Skip to main content

Our Side

Our Side Subtopics:

Make the Call for Marijuana Law Reform (Action Alert)


Watch the instructional video and start making calls today!

Dear friends,

You can influence the passing of marijuana reform initiatives in 4 states by making calls from your home today!

Using the Just Say Now call tool is easy and can be done from anywhere.

Call California Voters– about Proposition 19 which would regulate marijuana similar to alcohol. 

Call Arizona Voters– about Prop 203 which would protect medical marijuana patients from arrest and prosecution.

Call Oregon Voters– about Measure 74 which allow the state to provide patients with safe access to medical marijuana through dispensaries.

Call South Dakota Voters– about Measure 13 which would protect medical marijuana patients from arrest and prosecution.

Help us end the war on marijuana - start calling voters and remind them to get to the polls vote for sensible marijuana reform!

Click here to start calling:
http://go.firedoglake.com/

Each call just takes a few minutes, and you can start calling voters with just your email address or Facebook account. Check out our video that explains how to call, step by step.

With only a 48 hours left until the election, voicing your support for marijuana law reform has never been easier or more urgently important, so start calling voters today.

Thank you from SSDP!

Connect with SSDP

 

Medical Marijuana Advocate Michelle Rainey Dies from Cancer

Michelle Rainey, the organizational force behind Marc Emery’s marijuana-based business empire in Canada, has died from cancer. She had lived with Crohn’s disease since she was a teenager and in the last years of her life struggled against melanoma and lymphatic cancer. Sadly, she did not live to see the historic marijuana legalization vote that will occur in California on Nov. 2.

A Judicial Indictment of the War on Drugs featuring Judge Jim Gray

Come hear Jim Gray, former Superior Court Judge of Orange County, CA, talk about why the "war on drugs" has failed, and what you can do about it.

James P. Gray was a trial judge in Orange County, California beginning in 1983. Before becoming a judge, he served as a Volunteer in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica, a staff judge advocate and criminal defense attorney in the Navy JAG Corps, a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, and a civil litigation attorney in a private law firm, in addition to being a Republican candidate for US Congress in 1998, and a Libertarian candidate for US Senate in 2004. Judge Gray has discussed issues of drug policy on more than two hundred television and radio shows and public forums all across the country. Using his experience on the bench and elsewhere, he has also authored a book on the failed War on Drugs, another Wearing The Robe, about practical and ethical issues in being a judge.

For more information, see http://www.judgejimgray.com/

Disenfranchisement News: Calif. Considers Banning More Voters

California: Court Justices Uphold Disenfranchisement, Senator Supports Banning More Voters The California Supreme Court let stand a ruling upholding California's absolute ban on voting by incarcerated persons and parolees, the Metropolitan News-Enterprise reported. The justices unanimously declined to review a ruling of the First District's Div. Two, where plaintiffs, representing people in prison and parolees, stated that the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution only permits disenfranchisement of persons convicted of common law felonies. California currently disenfranchises incarcerated individuals and parolees, but allows those on probation and formerly incarcerated to vote. An initiative was submitted last week, however, that would ban individuals from voting while on probation, the Sacramento Bee reported. Washington: A Long Time Coming The state Senate passed a bill that would automatically restore voting rights to individuals no longer "under the authority of the department of corrections." The bill, HB 1517, will become law once adopted by the House, which passed another version of the bill last month. Under the amendment, the right to vote is automatically restored, but may be revoked if an individual willfully fails to pay legal financial obligations three times within a 12-month period. Under current law, Washington residents with felony offenses are barred from voting until they have completed their sentence including parole or probation, and have paid all restitution and other court fees, the Associated Press reported in the Seattle Times. "We want to give men and women coming out of prisons a chance to go in a new direction," said Mike Carrell, R-Lakewood, who sponsored the amendment and voted for the bill. International: Voting in Prison is a Civic Right Commenting on The Independent's recent editorial supporting voting in prison, a writer's letter to the editor stated that the English government should reconsider its stance on disenfranchisement following a recent European court ruling. "...[T]he Council of Europe advocates a general stance of normalisation - making the position of prisoners as close as possible to that of people in the community as is consistent with the blunt realities of incarceration. The message to prisoners should be that they have responsibilities as well as rights, and voting, both a civic right and a responsibility, should be made available to them and encouraged." - - - - - - Help The Sentencing Project continue to bring you news and updates on disenfranchisement! Make a contribution today. Contact Information -- email: [email protected], web: http://www.sentencingproject.org

