Zappiste
(journeyman)
1/17/03 02:08 PM
142.169.189.158
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Former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders [Post#: 2271 ]
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"I very strongly feel marijuana should be decriminalized." Dr. Elders has long been a critic of U.S. policies based on exaggerated propaganda and scare tactics rather than solid data. "Instead of dealing with science we're dealing with myths," she said.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DECEMBER 11, 2002
http://www.mpp.org/
Canadian Parliament Committee to Recommend End to Marijuana Possession Arrests
OTTAWA, CANADA -- In a report to be released on Thursday, Dec. 12, the Canadian House of Commons Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs is expected to recommend an end to arrests for marijuana possession.
The report, the product of 18 months of hearings, will be the second Canadian Parliament report this year to recommend dramatic changes in marijuana policy. In September, the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs recommended a complete end to marijuana prohibition, calling prohibition "irrational" and "not warranted by the danger posed by the substance."
The new report will not go quite as far, according to reports in the Canadian news media and confirmed by sources close to the committee. However, it will recommend an end to the practice of arresting and jailing adults who possess or grow small amounts of marijuana for their personal use. The committee is expected to recommend that the penalty for marijuana possession be reduced to a civil fine, similar to laws now in effect in such U.S. states as Ohio and California. Canada's Justice Minister, Martin Cauchon, has endorsed moving forward with such legislation early in 2003.
Former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders said she was looking forward to the Canadian report, saying, "I very strongly feel marijuana should be decriminalized." Dr. Elders has long been a critic of U.S. policies based on exaggerated propaganda and scare tactics rather than solid data. "Instead of dealing with science we're dealing with myths," she said.
"While the U.S. government spends taxpayer money running dishonest TV ads to scare the American people into supporting marijuana prohibition, the Canadian government is taking the lead in rejecting prohibition," said Robert Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "Unlike my organization's ballot initiative to end marijuana prohibition in Nevada -- which was subject to federal threats and intimidation -- Canada is free to decriminalize or regulate marijuana as it wishes. Canada is not the 51st state, and that fact is driving Drug Czar John Walters and other U.S. prohibitionists mad."
The new report is scheduled to be posted on the committee's Web site Thursday morning between 10 a.m. and noon EST. Reporters can phone the office of chairperson Paddy Torshey at 613-995-0881.
With more than 10,000 members nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the nation. MPP works to minimize the harm associated with marijuana -- both the consumption of marijuana and the laws that are intended to prohibit such use. MPP believes that the greatest harm associated with marijuana is imprisonment. To this end, MPP focuses on removing criminal penalties for marijuana use, with a particular emphasis on making marijuana medically available to seriously ill people who have the approval of their doctors.
http://www.mpp.org/
http://www.mpp.org/releases/nr121102.html
JANUARY 9, 2003
Marijuana Policy Project Grows to 11,000 Members
75 Percent Increase in Just One Year
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Marijuana Policy Project grew at a record pace in 2002, increasing its dues-paying membership from 6,300 in January 2002 to 11,000 at the beginning of 2003, a 75 percent increase. Already the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States, MPP enters the new year with a full-time staff of 13 and an annual budget of approximately $1.4 million.
MPP's members come from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. The vast majority are small donors, with 6,800 paying at the minimum level of $25 annually.
"The marijuana policy reform movement is rocketing forward," said MPP Executive Director Robert Kampia. "This is a movement of ordinary Americans who have learned what the governments of Great Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal, among others, already understand: Arresting and jailing responsible marijuana users does much more harm than the drug itself."
Among MPP's new members in 2002 is Erin Hildebrandt, who lives in Smithsburg, Maryland, with her husband and five children, ages one to seven. "I joined MPP because I want my kids to grow up safe," Hildebrandt said. "I want them to avoid the dangers of drug addiction, and that's why I want marijuana brought out of the criminal underground and regulated: Drug dealers don't check ID like regulated merchants who sell alcohol or cigarettes do. And if my children do try marijuana when they get older, I don't want their futures ruined by jail terms and criminal records that will haunt them forever."
MPP is planning an aggressive agenda for 2003, including lobbying for medical marijuana bills in New York, Vermont, Maryland, Connecticut, and Massachusetts and a redoubled effort to end the Drug Enforcement Administration's war on medical marijuana patients. MPP will continue defending taxpayers against the misuse of public funds by "Drug Czar" John Walters, following up its recent formal complaint regarding Walters' violations of state and federal laws. And later in the year, MPP will unveil a new educational campaign aimed at giving the public the facts about marijuana and the harm inflicted by prohibition.
"The tide has already shifted on marijuana policy," Kampia said. "Last year Britain announced an end to arrests of marijuana users, and Canada and Switzerland are considering similar reforms. November's Time poll showing that 72 percent of Americans think marijuana users shouldn't go to jail demonstrates that the public knows marijuana prohibition is a cruel hoax -- and all of John Walters' lies can't change that fundamental fact."
With 11,000 members nationwide, 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. MPP believes that the greatest harm associated with marijuana is imprisonment. To this end, MPP focuses on removing criminal penalties for marijuana use, with a particular emphasis on making marijuana medically available to seriously ill people who have the approval of their doctors.
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Zappiste
(journeyman)
1/17/03 02:26 PM
142.169.189.158
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11,000 Members.Staff of 13. budget.$1.4 million.  [Post#: 2272 / re: 2271 ]
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Excellent !
$1.4 million U.S.
Nous on a besoin que de $20.000.00 Can. env.
pour cette campagne!
Marijuana Policy Project Grows to 11,000 Members
75 Percent Increase in Just One Year
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Marijuana Policy Project grew at a record pace in 2002, increasing its dues-paying membership from 6,300 in January 2002 to 11,000 at the beginning of 2003, a 75 percent increase. Already the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States, MPP enters the new year with a full-time staff of 13 and an annual budget of approximately $1.4 million.
MPP's members come from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. The vast majority are small donors, with 6,800 paying at the minimum level of $25 annually.
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