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Changing Minds 2009
Changing Minds 2010
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Prison Art Gallery is exhibiting beautiful prison art this week in Baltimore and San Diego

[Courtesy of Prison Art Gallery] It seems that not a week goes by that the Prison Art Gallery (in Washington, DC) does not have a prison art show somewhere in America, and sometimes even oversees (more than 20 pieces from the Prison Art Gallery were recently displayed in the famous Bloomberg Space in London). But this week is special for us since we have TWO shows going on simultaneously, one in San Diego, California, hosted by the International Community Corrections Association (as part of its 15th Annual Conference) and the other in Baltimore, Maryland, at The Lutheran Center in the Inner Harbor area. For more information, or if your organization would like to host a prison art show at your headquarters or for your upcoming conference or special event, please call 202- 393-1511.

ASA’s Media Summary for the Week Ending 10/19/07

ASA IN THE NEWS: PBS Examines the California Quandary

The award-winning Public Broadcasting Service news program, the News Hour, did a segment looking at the policy contradictions around marijuana law enforcement in California. In addition to law enforcement officers, the program interviewed the acting Southern California Coordinator for Americans for Safe Access, Don Duncan, who highlighted the problems created for patients by the refusal of federal officials to work with California on protecting the health and safety of some of the state’s most seriously ill and injured citizens.

California Grapples with Polices on Marijuana
by Jeffrey Kaye, PBS NewsHour
Don Duncan, Americans for Safe Access: Right now, we have a situation in California and in Los Angeles where medical cannabis is legal. Collectives like this one are legal and tolerated. And yet, under federal law, all of that conduct is illegal. And it's very, very important that we harmonize the federal laws with the laws in the states that allow for medical marijuana so patients and providers and facilities like this can be safe.

VERMONT: Program a Success Despite Scare Tactics

As happened in California when the initiative came before voters, many in Vermont’s law enforcement community predicted disaster if medical marijuana were made legal. But in practice, the state has discovered that medical marijuana is in many respects no different from any number of other drugs available with a doctor’s prescription: diversion is not a substantial problem and police have little difficulty distinguishing between qualified patients and drug abusers.

Pot Fears Unfounded
by Brian Joyce, WCAX TV (Burlington, VT)
A little more than three years ago Vermont became the thirteenth state to enact a medical marijuana law despite strong opposition from law enforcement. The police predicted the law that permits physicians to prescribe pot as a pain-killer was just a pretext to legalize marijuana for everyone. Today a top cop acknowledged those predictions have been wrong.

CALIFORNIA: Implementation a Local Matter

The voters had their say on medical marijuana in 1996, telling officials to find ways to make it safely and legally accessible to everyone whose doctor recommends it. The legislature add its two cents in 2003, directing counties to help protect patients and caregivers from arrest by accepting minimum amounts they can grow and possess. Now it’s up to local communities to work out the land use rules for cultivation and distribution.

Council fine-tunes role of marijuana task force
by Cerena Johnson, Eureka Reporter
The Arcata City Council approved the creation of a working group Tuesday to identify guidelines for land-use regulations of marijuana grow houses and clinics.

Join MPP's online social networking revolution

[Courtesy of MPP]

One of the easiest — and most fun — ways you can promote marijuana policy reform is to get active in the world of online social networking.

Not only are the popular social networking sites a great way to show your support for MPP, but you can also subscribe to our blogs and receive daily notices to stay up-to-date on the latest happenings in the marijuana policy reform movement, as well as meet and mingle with other supporters.

You can get active with MPP on the following sites:

• Become a friend of MPP on MySpace

• Join the MPP Facebook cause

• Become a friend of MPP on Facebook

(In order to view our Facebook pages you’ll need to be a member, so if you don’t already have an account, just follow the “Sign Up” link on the main Facebook page.)

• Subscribe to MPP's YouTube channel

• Become a friend of MPP on Digg

And there are many other ways you can help to end marijuana prohibition.

1. Tell your friends to sign up for MPP's free e-mail alerts. Send them to www.mpp.org/subscribe today.

2. Send letters to your three members of Congress using MPP's free and easy automated system.

3. Volunteer to circulate sign-up sheets to subscribe others to MPP's free e-mail list. E-mail [email protected] to get started.

