Organizations

[Courtesy of Prison Art Gallery] You are cordially invited to attend a free reception at the Prison Art Gallery, 1600 K St NW, Washington, DC (three blocks from the White House) on Sunday, March 30, 2pm, for a talk by Paul Wright, Editor of Prison Legal News, and Alex Friedmann, Associate Editor. Both are accomplished legal writers, researchers and justice advocates who are recognized experts in the fields of prisoner rights, sentencing reform, and related justice topics. There will be a question and answer period following their presentation. This is a rare opportunity to get your legal questions answered by knowledgeable professionals who closely follow the latest trends and court decisions...a must if you care about anyone in prison. Paul spent more than a decade in prison where he began publishing Prison Legal News. A monthly news journal, it is now the pre-eminent source of information about criminal justice and prison developments. It is circulated and used by men and women in virtually every jail and prison in America. Get the latest issue FREE at the reception. Paul will also be bringing and signing copies of his new book, Prison Profiteers, a critical look at over-incarceration in America and who profits from it. Don't miss this rare opportunity to gain important knowledge and understanding from two professionals in the know. Free refreshments will be served. Also at the reception, the Prison Art Gallery will unveil its new media blitz marketing campaign featuring DC Mayor Adrian Fenty. You'll be astounded at what the mayor (his childhood friend was in prison with our director) is willing to do (in addition to the grant money the city has provided us). For further information, please email [email protected] or call 202-393-1511.

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #362 - Monday, 24 March 2008 Earlier this month, the voters of Michigan succeeded in qualifying an initiative for the November election ballot. When passed by the voters on November 4th Michigan law will allow patients to use, possess, and grow their own marijuana for medical purposes with their doctors' approval. This will likely make Michigan the first medical marijuana state in the heartland, although there are bills pending in some other midwest states. Michigan is home to more than 10 million people. Of the states with current effective medical marijuana laws only California has a larger population. Three articles were written for the Sunday editions of the Kalamazoo Gazette this month, a newspaper in the heartland of Michigan. They illustrate the battle Michigan folks will have in the media in the months ahead. The author of the articles, Chris Killian, went to some length to find both pro and con arguments. Please read the articles at http://www.mapinc.org/author/Chris+Killian Note that for the two oldest articles Michigan letter writers have responded as shown at the 'Letters' link at the top of each MAP archived article. We are not suggesting that out of state letter writers respond to Michigan press articles about the initiative. This is a battle best fought by in state letter writers. Folks outside Michigan may find other ways to support the initiative by going to the initiative website at http://stoparrestingpatients.org/ But the three articles do illustrate the type of arguments made in the press both for and against medicinal marijuana initiatives, bills and laws in every state. As letter writers improve their arguments in letters sent to their state papers they advance the issue. ********************************************************************** Excerpts from 'Nuclear-Blast Survivor Heads Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access' published on March 9th: The atomic explosions off remote islands in the South Pacific seemed to turn night into day. They also turned Martin Chilcutt into a marijuana user. Chilcutt said the drug has helped him to ease the pain he says dates back to his exposure to radiation during a 1956 U.S. government project testing nuclear and thermonuclear weapons. A state ballot proposal could allow voters in November to decide whether Chilcutt's measures to self-medicate should be legal in Michigan. The 74-year-old former intelligence officer with the U.S. Naval Air Force has used other medications to help him with his physical and psychological problems, but marijuana helps "so much better," he said. [snip] Although there are different ways to use the drug, such as ingesting or inhaling it, there is no difference in the drug's effect based on consumption, according to the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care, which is spearheading the state marijuana initiative. "It just makes life so much easier," he said. "It allows you to be comfortable." Chilcutt, a retired psychotherapist, said he first learned of marijuana's medical benefits in the late 1970s while counseling Vietnam War veterans in California. They told him the drug could help allay his pain, he said. He said he takes eight other medications for ailments the marijuana doesn't help, including a thyroid condition. Advocates for the medical use of marijuana say it's also effective in easing symptoms from other serious illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. Critics cite a U.S. Food and Drug Administration report in 2006 that said "no sound scientific studies" support the medical use of the drug. If the marijuana-use proposal is approved by state voters, Michigan would become the 15th state -- and the first in the Midwest -- with a law that permits marijuana use for seriously ill people. Michigan law currently prohibits marijuana use for any reason. It's estimated between 40,000 and 50,000 people -- about one-half of 1 percent of Michigan residents -- would be eligible to use marijuana for medical purposes. In states where the law is now in place, it's estimated the same percentage of residents would qualify to use the drug, according to the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care. [snip]

