Press Release

MEDIA ADVISORY   
AUGUST 18, 2009

Doctors, Patients to Testify at Pharmacy Board Medical Marijuana Hearing Wednesday

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ............... 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205

DES MOINES, IOWA -- Medical experts from Iowa and around the country as well as patients and others will testify Wednesday at the first of a series of Iowa Board of Pharmacy hearings to examine the medical value of marijuana and whether marijuana's classification under state law should be changed.

    WHAT: Iowa Board of Pharmacy hearing on medical marijuana
   
    WHO: Witnesses expected to testify include:
        Dr. Joseph McSherry, neurologist at Fletcher Allen Hospital in Burlington, Vt., who has testified before Vermont's legislature and has extensive experience with Vermont's medical marijuana law. Scheduled to speak at 10:30 a.m.
        Dr. Ed Hertko, retired internal medicine specialist from West Des Moines and founder of Camp Hertko Hollow, a residential camp for youth with diabetes. Scheduled to speak at 11:10 a.m.
       Dr. Alan Koslow, vascular surgeon from West Des Moines and founding member of the Iowa Pain Institute, who served on the Governor's Task Force for Early Childhood Care and on the board of the American Diabetes Association. Scheduled to speak at 2:10 p.m.
      Jeff Elton of Des Moines, who suffers from gastric paresis, causing severe nausea and vomiting.

    WHEN: Wednesday, Aug. 19, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

    WHERE: Iowa State Historic Building (auditorium), 600 East Locust St., Des Moines.

    To arrange interviews with the above witnesses or with Marijuana Policy Project staffers who can place Wednesday's hearing in a national context, contact MPP director of communications Bruce Mirken at 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205.

     With more than 27,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
AUGUST 7, 2009

Obama in No Position to Dismiss Any Solution to Mexican Drug Trade Violence, Even 'Legalization'

On Eve of President's Trip to Mexico, Marijuana Policy Reformers, World Leaders Want All Options Open

CONTACT: Dan Bernath, MPP assistant director of communications, 202-462-5747 ext. *2030

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Obama will travel to Mexico this weekend to confer with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts on the violence associated with the illegal drug trade that has killed 4,000 this year alone. However, if recent statements made by him and his drug czar are true, he's unlikely to address the solution a growing chorus of U.S. and Latin America leaders are calling for: removing marijuana from the illegal market.

     Earlier this year, the former presidents of Brazil, Columbia and Mexico called on the United States to decriminalize marijuana, which comprises an estimated 60 percent of Mexican drug cartels' business, as a way to curb U.S. demand for illicit drugs. Then, in April, Terry Goddard, attorney general for Arizona, where at least 5 tons of marijuana have been seized since October, called for a reevaluation of the war on drugs with all possibilities – including ending marijuana prohibition – to be on the table.

     Nevertheless, when asked in an online forum in March about the possibility of removing marijuana from the underground market and regulating the drug like alcohol, Obama laughingly dismissed the suggestion. And just last month, his drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske told reporters in Fresno that "[marijuana] legalization is not in the president's vocabulary, and it's not in mine."

     "Considering the devastating explosion of violence related to the illicit drug trade and the scars our policy of marijuana prohibition has left on the Mexican people, it's silly for President Obama to refuse to discuss any viable option, let alone one supported by leaders on both sides of our border," said Aaron Houston, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project. "Just as we did when we ended alcohol Prohibition, we could cut these violent cartels out of the market for their most lucrative product by regulating marijuana's production and sale here in the U.S., thus removing the financial motive that fuels the violence in the first place. But instead, the president appears devoted to making things worse by throwing more money, guns and bodies at the problem, despite clear evidence of our current policy's futility."