4. Host a screening of the award-winning medical marijuana documentary Waiting to Inhale in your community. Contact [email protected] for more information (and please be sure to specify what state you live in).

5. Download MPP's printer-friendly handouts and brochures and distribute our literature in your community.

6. If you have a Web site or blog, link to MPP's site by downloading our banner ads, and encourage your Web site's visitors to check out MPP’s work.

7. Use this link to shop at Amazon.com. A portion of the proceeds from your purchases will go to MPP.

8. Donate your car to MPP.

9. Search the internet with GoodSearch instead of Google: Each click generates money for MPP.

10. Encourage your friends to visit www.mpp.org/donate to become dues-paying members of MPP. MPP does not have an endowment or any revenue-generating investments, so we are 100% dependent upon the donations that people willingly give. This means that the extent of our campaigns is limited to the amount of money that 23,000 dues-paying members, a handful of major philanthropists, and new/future dues-paying members are willing to donate.

Together, one person at a time, our work is paying off. On behalf of all of us at MPP, thank you for standing with us in this fight.

Sincerely,

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

The Sentencing Project: Disenfranchisement News & Updates - 10/18/07

National: Resolution Supports Voting While on Community Supervision The American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) approved a resolution in support of restoring voting rights upon completion of sentence including no loss of voting rights while on community supervision. The resolution was passed by APPA's Board of Directors last month. "Voting is an integral part of community participation in democratic societies and is one of vital importance in building truly representative governments," the APPA stated in a release. "When large sectors of the population are prevented from voting, a democracy cannot function as it should." Wisconsin: Challenge Posed to Policymakers, Residents The Capital Times in Wisconsin published a letter to the editor in support of Assembly Bill 390, which would give individuals the right to vote upon completion of sentence. The author of the letter, Greg Shiver, wrote: "If the goal is to rehabilitate offenders and integrate them back in to the community, giving them the right to vote is essential. What better way to tell someone that they are part of the community? By giving felons the right to vote we are promoting public safety." Mr. Shiver continued that an estimated 62,342 Wisconsin citizens with felony convictions are banned from voting - 1.5 percent of the voting population. International: 'Unlike the U.S.,' Australia Would 'Never' Disenfranchise Because of Past Convictions The Honorable Justice Michael Kirby, a member of the Australian High Court whose vote was in the majority in striking down legislation stripping inmates of voting rights in the recent Roach v. Electoral Commissioner, gave the address during the conferral of degrees at Southern Cross University in New South Wales September 29. The theme of Justice Kirby's address dealt primarily with the August decision which overturned legislation stripping all inmates of voting rights. In his speech, Kirby stated: "Some, of course, will say that we should not worry about prisoners. Take away their civil rights. Throw away the key. We all know the usual suspects who are of this persuasion. However, it has not been the temperate tradition of Australia. Ours is a land made up, largely, of immigrants without sharp class distinctions. Many of our earliest settlers were convicts. They were people who served their time. Prisoners must be able to "live it down." And as for those serving shorter sentences, they remain entitled to choose their rulers. It remains an inclusive society. Unlike the United States, it would never tolerate excluding millions (or thousands) of citizens from the vote because of past convictions ... The Australian Constitution expressly provides that a person may be elected to serve in Parliament although sentenced to imprisonment for less than one year. If a member of Parliament, with those higher duties, could serve despite such a sentence, it would be paradoxical to exclude altogether prisoners with their much less onerous obligations of being voters." The 4-2 decision, however upheld a 2004 law denying the vote to inmates jailed for more than three years. As a result, only 8,000 of the country's 20,000 sentenced prisoners can vote in the federal election scheduled later this year. - - - - - - Help The Sentencing Project continue to bring you news and updates on disenfranchisement! Make a contribution today. Contact Information: email: [email protected], web: http://www.sentencingproject.org

Press Release: Symposium to Explore Solutions to Injection Drug Use in SF, Including Feasibility of Legal Safe-Injection Facility