[Courtesy of The Sentencing Project] Mississippi: Elections Chair Works for Restoration, but with Caveats Amongst a host of election legislation that could be filed, Republican Senate Elections Committee Chairman Terry Burton is working to ease the process of vote restoration after prison sentences are served. The legislation, however, stipulates that individuals' rights would not be restored until two years after having completed a sentence - if they keep a clean record. Currently, the Mississippi Constitution lists 10 felonies that constitute automatic disenfranchisement, which include murder, rape and embezzlement, the Commercial Dispatch reported. In 2004, Attorney General Jim Hood issued an opinion adding 11 more felony offenses to that list, including bad check writing, timber larceny and carjacking. Currently, individuals can only be re-enfranchised with the approval of the Legislature or governor. For more information, visit the Mississippi Legislature's Web site: billstatus.ls.state.ms.us. National: Legal Challenges and Overview An essay by law professor Frank Askin entitled "Felon Disenfranchisement (Or How William Rehnquist Earned his Stripes)" was published in volume 59 of the Rutgers Law Review. Making mention of the many court decisions, the root of disenfranchisement laws, and setbacks and challenges in achieving in reform in past and recent years, Askin writes: "The absence of any political consensus on the issue is in sharp contrast to the general consensus among professional criminologists and penologists that disenfranchisement serves no legitimate goals of punishment and is detrimental to the rehabilitative goals of parole and probation." National: Disenfranchisement on National Public Radio Marc Mauer, Executive Director of The Sentencing Project, was featured this month on a felon voting rights segment of National Public Radio's Weekend America. Mauer spoke on the various issues that have arisen across the country, including Rhode Island's 2006 disenfranchisement reform, recent challenges to Mississippi's voting rights policies, and the "passion" that formerly incarcerated citizens do, in fact, have for voting. "If we can get people engaged in the electoral process that's affirmation of that connection with the community," Mauer said. - - - - - - Help The Sentencing Project continue to bring you news and updates on disenfranchisement! Make a contribution today. Contact Information -- e-mail: [email protected], web: http://www.sentencingproject.org

2008 Global Conference on Methamphetamine: Science, Strategy, and Response Prague, September 15 - 16 Abstract Submission Guidelines Topics and areas to be discussed include: Pharmacology * Research * Trafficking * Treatment * Policy * Mental Health * Global Markets * HIV * Hepatitis * Community Education * Law Enforcement * Women * Trafficking * Production * Epidemiology* Demand Reduction * Harm Reduction * Public Health * MSM Sexual Risk * Youth * Environmental Issue * Commerce * Rapid Assessment * Replacement Therapy * Injection Drug Use * Asia * Prescribed Usage * Central Asia * Eastern Europe * Caribbean * Latin America * Oceania * North America * Western & Central Europe * Sub-Saharan Africa 1) Individual proposals for presentations are welcome. 2) Presentation formats may include: a) Individual papers b) Reports on research-in-progress c) Round-table discussions d) Topic-centred workshops e) Or a format more appropriate to your own work. - Please indicate your presentation format in your proposal. - Please make sure that your proposal identifies the language you wish to present in. 3) Please send a 250-word proposal - along with a short bio - to the email address below. - Your abstract should not contain more than 250 words. - No abstract will be accepted without a short bio. Please send your abstract to [email protected] Deadline for submissions is April 2, 2008. Speakers will be notified by April 30, 2008 Do you have a question or concern? Please email Luciano Colonna at [email protected] ~ 1st Global Conference on Methamphetamine ~ September 15 -16, 2008 - Prague, Czech Republic Please visit www.globalmethconference.com for information