     With more than 27,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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Oregon Hemp Farming Bill Becomes Law - New State Program for Hemp Farmers to be Established

Contact: Tom Murphy at 207-542-4998 or [email protected] or Adam Eidinger at  202-744-2671 or [email protected]

SALEM, OR – Vote Hemp, the leading grassroots advocacy organization working to give back farmers the right to grow industrial hemp (the oilseed and fiber varieties of Cannabis), enthusiastically supports the decision of Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski to sign SB 676 into law today.  The bill, which passed the House by a vote of 46 to 11 and the Senate by a vote of 27 to 2, permits the production, trade and possession of industrial hemp commodities and products.  With the Governor’s signature, it now makes a politically bold commitment to develop hemp in a state whose slogan is “Oregon – We Love Dreamers.”

“I am glad that Oregon has joined the other states that have agreed that American farmers should have the right to re-introduce industrial hemp as an agricultural crop,” says SB 676 sponsor, Sen. Floyd Prozanski.  “By signing SB 676 into law, which passed the Oregon Legislature with strong bi-partisan support, Governor Kulongoski has taken a proactive position allowing our farmers the right to grow industrial hemp, to provide American manufacturers with domestically-grown hemp, and to profit from that effort.”  The new law sets up a state-regulated program for farmers to grow industrial hemp which is used in a wide variety of products, including nutritious foods, cosmetics, body care, clothing, tree-free paper, auto parts, building materials, fuels and much more.  Learn more about hemp at www.VoteHemp.com.

“Oregon’s federal delegation can now take this law to the U.S. Congress and call for a fix to this problem, so American companies will no longer need to import hemp and American farmers will no longer be denied a profitable new crop,” comments Vote Hemp Director, Patrick Goggin.  “Under current federal policy, industrial hemp can be imported, but it cannot be grown by American farmers.  Hemp is an environmentally-friendly crop that has not been grown commercially in the U.S. for over fifty years because of a politicized and misguided interpretation of the nation’s drug laws by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).  While a new federal bill in Congress, HR 1866, is a welcome step, the hemp industry is hopeful that the Obama administration will recognize hemp’s myriad benefits to farmers, businesses and the environment,” adds Goggin.

Many businesses in Oregon manufacture, market and sell hemp products, including Living Harvest, The Merry Hempsters, Wilderness Poets, Earthbound Creations, Sweetgrass Natural Fibers, Sympatico Clothing, Mama’s Herbal Soaps and Hempire.  Living Harvest of Portland was recently ranked the third-fastest-growing company in Oregon, as awarded by The Portland Business Journal’s “Fastest-Growing Private 100 Companies” annual award.  “We are looking forward to the opportunity to invest in hemp processing and production locally,” says Hans Fastre, CEO of Living Harvest.  “This new law represents another step towards heightening the hemp industry’s profile within mainstream America and making hemp products more accessible to businesses and consumers.”

These Oregon-based companies have been on the leading edge of the growing hemp food and body care markets, which are currently estimated by the Hemp Industries Association (HIA) to be $113 million in North American annual retail sales.  The HIA estimates the 2008 annual retail sales of all hemp products in North America to be about $360 million.  By allowing U.S. farmers to once again grow hemp, legislators can clear the way for a “New Billion-Dollar Crop.”

Hemp Farming Gains Support from More State Governments and Law Enforcement

According to the Illinois Valley News, Josephine County Sheriff Gil Gilbertson said that he supports the legalization of industrial hemp.  “I think it’s a good idea,” Gilbertson said in the article which appeared on July 29.  “I think it’s a viable crop, and the entire county could benefit from it.”

On June 9, with little fanfare, Maine Governor John Baldacci signed the Maine hemp farming bill, LD 1159, into law.  Maine’s House had previously passed the bill without objection, and the Senate later passed it by a strong vote of 25 to 10.  The bill establishes a licensing regime for farming industrial hemp, although the licensing is contingent upon action by the federal government.  Maine had previously passed a study bill that also defined industrial hemp.  Like North Dakota, the new law in Oregon does not require a federal permit to grow industrial hemp.

During the 2009 legislative session, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota and Vermont all passed pro-hemp laws, resolutions or memorials.  Sixteen states have passed pro-hemp legislation to date, and eight states (Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia) have removed barriers to its production or research.  Like North Dakota, where farmers are in a federal court battle over their rights to grow hemp under state law without fear of federal prosecution, the new law in Oregon does not require a federal DEA permit to grow hemp.

