War_n_peace
02-15-2006, 11:49 AM
MPP attacked in Congress as drug war spending is reduced
Dear war_n_peace: ok guys i get these alot and it seems like things are getting better but id like your opinions thanks:) here y go check it
For years, Congressman Mark Souder (R-IN) has consistently criticized the Marijuana Policy Project and other drug policy reformers, but he stooped to a new low on February 8 by attacking MPP on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Why? Because I was invited to moderate a drug policy debate at the Conservative Political Action Conference that’s held annually in Washington, D.C. Click here to read Souder’s full statement, in which he called me a “convicted drug dealer.” (In point of fact, I served three months in jail for growing my own marijuana for personal, non-medical use when I was in college.)
Despite Souder’s hostility toward marijuana policy reformers, the current session of Congress has seen notable changes — many good, some bad — in the tools and rules the government has to fight its war on marijuana users. Would you please help us win this war by making your most generous financial contribution today?
The biggest and best news is that Congress recently cut $20 million from the White House drug czar's ad campaign. These ads have featured stoned teenagers driving over a little girl on a pink bicycle, one stoned teenager shooting another in his parents' den, another stoned teenager date-raping another, and a teenager who gets pregnant because she smoked marijuana. Another ad claimed that people who buy marijuana are funding terrorism. MPP has lobbied for years to eliminate all funding for these outrageous and deceptive ads — and we’re making progress.
And Congress also cut:
* more than $210 million from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program (which provides block grants to some of the local multi-jurisdictional task forces that target medical marijuana patients and caregivers); and
* $100 million from the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Program, which includes the Bush administration’s use of taxpayer money to bribe high schools to impose coercive drug-testing on high school students.
Will you please help MPP to continue chipping away at the drug warriors’ budget by making a financial contribution to our lobbying work today?
These cuts came during a session of Congress where the climate seemed to be shifting. For the first time in recent memory, Congress substantially improved a drug statute when it reformed a portion of the Higher Education Act that had made students ineligible for federal financial aid based on past drug convictions. (By removing the retroactivity of the law, Congress is applying the provision so that it will now only affect applicants for financial aid who are convicted of drug offenses while in school and receiving financial aid.) Students for Sensible Drug Policy, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, and other organizations lobbied for years to make this reform a reality.
We also scored a major success when the transportation infrastructure bill was enacted with a requirement that the federal government study the varying levels of impairment caused by the use of marijuana and other illicit drugs. This is a change from the zero-tolerance approach used by the drug warriors (where the presence of THC in the body is taken to be proof of impairment, even if the THC is from days or weeks earlier). MPP played a major role in drafting this language.
Of course, some bad news came out of Congress this session, too. The bill that funds the U.S. Justice Department gave $5 million to a marijuana eradication program and $1.7 billion to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Just a few days ago, White House Drug Czar John Walters unveiled the 2006 National Drug Control Strategy at a news conference in Denver, where voters in November passed an initiative that made adult possession and use of marijuana legal under city ordinance. As usual, the drug czar’s strategy proposes to waste approximately $20 billion on drug war spending in the next year.
MPP’s work is clearly paying off, and our influence in Congress is stronger than ever. Will you please help fund our full-time, successful lobbying on Capitol Hill?
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. Check out Scientific American’s latest Podcast, featuring a discussion of marijuana policy by MPP Director of Communications Bruce Mirken.
Click here to check out Scientific American’s latest Podcast, featuring a discussion of marijuana policy by MPP Director of Communications Bruce Mirken.
Help fund MPP's projects
MPP hopes that each of the 100,000 subscribers on our national e-mail list will make at least one financial donation to MPP's work in 2006. Please click here to donate now.
MPP will be able to tackle all of the projects in its 2006 strategic plan if you and other allies are generous enough to fund our work.
Want to work to reform drug policy?
Students for Sensible Drug Policy and DanceSafe are currently seeking a publications coordinator. Please click here for details.
