the student effort.

Local medical marijuana patients are attending to bring attention to the struggle they face for safe cannabis access.

Organizers are planning a 2:30 start time for participants.

For more information: www.phillynorml.org

CONTACT: Lawrence Frydman at [email protected] or Chris Goldstein at [email protected] or 505-577-5093 (mobile)