The LEAP Report- March 2009

March 2009

This issue…

  • LEAP in the News
  • LEAP Speakers in Action
  • Make The LEAP
  • Did You Know…?

LEAP in the News

LEAP was busy in the media this month: our speakers did no less than 45 radio, TV and print interviews during March, with very smart, savvy and in-depth discussions allowing LEAP's end-of-prohibition pitch to be heard and read by millions.  Nationally syndicated columnists and reporters engaged in the debate at length, possibly spurred by the daily dramatic reports coming out of Mexico about warring drug cartels.  Terry Nelson, armed with 30+ years of drug interdiction and border patrol efforts across all of Latin America, was in huge demand, even making two trips to Europe to address leaders and anti-prohibition activists. Terry also appeared on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 to discuss why the United States should legalize all drugs.  For Terry's CNN appearance and other compelling videos featuring our speakers, please visit LEAP's YouTube channel. 

LEAP Speakers in Action

Contributed by Mike Smithson, Speakers Bureau Director

Like Admiral Nimitz sending the US submarine fleet out to perform havoc against the enemy in WWII, so too did LEAP dispatch a bevy of speakers to the far reaches of North America and Europe to counter prohibition rhetoric this month. A broad spectrum of interested parties heard from LEAP in March, including Quakers and Unitarian Universalists, the German American Society in New Braunfels, Texas and a panel at the Salt Lake City Library Movie Series in Utah. Universities once again provided numerous opportunities for our speakers, including Richard Amos & John Baeza at the University of Central Florida, Rick Van Wickler at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, Jim Gray at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, and Peter Christ at Erie Community College in Buffalo, New York - where one student commented, "We've had speakers that were informative and speakers that were interesting, but this is the first time we've ever had both!" 

And we were testifying to help make real changes to harmful laws here and now. Norm Stamper worked in Minnesota, and Jack Cole in Rhode Island, continuing an increasing trend to make use of our speakers to support drug policy reform legislation, even on the incremental level. For the first quarter of 2009, LEAP has provided testimony in Texas, Massachusetts, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, British Columbia, and to the European Union in Brussels and the United Nations in Vienna.  LEAP may soon be coming to your town, as you'll read below. If not, invite us!  On the horizon in April, Executive Director Jack Cole and retired Police Chief Tim Datig will tour for three days in the Green Mountain State, (that's Vermont to the non-New Englander readers). Jim Watkin rides his iron horse into Ann Arbor, Michigan for the Mid West Students for Sensible Drug Policy Conference while Jack Cole speaks at the New England SSDP Conference. Francis Wilkinson will participate in a debate at the illustrious Cambridge Union Society and Peter Christ spends a few days in Ohio, starting with Kent University on April 22. Folks in Australia are begging for a LEAP tour-it's in the works-and a drug policy conference is in the planning stages at a Maryland college. Numerous Connecticut events are hitting the calendar…it's hard to keep up.  For more information on upcoming LEAP appearances, please check our events calendar.

Make The LEAP

LEAP is recognized as a unique and authoritative voice on the need to end drug prohibition, and the demand for our speakers continues to increase.  Our ability to accommodate those requests is largely dependent on the generosity of our members, who help us build our movement every day.  Please show your support for LEAP by making a one-time or monthly donation today, and we will send you a LEAP badge pin.  By making a small donation and proudly wearing the LEAP logo, you can show your support for our speakers, who are fighting on the front lines of the war against the "war on drugs". 

Did You Know…?