For Immediate Release: October 17, 2007 Contact: Laura Thomas 415-846-4614 Public Heath Officials, Injection Drug Users and Advocates Join to Explore Solutions to Injection Drug Use in San Francisco October 18 Symposium Will Examine Needs, Feasibility, Support and Options for Legal Safe-Injection Facility 27 Cities in Eight Countries Have Adopted Safe Injecting Sites; Evidence Shows they Reduce HIV, Crime and Drug Use Public health officials, injection drug users, drug war reform adovocates and others will convene for a day-long symposium to examine the needs, feasibility, support, and various options for a legal Safe Injection Facility in San Francisco. The envisioned Safe Injection Facility would serve homeless and marginally housed injection drug users, and the communities most affected by them. The symposium, which is free of charge, will be held on October 18, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at the Women's Building auditorium, 3543 18th St. & Valencia in San Francisco. Speakers include public health officials, service providers, legal experts, injection drug users, community groups, leaders in the faith community and evaluators from InSite, a safe injection facility in Vancouver, Canada. San Francisco has several large concentrations of injection drug users (IDUs), and while prevalence of HIV/AIDS remains relatively low among IDUs, rates of hepatitis C have reached epidemic levels, and fatal opiate overdose remains one of the leading causes of death in San Francisco. Community concerns regarding public drug use and improperly discarded syringes have been raised repeatedly over the last few decades. Twenty-seven other cities in eight countries around the world facing similar issues have opened Safe Injection Facilities, and this symposium will open a broad discussion about this option. The symposium is sponsored by the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and the Alliance for Saving Lives (ASL), a community consortium working to promote community and individual health through legal safer substance use sites. ASL members include the Harm Reduction Coalition, Tenderloin Health, Mission Neighborhood Resource Center, Homeless Youth Alliance, Drug Policy Alliance, and individual researchers and service providers throughout San Francisco. Continuing Education Units are available for a small fee for RN's, Certified Addiction Treatment Specialists, LCSW's and MFT's. As seating is limited, please RSVP to [email protected] to reserve a space. ###

Fall 2007 NY Harm Reduction Trainings - SPACE AVAILABLE!

Dear Friends of the Harm Reduction Coalition, There is still space available in a number of our Fall 2007 NY Harm Reduction Coalition calendar trainings. You may visit our website for registration policies and information by going to www.harmreduction.org or cut and paste this link into your web browser to download our registration form: http://harm.live.radicaldesigns.org/downloads/NYC%20Fall%202007%20Registration%20Form.pdf Please contact us with questions at [email protected] or (212) 683-2334. Best, Stephen Crowe Assistant Training Coordinator

Sponsor a medical marijuana patient today

John Lehman has suffered from AIDS for the last 10 years. The pain medicine he takes kept him unfocused and mainly in bed, keeping him from his work as a writer. "It was frustrating, to say the least, when vague thoughts of stories danced in my head and there was nothing I could do to put them onto a page," he says.

Luckily, John lives in Montana, where voters passed MPP's medical marijuana ballot initiative in November 2004. Since then, patients like John have been permitted to use and grow their own marijuana legally for medical purposes. However, with no income, John couldn't afford the $50 fee to register with the state's medical marijuana program and obtain the ID card that would protect him from arrest.

Fortunately, MPP was able to help. Through our medical marijuana scholarship program, we paid John's registration fee so that, now, he doesn't need to fear being arrested by state and local police.

Here are John's own words:

Fewer pain pills to pop plus using medical marijuana to alleviate my discomfort equals the opportunity to write again. Medical marijuana also stimulates my appetite when keeping my weight is threatened. In turn, this enables me to go out into the community and give back.

If anyone can help continue the phenomenal work of the Marijuana Policy Project by a kind donation, please do. Other patients like me need your help.

Won't you please help other low-income patients get the protection they need by paying a full or partial registration fee?

A donation of $50 will keep one patient out of jail in Montana or Vermont; a donation of $75 will do the same in Rhode Island; and a donation of $110 or $200 will do the same in Colorado or Nevada, respectively. If you can't afford those amounts, please give what you can.

