The Washington Post article
included below is also available at
http://www.mpp.org/states/site/quicknews.cgi?key=1569
MPP's news release:
http://www.mpp.org/releases/nr091902.html
article in today's Washington Times:
http://www.mpp.org/states/site/quicknews.cgi?key=1570
======================================================================
Court Blocks D.C. Vote on Medical Use of Marijuana
Washington Post; September 20, 2002
by Arthur Santana, Washington Post Staff Writer
Efforts to legalize marijuana for medical purposes in the District
were blocked yesterday when a federal appeals court overturned,
without explanation, an earlier court ruling that had cleared the way
for the issue to be put before D.C. voters.
The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
reversed a ruling by the U.S. District Court, which in March declared
unconstitutional a congressional amendment that prevented the city
from spending money to put a medical marijuana initiative on the
ballot.
The three appellate justices said in their order that they made the
ruling yesterday because today is the city's deadline for printing
ballots for the November election. Appeals judges David S. Tatel,
Merrick B. Garland and Stephen F. Williams said their decision "will
be more fully explained in an opinion to be filed at a later date."
The decision ends a 14-month campaign by the District-based Marijuana
Policy Project to again put the marijuana initiative before voters. It
would protect from arrest people who, on the advice of their doctors,
use marijuana to alleviate nausea, stimulate appetite or ease pain.
Eight states have similar medical marijuana laws.
This is the second time that the measure has been blocked in the
District. In 1998, D.C. voters passed a similar initiative, 69 percent
to 31 percent. But a congressional rider to the D.C. appropriations
bill prevented the initiative from taking effect.
Rep. Robert L. Barr Jr. (R-Ga.), who sponsored the rider, said in a
statement yesterday that "despite a concerted public relations
campaign to distort the real dangers of drugs, such as marijuana, the
pro-drug lobby ran head-on today with the rule of law and a court,
which recognized the right and responsibility of Congress to protect
citizens from dangerous, mind-altering narcotics."
The case, Barr said, "was about whether federal taxpayer dollars
should be used to support the drug legalization effort in the nation's
capital, and the court's decision today was a clear and emphatic 'No.' "
The Marijuana Policy Project sponsors had hoped to get the measure on
the November ballot.
"It is too bad that a three-judge panel was able to thwart the will of
tens of thousands of D.C. voters," said Steve Fox, a spokesman for the
group. "It is sadder still that this ruling will cause the suffering
of seriously ill patients in the city to continue."
In July 2001, the group filed a request with the D.C. Board of
Elections and Ethics to circulate petitions for the initiative. The
board denied that request, citing the Barr amendment -- which
prevented the District from spending money to put the measure on the
ballot.
The group then filed suit against the federal and District
governments, calling the Barr amendment an abridgment of political
speech. On March 28, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled in
the group's favor.
Additional legal wranglings, which weren't settled until June, left
the group with only 25 days to gather the more than 17,000 signatures
necessary to place the initiative on the November ballot.
The group turned in more than 38,000 signatures, but the elections
board said the medical marijuana advocates had come up short of the
required signatures in one city ward. An extensive recount, however,
showed that the board had failed to count hundreds of valid
signatures.
But by then the U.S. Department of Justice had appealed the federal
court decision. An elections board spokesman, Bill O'Field, said this
week that board members were waiting for the appeals court ruling
before issuing its own decision on whether the initiative could be on
the ballot in November.
The court ruling "was very disappointing," Fox said. "But as Al
Gore
found out, sometimes you fight the good fight only to have your legs
cut out from under you by the court."
The initiative is not dead, Fox said. If the Barr amendment is
repealed by Congress, he said, the initiative could appear on the
ballot in the next citywide election.
Dear Friend: 9 20 2002
If you happened to listen to Art Bell's nationally syndicated radio
show last night, then you heard the Marijuana Policy Project's
campaign manager in Nevada discussing our ballot initiative for a full
hour -- and you heard Art Bell endorse the initiative. Things are
really picking up ...