The "war on drugs" has been making headlines, and it's more important than ever to tell YOUR lawmakers how you feel about drug prohibition.  By visiting www.askyourlawmaker.org, you can sign up for a free account in about 30 seconds, type "war on drugs" into the search engine, and vote for questions by LEAP Administrative Director Bill Fried and Speakers Bureau Director Mike Smithson.  The site is still growing, but some highly-ranked questions have received responses from politicians, so it's another great way for LEAP to be heard.

We need YOUR help to continue doing all that we do.

If you aren't already, please consider volunteering your time or donating to LEAP. Together we can End Prohibition Now!

LEAP Links

LEAP Speakers Blog, click here.

LEAP promotional DVD

LEAP website

Our host, Drug Sense

Powered by MAP

Prisons Foundation: Sobin "Behind the Wall" 15

Dear Friends, We recently added many improvements to our website, including regular updates to our popular "News You Can Use" section. New "unique ID" web-site counter, gives you a unique and easy way to win prizes. Just visit Prisons Foundation and view your unique visitor number at the bottom of the page. If you are the 500th, 1000th of 1,5000 visitor (or any interval of 500th visitors) you win your choice of our prison related music CD! If you visitor number on the counter shows you to be a winner, simply email us at [email protected] and let us know which of the following CD's you would like us to send you as a prize: • Prison Tracks: Instrumental guitar duets recorded in prison by Steve Andrew and Dennis Sobin. • A Stitch in Time: (a Lloyd S. Rubin Production) A moving holocaust musical written in prison by Lee Amirault and Dennis Sobin When contacting us with your "visit" number please be sure to include the full name and address where you would like your CD prize to be sent. Also note the approximate time of your visit to our website so we can verify your visitor ID. Thank you for your continuing interest and support of our work; and good luck! Yours for justice, Dennis Sobin #206757 C.T.F. D-3B #10 1901 E Street SE Washington, D.C. 20003 A CALL FOR SUPPORT: The Prisons Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC that promotes the arts and education in prison and alternatives to incarceration. We are now accepting tax deductable donations. The support of our supporters, quite bluntly, is what keeps us going. Please consider making a tax deductible donation to the Prisons Foundation so that we may continue to promote the arts in prison and help encourage the wonderful atistic talent we cultivate everyday: *Note the views in this letter are those of Dennis Sobin. Please send your comments directly to him.

Press Advisory: Press Conference To Expose Faulty Drug Test Kits Used Widely by Law Enforcement

 
 

NEWS ADVISORY                                                       CONTACT:       Ryan Fletcher 202-641-0277
Feb. 24, 2009                                                                                           Adam Eidinger 202-744-2671
                                                                          
MARCH 3 PRESS CONFERENCE TO EXPOSE FAULTY DRUG TEST KITS USED WIDELY BY LAW ENFORCEMENT
Report Entitled ‘False Positives Equal False Justice’ to Be Released at National Press Club; Retired FBI Forensics Expert and Victims of False Arrests to Testify

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday, March 3 at 1 p.m., the Marijuana Policy Project and Mintwood Media Collective will host a press conference at the National Press Club to release a new report that exposes faulty drug test kits used widely by law enforcement. The study, entitled "False Positives Equal False Justice," reveals that the NIK NarcoPouch 908/Duquenois-Levine Reagent field test kit, the most widely used field test for identifying marijuana, as well as the majority of other drug test kits used as the basis for arrest and prosecution by law enforcement have an unacceptably high rate of rendering false positives.
In addition to testimony by experts in the field, as well as those directly impacted by these faulty tests, experiments will be performed at the press conference that will demonstrate the unreliability of various drug tests and their capacity to render false positives. Natural soap, chocolate and newspaper, among other household items, all will test positive for marijuana and other drugs such as GHB in these drug tests, yet these kits continue to be used in both arrests and prosecutions nationwide. These faulty tests result in the unjust arrest, imprisonment and even prosecution of innocent citizens.

WHAT:  Press conference exposing faulty drug tests through the release of a new report entitled "False    
                Positives Equal False Justice"

WHEN:  Tuesday March 3 at 1 p.m.
WHERE: Zenger Room at the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor - Washington, D.C., 20045
WHO:     Frederic Whitehurst is a retired FBI agent and forensics expert, whose findings are featured
                 extensively in the new report.