Drug Truth Network has a potential fund-raiser to share with other reform organizations. "World War - Infinity Squared" Tee Shirts. We will be selling them online for $16. If your organization is able to sell a number of these shirts, we will make them available to you for $6 per shirt, (XXL +$1 and XXXL + $2), plus shipping costs. Here is a link to our preliminary website with the shirt design: http://www.cultural-baggage.com/drugtruth/teeshirt.htm These are top quality shirts, silkscreened in two colors. Support your organization and the Drug Truth Network! Dean Becker Producer - Drug Truth Network Member - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition 713-849-6869 www.drugtruth.net, www.leap.cc

[Courtesy of CA NORML] SACRAMENTO, March 18th: Medical marijuana advocates appealed to the state Board of Equalization to recognize their contribution to California's sales taxes revenues and stand up for their right to "taxation with representation." The Board heard testimony from ASA, CA NORML, and half a dozen dispensary owners concerned about harassment by DEA despite paying sales taxes to the BOE. Speaking for ASA, Rebecca Saltzman reminded the Board that California's dispensaries are generating some $100 million in sales tax revenues, but are nonetheless being threatened with raids, arrest and asset seizure by the DEA. She asked the Board to stand up for the dispensaries and urge the Governor to do likewise. Cal NORML coordinator Dale Gieringer testified that the total retail market for medical cannabis is around $870 million to $2 billion per year in California, enough to generate $70 to $160 million in sales taxes, according to a report by Oakland's Measure Z marijuana oversight committee: http://www.canorml.org/background/OakFinancialReportRelse.htm. He noted that DEA raids have robbed the state of millions in dollars of sales tax revenues, and that the DEA had even gone so far as to confiscate sales tax payment checks in the process of their transfer to the BOE. http://www.canorml.org/news/DEASeizesStateTax$$_relse.htm Lisa Sawoya, director of Hollywood Compassionate Care in LA, testified that she had begun paying sales taxes in 2006 and had voluntarily sent the board six months' back taxes, but was nonetheless subsequently raided and shut down by the DEA. Dona Frank of Organic Cannabis Foundation in Sonoma Co. testified that her group had paid $500K in sales taxes in 2007, and would continue to do so, but had nonetheless been forced to move on account of DEA landlord letters. She called on the board to "stand up" against the DEA's actions. Lisa Molyneux of Greenway Compassionate Relief in Santa Cruz said she was providing workers with employment, benefits and health insurance, in addition to paying taxes, but that DEA raids were putting these revenues at risks. Rebeccca De Keuster of Berkeley Patients' Group said that dispensaries were caught in a "Catch-22" situation. She testified that the DEA had seized $100K that BPG had saved up to pay taxes, and that their raids appeared to be timed to the last week of the month, just before bills are paid. Bill Pearce, director of the River City Patients' Dispensary in Sacramento, testified that he had paid $700K in sales taxes to the BOE plus $250K more to the IRS and Franchise Tax Board, before being shut down and having assets seized by the DEA. Tariq Alazraie, manager of Purple Heart Caregivers and the former Mason St dispensary in S.F., said the board had an obligation to stand up for dispensaries, given that it was recognizing them by accepting their tax payments. State BOE member Betty Yee urged her colleagues to heed advocates' testimony, saying she felt a "tremendous sense of responsibility on this issue," and it would "not be a pretty picture" if dispensaries were driven back underground. BOE member Bill Leonard, one of the Board's Republicans, said he was concerned about allegations that the board might have shared confidential information with federal investigators, noting that confidentiality laws strictly forbid any such cooperation except by subpoena. Medical cannabis activists left the hearings with the impression that the Board had given them serious attention, and hopeful that their objections to " taxation without representation" will be heard by other public officials, including the Governor. -- California NORML, 2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114 -(415) 563- 5858 - www.canorml.org