Popular Links:
• MPP's home page
• Prohibition facts
• State-by-state medical marijuana laws
• MPP news releases
• 2006 strategic plan
• Download hand-outs
• About the Marijuana Policy Project
Dear war_n_peace: ok guys i get these alot and it seems like things are getting better but id like your opinions thanks:) here y go check it
For years, Congressman Mark Souder (R-IN) has consistently criticized the Marijuana Policy Project and other drug policy reformers, but he stooped to a new low on February 8 by attacking MPP on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Why? Because I was invited to moderate a drug policy debate at the Conservative Political Action Conference that’s held annually in Washington, D.C. Click here to read Souder’s full statement, in which he called me a “convicted drug dealer.” (In point of fact, I served three months in jail for growing my own marijuana for personal, non-medical use when I was in college.)
Despite Souder’s hostility toward marijuana policy reformers, the current session of Congress has seen notable changes — many good, some bad — in the tools and rules the government has to fight its war on marijuana users. Would you please help us win this war by making your most generous financial contribution today?
The biggest and best news is that Congress recently cut $20 million from the White House drug czar's ad campaign. These ads have featured stoned teenagers driving over a little girl on a pink bicycle, one stoned teenager shooting another in his parents' den, another stoned teenager date-raping another, and a teenager who gets pregnant because she smoked marijuana. Another ad claimed that people who buy marijuana are funding terrorism. MPP has lobbied for years to eliminate all funding for these outrageous and deceptive ads — and we’re making progress.
And Congress also cut:
* more than $210 million from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program (which provides block grants to some of the local multi-jurisdictional task forces that target medical marijuana patients and caregivers); and
* $100 million from the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Program, which includes the Bush administration’s use of taxpayer money to bribe high schools to impose coercive drug-testing on high school students.
Will you please help MPP to continue chipping away at the drug warriors’ budget by making a financial contribution to our lobbying work today?
These cuts came during a session of Congress where the climate seemed to be shifting. For the first time in recent memory, Congress substantially improved a drug statute when it reformed a portion of the Higher Education Act that had made students ineligible for federal financial aid based on past drug convictions. (By removing the retroactivity of the law, Congress is applying the provision so that it will now only affect applicants for financial aid who are convicted of drug offenses while in school and receiving financial aid.) Students for Sensible Drug Policy, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, and other organizations lobbied for years to make this reform a reality.
We also scored a major success when the transportation infrastructure bill was enacted with a requirement that the federal government study the varying levels of impairment caused by the use of marijuana and other illicit drugs. This is a change from the zero-tolerance approach used by the drug warriors (where the presence of THC in the body is taken to be proof of impairment, even if the THC is from days or weeks earlier). MPP played a major role in drafting this language.
Of course, some bad news came out of Congress this session, too. The bill that funds the U.S. Justice Department gave $5 million to a marijuana eradication program and $1.7 billion to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Just a few days ago, White House Drug Czar John Walters unveiled the 2006 National Drug Control Strategy at a news conference in Denver, where voters in November passed an initiative that made adult possession and use of marijuana legal under city ordinance. As usual, the drug czar’s strategy proposes to waste approximately $20 billion on drug war spending in the next year.
MPP’s work is clearly paying off, and our influence in Congress is stronger than ever. Will you please help fund our full-time, successful lobbying on Capitol Hill?
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. Check out Scientific American’s latest Podcast, featuring a discussion of marijuana policy by MPP Director of Communications Bruce Mirken.
Click here to check out Scientific American’s latest Podcast, featuring a discussion of marijuana policy by MPP Director of Communications Bruce Mirken.
Help fund MPP's projects
MPP hopes that each of the 100,000 subscribers on our national e-mail list will make at least one financial donation to MPP's work in 2006. Please click here to donate now.
MPP will be able to tackle all of the projects in its 2006 strategic plan if you and other allies are generous enough to fund our work.
Want to work to reform drug policy?
Students for Sensible Drug Policy and DanceSafe are currently seeking a publications coordinator. Please click here for details.
Popular Links:
• MPP's home page
• Prohibition facts
• State-by-state medical marijuana laws
• MPP news releases
• 2006 strategic plan
• Download hand-outs
• About the Marijuana Policy Project