Dear Friends:
Yesterday, MPP's campaign committee, the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project (AMMPP), launched a signature drive to place a medical marijuana initiative on the ballot in Arizona.
The initiative would allow seriously ill patients who find relief from marijuana to use it with their doctors' approval, much like the laws in the other 13 medical marijuana states do. What's unique about the Arizona law is that it would permit qualifying patients or their caregivers to legally purchase marijuana from licensed dispensaries â so they wouldn't need to obtain it from the criminal market.
The importance of this can't be overstated. Although medical marijuana collectives exist in other states, state laws permitting them are a hodgepodge, leaving them largely unregulated and subject to legal challenges. In Arizona, our initiative would provide clear guidelines for state-regulated dispensaries, thus ensuring safe access for patients â meaning that Arizona would have the best medical marijuana law in the country.
But to get the initiative on the ballot, our campaign committee must collect 153,365 valid signatures from Arizona voters, which means about 250,000 gross signatures. We know from our past successful signature drives, like in Michigan, that it costs about $2 to collect every signature (because of the costs of paying canvassers, checking validity, and so forth), which means it will take $500,000 to fund this stage of the campaign.
Can you help?
As you can see at the bottom of this message, a major philanthropist is willing to match your donation dollar-for-dollar, so AMMPP only needs you and other MPP members to donate a total of $250,000. Arizona patients and I are grateful for anything you can do to help.
The chances of this initiative winning are strong. According to a February 2009 poll, 65% of Arizona voters support removing criminal penalties for the medical use of marijuana. And we've contracted with the best political consultants in the Arizona, who are building coalitions with organizations in the state ⦠have hired an experienced campaign manager on the ground in Phoenix ⦠and have already garnered the support of state opinion leaders.
Will you be part of this exciting campaign and help protect another state's medical marijuana patients from arrest and jail? By donating to our campaign committee here, you can ensure the initiative wins.
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 $2.35 million that MPP can raise from the rest of the planet in 2009. This means that your donation today will be doubled.