Our TV ads have now been running for one week in 16 out of 17 Nevada
counties, and the voters are really starting to notice. The local NBC
affiliate in Las Vegas noticed, too, running both of our commercials
back-to-back during the station's evening news report on our ad
campaign ... which is the equivalent of $15,000 in free advertising!
As of yesterday, the subscribers on this e-mail list donated a total
of $117,801, and all of this was used to pay for the TV ads that we
are running from September 12 to 30. There is no money left over.
According to our records, you have not yet donated to this campaign.
Would you please visit http://www.NRLE.org to
view the two ads and
make a donation so that we can afford to continue our ad campaign from
October 1 through Election Day?
Every penny donated literally means that one Nevada resident will see
one of our ads one time. (We paid $112,000 to ensure that 830,000
voters in 16 counties see our ads an average of nine times each. This
equates to $0.01 per ad viewed.)
If you donate a minimum of $10, then you will be paying for 1,000
voter impressions. There are only 835,000 voters in the entire state,
so you can see how your donation can really make a difference.
If you donate $250 or more, your donation can be tax-deductible, and
we will send you a videotape of the campaign's two TV ads this month,
the new TV ads we will debut in October, and all of the TV news
coverage we have been compiling since this campaign was launched in
May. Most importantly, your $250 will be used to ensure that 25,000
voters see our ad once (or 2,500 voters see our ad 10 times each, and
so forth). Please see http://www.NRLE.org for
the special checkbox for
$250 tax-deductible donations.
There are only 47 days left until Election Day, and we do not
currently have the money that is needed to pay for TV ads during the
last five weeks of the campaign. If most of the subscribers on this
list donate $10 or more, our campaign will have all the money it needs
to blanket the airwaves from October 1 to November 5 with our second
wave of TV ads.
======================================================================
We took the calculated risk of releasing the first wave of ads as
early as September 12 in order to build momentum ... so that even if
our opponents start running their own ads at a later date, they will
not be able to overtake us because our message will already be firmly
planted in the minds of the voters. (The handful of sheriffs and
district attorneys who are speaking out against our initiative have
not even formed an opposition campaign committee, which means they
have yet to raise any money!)
Going up on TV was a gamble, however, because we do not currently have
the money that is necessary to run TV ads during the last five weeks
of the campaign.
The first wave of ads is describing WHAT the initiative would do in
good, solid, objective terms. The next wave of ads -- to be launched
in early October -- will be hard-hitting and persuasive, explaining
WHY Nevadans should vote for the initiative. Unfortunately, we do not
currently have the money to run this second wave of ads.
Would you please visit http://www.NRLE.org to
donate $10 or more
right away?
======================================================================
This initiative to end the arrest of all marijuana users -- which
Nevadans will vote on in only 47 days -- is by far the best
opportunity we have ever had to end marijuana prohibition anywhere
in the country.
Since this bold campaign was publicly announced:
* 2,919 subscribers on this e-mail list have donated a total of
$117,801, including one donation for $2,000 and 11 for $1,000
* 604 subscribers said they cannot afford to donate
rockhawk.com Has Donated to the
Cause.
* 337 people unsubscribed from this e-mail list
Unfortunately, 27,917 subscribers have not yet responded, and our
records show that you are in this group. Would you please go to
http://www.NRLE.org or the bottom of this
message to choose one of the
three options above for how you want to participate
(or not participate) in the Nevada campaign?
If you and most of the other subscribers on this list would each
donate $10 or more between now and Election Day, this will generate
all of the money we need to run TV ads in Nevada every day for the
remainder of the campaign ... which will catapult our initiative to an
historic victory on November 5.
Alternatively, we will not be able to win this election without the
money to run the ads.
Thank you for anything you can do to help.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. With only 47 days until November 5, we don't have much time to
raise the substantial sum of money that is needed to
run
hard-hitting TV ads at the end of the campaign. Please
visit
http://www.NRLE.org
right away to donate $10 or more. Thank you!