For Immediate Release: March 18th, 2008 Contact: Tony Newman (646) 335-5384 or Bill Piper (202) 669-6430 New Report Evaluates U.S. Methamphetamine Policies, Recommends Comprehensive and Integrated “Four Pillars” Response California, New Mexico and Utah Cited as States with Exemplary Methamphetamine Policies Federal Government Criticized for Short-Changing Treatment and Public Health At a tele-press conference today, the Drug Policy Alliance released a groundbreaking report that evaluates current state and federal methamphetamine policies and recommends major reforms. The report, entitled “A Four-Pillars Approach to Methamphetamine: Policies for Effective Drug Prevention, Treatment, Policing and Harm Reduction,” is the first report in the U.S. to lay out a “four pillars” approach to addressing methamphetamine abuse. In Geneva, Zurich, Frankfurt, Sydney and other major cities around the world, most notably Vancouver, the four pillars approach to substance abuse has resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of users consuming drugs on the street, a significant drop in overdose deaths, and a reduction in the infection rates for HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. “The U.S. government has taken a punitive, supply-side approach to methamphetamine for more than 40 years, and at every step of the way this approach has enriched organized crime, made street methamphetamine more potent, and worsened meth-related problems,“ said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance and author of the new report. “It’s time for a demand-side approach that prioritizes treatment, public health and family unity.” Other speakers included Reena Szczepanski, director of DPA New Mexico and a member of the Mid Region Council of Governments’ Methamphetamine Task Force; Lou Martinez, a former methamphetamine user and graduate of California’s successful treatment-instead-of-incarceration program, Proposition 36; and Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, statewide Prop. 36 coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance. The report makes numerous recommendations for improving U.S. prevention, treatment, policing and harm reduction efforts, including: - Eliminate barriers to successful meth treatment, such as the shortage of treatment programs for pregnant and parenting women; - Divert nonviolent methamphetamine offenders to treatment instead of jail; - Invest in research to develop the equivalent of methadone and buprenorphine for the treatment of methamphetamine abuse, and allow doctors to prescribe dextroamphetmaine, modafinil, Ritalin and other medications to treat stimulant addiction as part of counseling and drug treatment; - Eliminate failed, scare-based prevention programs like D.A.R.E. and the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, and increase funding for after-school programs instead; - Re-prioritize local and federal law enforcement agencies to focus on violent criminals instead of nonviolent drug offenders, and set clear statutory goals and reporting requirements for the disruption of major methamphetamine operations; and - Make sterile syringes widely available to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. While the report concludes that the federal government has failed to enact an effective methamphetamine strategy, it finds that several states are already leading the way, including California, New Mexico and Utah. California’s Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act (Proposition 36) has proven to be the nation’s most systematic public health response to methamphetamine to date. This landmark measure, approved by 61% of voters, diverts approximately 35,000 persons from jail to drug treatment every year—over half of whom identify methamphetamine as their primary illegal drug. No other statewide program in the nation has offered treatment to or graduated more methamphetamine users than Proposition 36. In the process, California taxpayers have saved more than $1.3 billion over the program’s first six years. New Mexico is the only state to have developed a statewide methamphetamine strategy that combines prevention, treatment, policing, and harm reduction. This strategy is becoming a model for bringing together key stakeholders, fostering interagency collaboration, and implementing a coordinated methamphetamine strategy. In addition, DPA New Mexico is working with state agencies and the private sector to implement a youth methamphetamine education program funded by federal grant money that will serve as an alternative to the failed scare tactics of D.A.R.E., the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, and the Montana Meth Project. Utah recently enacted an innovative program that provides substance abuse screening and assessment to anyone convicted of a felony offense (drug- and non-drug-related). The results of these screenings and assessments are provided to the court before sentencing, allowing judges to divert certain offenders to treatment instead of jail. This program, the Drug Offender Reform Act (DORA), is based on a pilot program that has diverted more than 200 offenders in Salt Lake County to treatment instead of jail, many of whom have methamphetamine-related problems. The Utah Methamphetamine Joint Task Force recently rejected calls to develop scare-based TV ads in favor of developing a more realistic and uplifting prevention campaign. “Our country cannot incarcerate its way out of the methamphetamine problem,” said Piper. “Punitive policies have been exhaustively tried and they have failed, not just with methamphetamine, but also with cocaine, heroin, marijuana and numerous other drugs including alcohol during Prohibition. The federal government should follow the lead of California, New Mexico and Utah and emphasize treatment over incarceration.”