After MPP's recent lobbying campaigns in Vermont and Rhode Island and our ballot initiative campaign in Montana, these three states now allow patients to possess and grow their own marijuana. But many seriously ill patients have little or no income and are unable to afford fees for the required state medical marijuana ID cards. In response, MPP created a financial assistance program to help pay the registry fees for patients who cannot afford it — and has since paid the registration fees for 90 financially needy patients.

Would you please sponsor a low-income medical marijuana patient today? Your donation can prevent medical marijuana patients from being arrested and jailed simply because they cannot afford to pay the registration fee.

Whether it's $10 or $1,000, cancer, AIDS, and other seriously ill patients are hoping you will give the most generous gift you can to help them. Please give now, while it's fresh in your mind. Thanks so much ...

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 2007. This means that your donation today will be doubled.

ASA’s Medical Marijuana in the News: 10/12/07

ASA ACTION: Patients Ask California Governor for Protection

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has expressed his support for California's medical marijuana program, but activists want him to do what he can to stop federal interference. More than 300 patients and advocates attended ASA's rally at the governor's office in LA to help educate him on the importance of this issue. Letters of support came from Republican elected officials as well as Los Angeles City Council Member Dennis Zine and Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby. Local media, which reaches more than 10 million people, covered the protest extensively.

Marijuana activists rally in downtown LA, want end to raids
Associated Press
About 200 people on Thursday protested federal raids on cannabis clinics and urged Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to compel the Bush administration to back off. Steph Sherer, executive director of Americans for Safe Access, a pro-medical marijuana group, said Schwarzenegger should coordinate with the 12 other governors whose states have legalized medical marijuana to send a message to Washington.

Marijuana activists assemble downtown
Daily Breeze (CA)
About 200 demonstrated outside of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office in Los Angeles, demanding he do more to end federal raids on cannabis clinics.

CA Marijuana Protest
KSBY - NBC TV 6 (San Luis Obispo)
Marijuana activists rallied today in downtown Los Angeles, calling for an end to federal raids on cannabis clinics and urging Governor Schwarzenegger to compel the Bush administration to back off.

ASA ACTION: Protests of DEA Raids Drawing Attention

Last week’s protest in support of a maker of edible cannabis products for patients got more attention this week. ASA and other advocates are denouncing the rash of recent raids on medical marijuana patients and dispensaries in California.

Advocates decry medical marijuana raids
by Michael Manekin, Contra Costa Times (CA)
The raid of a large Oakland-based manufacturer of cannabis-laced candy last month was deemed by the federal government as a timely victory in the war on drugs. But medical marijuana advocates pointed to the raid as further evidence that the DEA has escalated its attack on California's marijuana laws by targeting the most vulnerable medical cannabis patients.

FEDERAL: Another Dispensary Raided in LA

DEA agents staged another paramilitary-style raid on a California medical marijuana dispensary, seizing records, cash and marijuana, but making no arrests. Alerted to the raid by a network of emails and text messages, more than 75 ASA activists, patients and other advocates protested in front of the dispensary while it happened.

DEA Agents Raid L.A. Medical Marijuana Clinic
KABC TV Los Angeles
A loud protest broke out Thursday night when agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration raided a medical marijuana clinic in downtown Los Angeles.