P.P.S. By donating $250 or more now, you will receive a videotape of
all of the campaign's hard-hitting TV ads
in October, as well
as all of the TV news coverage of the
Nevada campaign. Better
yet, we are making a special offer whereby
donations of $250
or more can be tax-deductible.
P.P.P.S. Our first-ever national conference will begin two days after
Election Day in Anaheim,
California. To join us for what
will hopefully be a victory
celebration, please register at
http://www.mpp.org/conference
.
P.P.P.P.S. To donate through the mail, please send your check to
MPP's Nevada
Campaign, P.O. Box 77492, Capitol Hill,
Washington, DC
20013.
======================================================================
To opt out of funding requests for the duration of the Nevada
initiative campaign, please see http://www.NRLE.org/opt_out
======================================================================
To completely unsubscribe from MPP's lists, see
http://www.mpp.org/cgi-bin/subscription.pl?u=exodice@hotmail.com
or simply reply to this e-mail with the word REMOVE in the subject
line. Thank you.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 17, 2002
Medical Marijuana Initiative Accepted for November
Election
Supporters Conclude 14-Month Struggle to Put Initiative 63 on Ballot
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The District of Columbia Board of Elections and
Ethics (BOEE) today notified proponents of Initiative 63, the medical
marijuana initiative, that the initiative would appear on the November
general election ballot. The written notice from BOEE wraps up an
arduous, 14-month battle that included several lawsuits and hundreds
of wrongfully invalidated signatures.
Initiative 63 would protect from arrest seriously ill people who
use marijuana under the advice of their physicians. In July 2001, the
Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), a D.C.-based non-profit advocacy
group, filed with the BOEE a request to circulate petitions for the
initiative. The BOEE denied that request in December 2001, because the
so-called "Barr Amendment," a rider to the D.C. Appropriations bill
named after its sponsor, U.S. Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA), prevented the city
from spending any money to process the initiative.
MPP then filed suit against the federal and District governments in
the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, on the grounds
that the Barr Amendment was an unconstitutional abridgment of
political speech. On March 28, 2002, federal judge Emmet G. Sullivan
ruled in favor of MPP.
In May, a group of local, former medical marijuana activists filed
a frivolous lawsuit to prevent MPP from gathering signatures in
support of the initiative. Though MPP won with a quick, decisive
ruling in D.C. Superior Court in June, the setback left MPP only
25 days to gather the over 17,000 signatures necessary to place the
initiative on the November ballot.
Despite having turned in more than 38,000 signatures -- more than
twice the required number -- the BOEE claimed that MPP came up short
in one of the city's wards. An extensive recount by MPP showed that
the BOEE had failed to count literally hundreds of valid signatures.
Today's ruling is the result of a Motion to Reconsider filed with the
BOEE on August 16, based on MPP's recount. It allows MPP to move
forward with posting campaign posters and educating voters.
"We faced incredible odds to put this initiative on the
November
ballot," said Robert Kampia, MPP's executive director. "Because a vast
majority of voters approved a similar initiative in 1998, we never
imagined that this campaign would turn into a journey reminiscent of
Homer's Odyssey. The real winners, though, are the seriously ill
people who will now have legal access to medical marijuana."
The Marijuana Policy Project works to minimize the harm associated
with marijuana -- both the consumption of marijuana and the laws that
are intended to prohibit such use. In association with Students for
Sensible Drug Policy, MPP will hold its first national conference --
featuring a special appearance by comedian Bill Maher -- on Nov. 8-10
in Anaheim, California. For more information, see http://www.mpp.org
.
####
Dear Friend:
With only 12 weeks to go, our Nevada ballot initiative campaign is in
a dead heat. And some police officers are possibly breaking the law
-- and certainly lying -- in their desperate scramble to try to
defeat us.
The Reno Gazette-Journal, the largest newspaper in Reno, has released
a statewide poll showing that 48% of the voters are planning to vote
for our initiative, 48% are opposed, and 4% are undecided. Our
campaign is closing the gap ...
A week prior, a statewide poll conducted by the Las Vegas
Review-Journal found 44% in favor, 46% opposed, and 10% undecided.
