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Mexican Drug Lords Importing Beauty Queens

Juliana Sossa, 25, was arrested alongside Jorge Balderas Garza (a.k.a. "El J.J.") after she posted the location of her Mexico City neighborhood on her Facebook page. In November, Mexican police arrested Colombian model Juliana Lopez Aguirre along with Harold Mauricio Poveda, who police say was a go-between for Colombian drug traffickers. Last May Argentine authorities arrested Colombian Angie Sanclemente (Coffee Queen 2000), who prosecutors say married the Mexican drug lord "El Monstruo" ("The Monster"), and then moved to Argentina to manage young women serving as drug mules. And in 2009, Mexican model Laura Elena Zuniga (Miss Hispanic America 2008) was released from jail after claiming she had been kidnapped by her boyfriend, Angel Orlando Garcia Urquiza, and that she did not know he was head of a Ciudad Juarez-based drug trafficking organization.

Montel Williams to Discuss His Support for Medical Marijuana in Maryland (Press Release)

 

Media Advisory

         Former Talk Show Host and Baltimore Native Montel Williams to Discuss His Support for Medical Marijuana in Maryland

      Williams Became Medical Marijuana Advocate After Finding It Provided Relief from Pain Associated with his Multiple Sclerosis

 

CONTACTS: Morgan Fox, MPP Communications Manager… 202-905-2031 or [email protected]

                       Dan Riffle, MPP Legislative Analyst…………. 202-905-2026 or [email protected]

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND – Multiple sclerosis patient and popular former talk show host Montel Williams will speak at a press conference Monday in Annapolis in support of legislation that would make Maryland the nation’s 16th state allowing physician-approved use of medical marijuana.

Williams grew up in Baltimore where his father was the city’s first African-American fire chief. Williams is a graduate of the Naval Academy in Annapolis and retired from the U.S. Navy as a decorated naval intelligence officer after more than two decades of service before embarking on his second career as a national television talk show host. In 1999, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and has sought treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Following his diagnosis, he created the Montel Williams MS Foundation, which is committed to raising awareness of the disease and providing inspiration to those who live with MS. Williams has served as an advocate for the compassionate use of medical marijuana in a variety of states that have approved new laws.

Montel will be joined at the Maryland press conference by the chief sponsors of the state’s medical marijuana legislation: physician and Delegate Dan Morhaim, and Senators Jamie Raskin and David Brinkley, both cancer survivors.

Who: Montel Williams, Del. Dan Morhaim, Sen. David Brinkley, Sen. Jamie Raskin, and medical marijuana patients and advocates.

What: Press conference to announce the introduction of medical marijuana legislation in the Maryland General Assembly.

Where: Room 302, House Office Bldg., 6 Bladen St., Annapolis, MD 21401

When: Monday, January 24th, 4 p.m.

With more than 26,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. For more information, please visit mpp.org.

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Montel Williams Cited for His Medical Marijuana Pipe

Williams was caught by TSA with his medical marijuana pipe while going through a security checkpoint. He paid the citation of $484 and was released to resume his travel plans. Williams suffers from multiple sclerosis and is a prominent advocate for legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Why Willie Nelson Needs to Host a Benefit Concert for Marijuana

Willie Nelson has long been an outspoken activist, so it was no big surprise that soon after his recent arrest for marijuana possession the country music legend and pot aficionado was calling for a national movement to end the U.S. government’s destructive crusade against cannabis. But if Nelson wants to help end pot prohibition, he can do more than inspire the push for reform -- he can help lead it. And one relatively easy way he can do so is by hosting a benefit concert next year to draw attention to the evils of the drug war, using his iconic pop culture status to raise money for those organizations and people that are working to make the dream of reform a reality. A benefit concert next year would be particularly well timed, with the question of whether to legalize pot possibly being put to Washingtonians as soon as next fall and with California and Colorado voters likely weighing in on ballot initiatives of their own in 2012.

Sting: Let's End the War on Drugs

You Can Make a Difference

 

Dear friends,

Whether it's music, activism or daily life, the one ideal to which I have always aspired is constant challenge -- taking risks, stepping out of my comfort zone, exploring new ideas.

I am writing because I believe the United States -- and all of us -- must do precisely that in the case of what has been the most unsuccessful, unjust yet untouchable issue in politics: the war on drugs.

The war on drugs has failed -- but it's worse than that. It is actively harming our society. That is why ending the drug war is a matter of social justice. And it's why I hope you'll donate to the Drug Policy Alliance today.

Violent crime is thriving in the shadows to which the drug trade has been consigned. People who genuinely need help can't get it. Neither can people who need medical marijuana to treat terrible diseases. We are spending billions, filling up our prisons with non-violent offenders and sacrificing our liberties.

For too long, the war on drugs has been a sacrosanct undertaking that was virtually immune from criticism in the public realm. Politicians dared not disagree for fear of being stigmatized as "soft on crime." Any activist who spoke up was dismissed as a fringe element.

But recently, I discovered just how much that's changing -- and that's how I came to speak out on behalf of the Drug Policy Alliance. Join me in supporting them with a donation today.

I learned of DPA while reading what once might have been the unlikeliest of places for a thoughtful discussion, the Wall Street Journal.

It featured an op-ed that dared to say in print -- in a thoughtful, meticulous argument -- what everyone who has seriously looked at the issue has known for years: the war on drugs is an absolute failure whose cost to society is increasingly unbearable and absolutely unjustifiable.

Their work spoke directly to my heart as an activist for social justice -- because ending the war on drugs is about exactly that.

To me, it all adds up to a clear message of exactly the sort I've always tried to heed in my life: It's time to step out of our comfort zone and try something new.

That's where DPA comes in. Their focus is on reducing the harm drugs cause rather than obsessively and pointlessly attempting to ban them. I hope you'll assist their work by donating today.

I'm partnering with DPA because they champion treatment, advocate effective curricula for educating young people about drugs -- and from local courtrooms to the Supreme Court, they are utterly relentless defenders of the liberties that have been sacrificed to the drug war.

Now, political conditions in Washington seem finally to be aligning in favor of profound change in drug policy. But success is far from guaranteed. We must all work to ensure this issue becomes a priority and is acted upon in a meaningful and sensible way.

That's why I hope you'll join me in becoming a member of the Drug Policy Alliance today. We are building a movement that will put the team at DPA in a position to take maximum advantage of the political changes in Washington while continuing to fight for sanity in drug policy across the nation.

Everyone knows the war on drugs has failed. It's time to step out of our comfort zones, acknowledge the truth -- and challenge our leaders ... and ourselves ... to change.

Sincerely,

Sting Signature