The Sentencing Project: Disenfranchisement News & Updates - 10/11/07

National: Social Justice Groups, Latino Congress Hope to Affect Disenfranchisement In the Summer 2007 issue of the New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement, Avi Brisman argues that environmental organizations "should consider criminal disenfranchisement to be an 'environmental' issue" and that activists "should work with grassroots social justice groups to bring about changes in state criminal disenfranchisement laws and policies." Brisman, an attorney and doctoral student in anthropology at Emory University, contends in "Toward a More Elaborate Typology of Environmental Values: Liberalizing Criminal Disenfranchisement Laws and Policies" that public participation plays an important role in shaping agendas and forming coalitions around environmental issues. The loss of the right to vote for more than five million Americans due to a felony conviction not only affects electoral outcomes, but has a profound impact on the direction of the environmental movement as the voices of potential supporters are lost. Brisman calls for environmental advocates to join together with those people working to reform felony disenfranchisement laws and recognize their common goal. A post-incarceration disenfranchisement resolution submitted by the New York University Law School's Brennan Center for Justice was unanimously passed by the National Latino Congreso during its annual convening in Los Angeles earlier this month. It endorsed the automatic restoration of voting rights to individuals with felony convictions upon their release from prison. The resolution also calls on legislators from the thirty-five states that continue to disenfranchise individuals post-incarceration to enact legislation that will automatically restore voting rights upon release from prison. The final decree of the resolution states, "the organizations represented by delegates of the 2007 National Latino Congreso pledge to support federal legislation that will automatically restore voting rights after release from prison on a national level." International: Still No Guaranteed Right to Vote - Using the Flawed U.S. as a Model While the Australian High Court struck down legislation passed last year stripping all inmates of voting rights, the Court upheld a 2004 law denying the vote to inmates who have been jailed for more than three years. The 4-2 decision restoring some inmates' right to vote in Roach v. Electoral Commissioner was made in August, but the ruling's impact became clear only after the court issued its reasons in late September. As a result, only 8,000 of the country's 20,000 sentenced prisoners can vote in the federal election scheduled later this year. "The judgments make clear there is no legal barrier to the disenfranchisement of significant sectors of the voting population, including 18-21 year- olds and anyone convicted of a crime deemed to be 'serious,'" the Westender reported. Solicitor- General David Bennett, representing the Howard government, suggested Australia could adopt many U.S. states' policy: permanently disenfranchising those imprisoned, even after their sentence had been served. - - - - - - Help The Sentencing Project continue to bring you news and updates on disenfranchisement! Make a contribution today. Contact Information: email: [email protected], web: http://www.sentencingproject.org

MPP's presidential work explodes in the news

The Marijuana Policy Project’s campaign to pressure the presidential candidates to take positive positions on medical marijuana just hit a new level.

Check out this CNN footage of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) avoiding Clayton Holton, a muscular dystrophy patient in New Hampshire who has used medical marijuana illegally.

And you can see a fuller video clip of the encounter here.

CNN ran its coverage of the encounter over and over again on Monday, in addition to putting it on the front of its Web site, which led to the video clip becoming one of the most watched news stories of the day on Digg.com.

This led to ABC News putting the video on its Web site, as well as a raft of critical blog coverage, including this from Andrew Sullivan and this on Boston Magazine's blog, which starts with this ...

Don’t you hate it when reality comes barging into your ideological Neverland and mucks everything up? That’s what happened to Mitt Romney last weekend. At a campaign stop in Dover, NH on Saturday, the Mittster found himself confronted by Clayton Holton, an 80-pound man stricken with muscular dystrophy who says he is “living proof medical marijuana works.” Romney wasn’t having any of it ...

Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana is MPP's nine-month campaign to pressure the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to take strong, public, positive positions on medical marijuana in advance of the New Hampshire primary — the first in the nation — expected to be no later than January 8, 2008.

Would you please consider funding our pressure tactics in New Hampshire?

And the fallout from our confrontation with U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) keeps getting worse for him. On September 30, he rudely dismissed Linda Macia, a New Hampshire resident with multiple sclerosis, by arguing that the government isn’t arresting “the dead” for medical marijuana.

We featured the video coverage of this encounter in an e-mail alert to you on October 4. But check out this column in Sunday's Chicago Tribune, which blasts McCain for his heartlessness.

We have awarded McCain, Romney, and four other Republican presidential candidates a grade of “F” for their inhumane stances on medical marijuana. On the other end of the spectrum, we’ve awarded two Republican candidates — Congressmen Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) — “A+” grades.

And, of course, our campaign has already succeeded in getting all eight Democratic presidential candidates to speak out in favor of ending the federal arrests of medical marijuana patients in the 12 states where medical marijuana is legal under state law.

Please visit www.GraniteStaters.com/candidates for our complete voting guide. You'll find statements from each of the candidates, as well as a grade for each.

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 in support of our work today?

Thank you,

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 2007. This means that your donation today will be doubled.

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