In a political campaign where both sides are running neck-and-neck,
the side with the most money wins.
According to our records, you are among the 28,662 subscribers on this
e-mail list who have donated to this campaign. Would you
please visit http://www.NRLE.org to donate $10
or more? Your donation
will be used to purchase hard-hitting TV ads at the close of the
campaign. And we are going to need it. Please read on ...
rockhawk.com has made its donations have you?
A few hostile police in Las Vegas may have broken the law in their
zeal to oppose us. A few days ago, they removed three ounces of
marijuana from an evidence locker and waved it around on national TV
in an attempt to show that three ounces is too much for personal use.
(Three ounces is the equivalent of five packs of cigarettes. It is
perfectly legal for an adult to own a carton of cigarettes or a wine
cellar, so owning five packs of marijuana cigarettes hardly qualifies
one as a "drug dealer.")
By doing this, the police may have broken the law, which states that
they can only possess drugs in the context of performing official
duties -- not to use them in a political campaign.
And they may have broken the law a second time by campaigning against
us while on the clock; taxpayer money cannot be used to pay their
salaries while they are campaigning against our initiative. Our
campaign is fed up with rogue cops who think they are above the law,
and we are publicly calling for their prosecution.
This morning on NPR, I debated one of those rogue cops, a narcotics
detective who outright lied as I backed him into a corner.
First, I argued that police resources could be better spent on violent
crimes rather than hunting down thousands of nonviolent marijuana
users across the state. He responded by saying that the police really
aren't spending that much time on marijuana.
Second, I argued that MPP's initiative will dry up the criminal market
by bringing marijuana in off the streets and regulating it. I went on
to say that the people who oppose our initiative must want marijuana
to be sold and purchased on the streets by criminals. MPP, on the
other hand, prefers an orderly, regulated system that will make it
easier for law enforcement to focus on the real crimes in our society.
He responded by saying that the initiative would not regulate
marijuana, but rather it would have the state government growing and
selling marijuana like a "drug dealer."
Incredulous, I responded by saying, "The whole reason you oppose this
initiative is because we are trying to change how marijuana is handled
in Nevada. Surely, if this initiative simply maintained the status quo
-- if it simply kept marijuana unregulated and in the criminal market
-- then you wouldn't even be opposing the initiative."
I went on to make my third point: "By bringing marijuana in off the
streets and regulating it, we will be taking marijuana out of the
hands of teenagers, who currently find marijuana easier to obtain
than beer."
The narc then flat-out lied: "Your initiative would make it legal to
distribute marijuana to minors."
"That's simply not true!" I interjected. "Our initiative
prohibits the
distribution of marijuana to minors, and it prohibits the use of
marijuana by minors."
He responded by saying, "No, your initiative prohibits selling
marijuana to minors, but you make it legal to give it away for *free*
to minors."
I corrected him by referring to the actual text of the initiative,
which prohibits "the distribution or sale of marijuana" to people
under the age of 21. If our opponents cannot do better than this, we
should all be encouraged!
Would you please donate $10 or more at http://www.NRLE.org
? "Nevadans
for Responsible Law Enforcement" is the name of our PAC in Nevada.
This initiative to end the arrest of all marijuana users -- which
Nevadans will vote on in only 84 days -- is by far the best
opportunity we have ever had to end marijuana prohibition anywhere in
the country.
(Please see http://www.NRLE.org for a
compendium of news articles and
the complete text of the initiative.)
Since this bold campaign was publicly announced four short weeks ago:
* 1,659 subscribers on this e-mail list have donated a total of
$75,767, including one donation for $5,000, one for $2,000,
and
three for $1,000
* 263 subscribers said they cannot afford to donate
* 117 people unsubscribed from this e-mail list
Unfortunately, 28,662 subscribers have not yet responded, and our
records show that you are in this group. Would you please go to
http://www.NRLE.org or the bottom of this
message to choose one of the
three options above for how you want to participate (or not
participate) in the Nevada campaign?