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Vote Hemp is a national, single-issue, non-profit organization dedicated to the acceptance of and a free market for low-THC industrial hemp and to changes in current law to allow U.S. farmers to once again grow this agricultural crop.  More information about hemp legislation and the crop's many uses may be found at www.VoteHemp.com or www.HempIndustries.org.  BETA SP or DVD Video News Releases featuring footage of hemp farming in other countries are available upon request from Adam Eidinger at 202-744-2671.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
JULY 28, 2009

Critics Call California Efforts to 'Eradicate' Marijuana Costly, Futile

Reformers Say Time to Tax, Regulate Marijuana Is Now

CONTACT: Aaron Smith, MPP California policy director ……………………………………… 707-575-9870
                    Dan Bernath, MPP assistant director of communications ……………… 202-462-5747 ext. *2030

SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Law enforcement efforts to "eradicate" outdoor marijuana growing operations currently underway in California fail to make any impact on the availability or price of marijuana in the state, officials at the Marijuana Policy Project charged today.

     The annual Campaign Against Marijuana Growing, or CAMP, has produced increasingly gaudy results in terms of numbers of plants destroyed by law enforcement each summer – for example, police recently reported that they had seized $1.26 billion worth of marijuana from illegal farms in Fresno County. But critics argue that the sheer volume of marijuana illegally grown, often in public parks, makes it impossible to identify and destroy enough marijuana to reduce the available supply or hinder drug cartels' profits in any way.

     "Law enforcement officers point to a 2,000 percent increase in plants seized in the past decade and hold that as a sign of success," said Aaron Smith, MPP's California policy director. "But these efforts have had no effect on the widespread prevalence of marijuana in our society. Just like the days of alcohol Prohibition, we have ceded control of a popular product to criminals – making them rich in the process."

     Although eradication programs rarely receive much public scrutiny, the Department of Justice acknowledged in its 2008 National Drug Threat Assessment that such operations do little more than drive growers to indoor sites, often in residential neighborhoods.

     "At a time when California is facing drastic budget cuts, it's beyond irresponsible to continue this costly and ineffective policy," Smith said. "The only way to get these illegal grows out of our parks and neighborhoods is by ending marijuana prohibition and regulating the drug's production. After all, you don't see wine producers sneaking into forests and setting up covert vineyards."

     With more than 27,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
JULY 16, 2009

U.S. Congress Ends Decade-Long Obstruction of D.C. Medical Marijuana Law

Medical Marijuana Law Passed in 1998 May Finally Be Implemented

CONTACT: Dan Bernath, MPP assistant director of communications, 202-462-5747 ext. 2030

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. House today passed legislation that removes a decade-old provision that has prevented Washington, D.C., from implementing the medical marijuana law passed by 69 percent of capital voters in 1998.

     Known as the Barr amendment, the provision has forbidden the city from extending legal protection to qualified medical marijuana patients and has been derided by advocates for years as an unconscionable intrusion by the federal government into the District's affairs.

     "Today represents a victory not just for medical marijuana patients, but for all city residents who have the right to determine their own policies in their own District without federal meddling," said Aaron Houston, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project. "D.C. residents overwhelmingly made the sensible, compassionate decision to pass a medical marijuana law, and now, 10 years later, suffering Washingtonians may finally be allowed to focus on treating their pain without fearing arrest."

     Although Congress had passed the Barr amendment every year until now, the provision came under greater scrutiny after the high-profile case of Jonathan Magbie, a D.C. quadriplegic man who died in prison in 2004 from lack of medical care after being convicted for using marijuana to treat his pain.

     "Had the District been able to implement its medical marijuana law when it passed in 1998, Mr. Magbie may well be alive today – and free to treat his pain as he and his doctor saw fit," Houston said. "Perhaps now nobody in the District will ever have to suffer as he and his family did simply for using the medicine that works best for them."

     With more than 27,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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