 
David Bronner is the president of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps. In 2007, the results of a NarcoPouch® 928 field drug test of his company’s popular organic soap was used to jail Don Bolles - drummer for the legendary punk band, the Germs – for possession of the drug GHB (Gamma Hydroxy Butyrate). A crime lab confirmation using a more reliable test exonerated Bolles and Dr. Bronner’s soaps of the drug possession charges.
 
John Kelly is a researcher and author of "False Positives Equal False Justice." 
 
Dr. Omar Bagasra is a professor and the director of the South Carolina Center for Biotechnology at Claflin University. He contributed significantly to the report, including testing the specificity of the NIK NarcoPouch with 42 non-marijuana substances following the procedure prescribed by NIK.
 
Rob Kampia is executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project.
 
Ron Obadia and Nadine Artemis are co-owners of Living Libations Inc. They have been arrested twice because their raw chocolate tested positive for hashish with the Duquenois-Levine color chemical test. Upon their first arrest, they were placed in separate rooms and told they faced “life in prison.” Subsequent lab testing proved there was no hashish in the chocolate. Their arrests have resulted in extensive legal bills and other challenges. 

LEAP on the Hill: Stories from the week of March 14, 2008

Psssss. I agree but I can’t say it in public: On Monday and Tuesday I attended a 2,000 person conference in DC; the US League of Cities. I had about 35 conversations & all but one person agreed that we needed to end prohibition. (Are you ready for the ‘but’)? BUT all of them said, saying so publicly will mean a loss in the next election for mayor or city council. As I silently screamed each time I heard this, I gave them ideas on what they could say in public the policy is not achieving any of its objectives, use a public health approach to reduce crime and drug use, etc. & perhaps more importantly, to hold a breakout session at next year’s conference which would discuss alternatives to prohibition. Hold your breath?? If at first you do not succeed, try, try again!!: On Thursday Congressman Kucinich (D-OH) held an oversight hearing of the ONDCP (Drug Czar). The Drug Czar, John Walters, came and brought over 20 charts to impress the committee how well prohibition is working. {he had no chart showing how many teen drug dealers had died KIA (killed in action)}. The members took a 40 minute break to vote on the floor. When the room was fairly deserted (leer), I just walked to Kucinich’s desk area and placed a DEA pamphlet down in a spot he would certainly see it. As I returned to my front row seat, an aide walked over, picked up my pamphlet, gave me a bad look and put it in her pocket. Two hours later at the end of the hearing, I walked up to Congressman Kucinich, introduced myself and handed him a pamphlet. He read the first sentence: “Drugs are readily available to America’s youth..” I suggested he read the question to future government witnesses. He smiled, nodded, put the pamphlet in his jacket pocket, thanked me and left. As my fellow Texan and LEAP board member, Terry Nelson, wrote: Nobody in the wrong can stop a man in the right who just keeps on a comin.’

Join MPP for Happy Hour and/or for League Soccer

[Courtesy of MPP]

Please join the Marijuana Policy Project on Thursday, March 20, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., at Madam's Organ in Adams Morgan.

As per the bar's Thursday night custom of supporting area nonprofits, $1 from each drink sold and 20% of food sales during the event will go to MPP, so please invite your friends to eat and drink in support of ending marijuana prohibition!

We'll also be giving away MPP literature, selling MPP merchandise, and raffling off a few decks of MPP's exclusive “The Deal on Marijuana Policy Reform” playing cards.

non-mmj playing cards

What: MPP Happy Hour
When: Thursday, March 20, 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Where: Madam's Organ, 2461 18th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20009

And MPP's Rob Kampia is looking to put together an MPP soccer team for the Washington D.C. Jewish Community Center's league. Games are played on Sunday mornings and afternoons from April through July. Come to the happy hour, or e-mail him at [email protected] if you're interested. You can find more information about the league here.

We look forward to seeing you — and all of your friends — on the 20th for happy hour and this spring for soccer!