If you and most of the other subscribers on this list would each
donate $10 or more between now and Election Day, this will generate
all of the money we need to run hard-hitting TV ads in Nevada at the
end of the campaign ... which will catapult our initiative to an
historic victory on November 5.
Thank you for anything you can do to help.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. With only 84 days until November 5, we don't have much time to
raise the substantial sum of money that is needed to
run
hard-hitting TV ads at the end of the campaign. Please
visit
http://www.NRLE.org
right away to donate $10 or more. Thank you!
P.P.S. By donating $250 or more now, you will receive a videotape of
all of the campaign's hard-hitting TV ads
in October, as well
as all of the TV news coverage of the
Nevada campaign. Better
yet, we are making a special offer whereby
donations of $250 or
more can be tax-deductible.
P.P.P.S. Our first-ever national conference will begin two days after
Election Day in Anaheim,
California. To join us for what will
hopefully be a victory
celebration, please register at
http://www.mpp.org/conference
.
Monday, July 29, 2002
The state of the "War on Drugs," and particularly the war on marijuana
users, will get major attention on national television this week.
Tonight at 8:00 and 11:00 p.m. EDT, MPP's Billy Rogers will appear on
MSNBC's Phil Donahue show to discuss the initiative on Nevada's
November ballot that would end the war on marijuana users by removing
all penalties for the possession and use of marijuana by adults. (To
support the Nevada initiative, please see http://www.NRLE.org
.) Other
guests will include former Drug Czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey, New Mexico
Gov. Gary Johnson, former Reagan and Nixon aide and medical marijuana
supporter Lyn Nofziger, and San Francisco city Supervisor Mark Leno.
Leno has proposed that the city consider growing and distributing
medical marijuana for seriously ill patients; this historic proposal
will be on San Francisco's November ballot.
Tomorrow (Tuesday, July 30) at 10:00 p.m. EDT, ABC News will air "War
on Drugs, A War on Ourselves With John Stossel." The prime-time
investigation questions whether the drug war causes more problems than
the drugs themselves.
HOW TO SUPPORT THE MARIJUANA
POLICY PROJECT
MPP is funded by the contributions of dues-paying members nationwide.
To support MPP's work and receive the quarterly newsletter
"Marijuana Policy Report," please send $25.00 annual dues to:
Marijuana Policy Project (MPP)
P.O. Box 77492
Capitol Hill
Washington, D.C. 20013
202-232-0442 FAX
Because MPP devotes 100% of its efforts toward influencing public
policy, contributions are not tax-deductible. However, donations to
MPP Foundation, MPP's educational branch, are tax-deductible and can
be made on-line at http://www.mpp.org/join-mpp.html
.
SUBJECT: Ask your legislators to sign letter to President Bush
Dear Supporter:
Two weeks ago, MPP's medical marijuana bill was introduced in Maryland
by a conservative Republican and an astounding 52 House members, which
is a record number of co-sponsors for any medical marijuana bill
introduced anywhere in the country ... ever.
The week before, MPP's bill was introduced with 41 sponsors in
Vermont -- which temporarily held the record for that one week. And,
meanwhile, the New Mexico legislature was debating a similar bill
under the leadership of Republican Governor Gary Johnson. MPP's
marijuana legislation is also being introduced and debated in
Wisconsin, Connecticut, and a handful of other states.
For an overview of MPP's activities in California and elsewhere,
please see our legislative map at http://www.mpp.org/MoneyForStates
.
And, in all 50 states, MPP is lobbying your state legislators to sign
our letter to President Bush which asks him to end the federal
government's war on medical marijuana patients. As of today, 293 state
legislators have signed the letter!
Facing a $12.4 billion budget shortfall, legislators in California
will be focusing primarily on budget issues this year. As a result,
very little action is expected on drug policy.
Senate Bill 187, which was introduced last year and would enhance the
state medical marijuana law, remains pending, but it is unclear if and
when it will see further action.
Despite the lack of action on marijuana-related legislation, you can
encourage your state legislators to take immediate action in support
of patients who need legal protection for using medical marijuana.
