Hi friends,
We're really on a roll! Today is the last day to give before our fundraising deadline of June 30th,
and we're almost there â just $1,500 away from our goal of $10,000.  If you and 59 other people contribute
$25 by tomorrow, we'll meet our challenge. Will you donate now and help put us over the top?
â Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director, Drug Policy Alliance
|
|
 | |
| Â | |
| Dear friends: Can you help a "fellow" Arizonan out? Since 1996, 14 states and the District of Columbia have passed effective medical marijuana laws. Whether you live in one of these states or not, you can certainly appreciate the benefits enjoyed by patients who do. And we hope this appreciation makes you care as much as we do about adding another state to that list. As it turns out, a golden opportunity to add another state is before us. Yesterday, the Arizona Secretary of State informed the MPP-backed Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project that its medical marijuana initiative has qualified for the November ballot! This initiative would establish a system of 120 dispensaries throughout the state, ensuring that patients have safe and reliable access to the medicine they need. Each time another state makes medical marijuana legal, we get closer to a day when it becomes generally accepted and legal across the country. So if Arizona wins, we all win. With that thought in mind, through November of this year, we are all Arizonans in spirit. As an honorary Arizonan, your help is needed. Specifically, the campaign needs to raise funds for a basic expense: yard signs. Each sign costs approximately $2.50, so a contribution of $10 will put 4 signs on the ground and a contribution of $25 will cover 10. Even $5 will pay for a couple of signs that hundreds of voters will see! Please visit the AMMPP campaign site and make a contribution to our yard sign fund to help us reach our $5,000 goal. Thanks,Steve Fox  Director of State CampaignsMarijuana Policy Project Washington, D.C. |   |
| |
 | |
Dear friends: Â Today, in a historic win, the D.C. Council has approved medical marijuana in the District!
Executive Director |
|
|
|
|
| ||||||
Marijuana Policy Project Alert | April 7, 2010 | |||||
| ||||||
MPP e-cards are here â send one today!
Send a card ... give the gift of marijuana policy reform! |
| |||||
We are required by federal law to tell you that any donations you make to MPP may be used for political purposes, such as supporting or opposing candidates for federal office. |
| |||||
| ||||||
|
|
|
You Can Make a Difference |
Dear friends, Whether it's music, activism or daily life, the one ideal to which I have always aspired is constant challenge -- taking risks, stepping out of my comfort zone, exploring new ideas. I am writing because I believe the United States -- and all of us -- must do precisely that in the case of what has been the most unsuccessful, unjust yet untouchable issue in politics: the war on drugs. The war on drugs has failed -- but it's worse than that. It is actively harming our society. That is why ending the drug war is a matter of social justice. And it's why I hope you'll donate to the Drug Policy Alliance today. Violent crime is thriving in the shadows to which the drug trade has been consigned. People who genuinely need help can't get it. Neither can people who need medical marijuana to treat terrible diseases. We are spending billions, filling up our prisons with non-violent offenders and sacrificing our liberties. For too long, the war on drugs has been a sacrosanct undertaking that was virtually immune from criticism in the public realm. Politicians dared not disagree for fear of being stigmatized as "soft on crime." Any activist who spoke up was dismissed as a fringe element. But recently, I discovered just how much that's changing -- and that's how I came to speak out on behalf of the Drug Policy Alliance. Join me in supporting them with a donation today. I learned of DPA while reading what once might have been the unlikeliest of places for a thoughtful discussion, the Wall Street Journal. It featured an op-ed that dared to say in print -- in a thoughtful, meticulous argument -- what everyone who has seriously looked at the issue has known for years: the war on drugs is an absolute failure whose cost to society is increasingly unbearable and absolutely unjustifiable. Their work spoke directly to my heart as an activist for social justice -- because ending the war on drugs is about exactly that. To me, it all adds up to a clear message of exactly the sort I've always tried to heed in my life: It's time to step out of our comfort zone and try something new. That's where DPA comes in. Their focus is on reducing the harm drugs cause rather than obsessively and pointlessly attempting to ban them. I hope you'll assist their work by donating today. I'm partnering with DPA because they champion treatment, advocate effective curricula for educating young people about drugs -- and from local courtrooms to the Supreme Court, they are utterly relentless defenders of the liberties that have been sacrificed to the drug war. Now, political conditions in Washington seem finally to be aligning in favor of profound change in drug policy. But success is far from guaranteed. We must all work to ensure this issue becomes a priority and is acted upon in a meaningful and sensible way. That's why I hope you'll join me in becoming a member of the Drug Policy Alliance today. We are building a movement that will put the team at DPA in a position to take maximum advantage of the political changes in Washington while continuing to fight for sanity in drug policy across the nation. Everyone knows the war on drugs has failed. It's time to step out of our comfort zones, acknowledge the truth -- and challenge our leaders ... and ourselves ... to change. Sincerely,
|
Call Congress Today! |
Dear Friends,
Over the past year you all have scored some huge national victories. Not least among them helping to convince our long-time opponent Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) to scale back the HEA Aid Elimination Penalty that he created over a decade ago. Â
As you probably already know, in September 2009, The House of Representatives passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), which included language that would repeal the Aid Elimination Penalty for students convicted of drug possession offenses. Â
Since we know that many distribution cases are pleaded down to simple possession, this change will reinstate financial aid to a large number of students who would otherwise be affected by Souder's amendment. Â Â
Last week Congress was poised to include the entirety of the SAFRA legislation into the health care reconciliation bill, including our provision. But I have some unfortunate news. According to the rules of the now famous reconciliation process, amendments that directly change policy, as ours does, are subject to votes that require a 60 percent majority. So, in the eleventh hour, our amendment was taken out of the bill for procedural reasons. Â
The good news is that this turn of events does not represent a lack of political will on the part of our allies in Congress . With leading Democrats devoted to changing this horrible provision - and with your letters and phone calls - I still believe we will successfully amend the Aid Elimination Penalty by the end of 2010. We'll need to keep up the pressure, but I have every confidence that these recent events only delayed our inevitable victory.Â
Sincerely,Â
Matthew Palevsky
Acting Executive Director
Students for Sensible Drug PolicyÂ
P.S. Do you want SSDP to continue pressuring Congress to ensure financial aid for students? If so, help us by making a donation today so that we can hire a policy director to keep the pressure on our elected representatives in Washington.
Dear friends:
This is your last chance to vote for a new member of MPPâs board of directors. You can qualify yourself and vote here.Â
(We hold this election every three years, when an elected board memberâs term ends.)
Anyone who has donated to MPP or the MPP Medical Marijuana Political Action Committee in the last 365 days is eligible to vote. (Donations to MPP Foundation do not count for the purpose of determining eligibility for the MPP board vote.)Â Voting ends on Wednesday, March 31, 2010.
I invite you to participate in the governance of MPP by voting today. Together we will end marijuana prohibition.
Sincerely,