Over the last year, state legislators from across the country have
been signing a letter to President Bush, asking him to allow seriously
ill people to apply for an exception to the federal government's harsh
marijuana laws.
Thus far, 273 legislators from 40 states and the District of Columbia
have signed the letter, including eight from California:
Assemblymember Dion Aroner
Assemblymember Fred Keeley
Assemblymember Paul Koretz
Assemblymember Joe Nation
Assemblymember Fran Pavley
Assemblymember Patricia Wiggins
Senator Sheila James Kuehl
Senator John Vasconcellos
Please take a moment and visit http://www.mpp.org/CA
where you can
automatically e-mail your own legislators, encouraging them to sign
the letter to Bush, which will be presented to administration
officials this spring.
Now more than ever, President Bush needs to hear that the federal
policy on medical marijuana must be changed. And as one of just eight
states with an effective medical marijuana law, California should be
better represented on this letter.
HOW TO SUPPORT THE MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT
MPP's state legislative monitoring service is funded entirely by the
donations of MPP allies and members nationwide. If you find MPP's
legislative monitoring service helpful, please consider making a
donation at: http://www.mpp.org/MoneyForStates
Because MPP devotes 100% of its efforts toward influencing public
policy, contributions are not tax-deductible.
Dear Friend,
At a time when our nation is concerned about the war on terrorism, the
DEA is waging an all-out war on medical marijuana patients.
The Bush administration warned that there was a high likelihood of a
terrorist attack on Tuesday. They were right: That day, DEA thugs
raided a medical marijuana clinic in San Francisco, charging four
activists in the Bay Area with the "crime" of providing medical
marijuana to patients who are legally authorized to use it under state
law. Each of the four defendants now faces between five years and life
in prison.
Significantly, the clinic was authorized by the local prosecutor's
office, who expressed his outrage that the DEA is trampling the will
of California voters in its sick crusade against sick people.
Please visit http://www.mpp.org/USA today
to fax a pre-written letter
of outrage to your U.S. representative and two U.S. senators. The
whole process takes less than two minutes.
(You might have previously used this Web page to fax a pre-written
letter to your U.S. representative. If so, thank you. But please visit
the page again, because we did not have the Web page set up at the
time for faxing your two U.S. senators.)
In an incredible show of arrogance, DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson
scheduled a speech in San Francisco for that night. He tried to claim
that the DEA is merely enforcing federal drug laws -- and that medical
marijuana isn't really a priority. But the crowd didn't buy it,
catcalling him and shouting "Liar!" when he said science has shown
that smoking marijuana has no medical benefit. (News articles are
available at http://www.mpp.org/USA .)
He got a taste of the ridicule he deserves. And MPP wants to add to
his disgrace by overwhelming congressional offices with letters of
protest. Please visit http://www.mpp.org/USA
right now to ask your
three members of Congress to (1) rein in the DEA, and
(2) pass H.R. 2592, which would allow states to determine their own
medical marijuana policies without federal interference -- or raids.
As you may know, the Bush administration ran two TV ads during the
Super Bowl and newspaper ads in the week that followed, claiming that
people who buy drugs are really funding terrorism. If that were true,
why would the Bush administration's DEA shut down a medical marijuana
clinic, thereby forcing hundreds of patients to buy marijuana from
illegal dealers on the streets instead of a locally sanctioned clinic?
And this isn't the first time. Let's not forget that in October, the
DEA pushed 1,000 patients into the streets of Los Angeles after
shutting down a clinic in West Hollywood.
The Bush administration is pursuing a harm-maximization, hate-filled,
destructive policy. It's time to "just say no" to the DEA. Please
visit http://www.mpp.org/USA to tell the
DEA's funders -- the United
States Congress -- to come down hard on the DEA. The DEA doesn't
answer to you -- or the voters of California, apparently -- but it
must answer to Congress. Please act now.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
P.S. Please ask your family and friends to visit
http://www.mpp.org/USA
so they can send their own letters of
protest, too. MPP is trying to generate enough pressure
to force
Congress to hold hearings on the DEA's abuses.
