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Students Across California Mobilize to Control Marijuana Like Alcohol

Submitted by David Borden on

SSDP letterhead

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 6, 2010
[email protected]

Students Across California Mobilize to Control Marijuana Like Alcohol
Students to Rally with Yes We Cannabis Fire Truck to Sound Alarm For Prop 19

SAN DIEGO, CA –Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP),announced plans today to mobilize student voters in support of Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010.  SSDP, the nation’s largest student drug policy group with over 150 chapters nationwide, will rally an army of student canvassers at its regional conference to be held at San Francisco State University October 16-17. Many eventshave been scheduled between now and the election on campuses up and down the state.  With a massive fire truck touring California, the students will ‘Sound the Alarm to Vote Yes on Prop 19.’ (See schedule below.)  Members of the media are invited to tour with the Yes We Cannabis Fire Truck.

“Young voters are the primary victims of the drug war and logically the largest group of supporters of Prop 19,” says Aaron Houston, SSDP’s Executive Director. “We plan to register thousands of students in the next 10 days and help many first time voters develop plans for Election Day.  Meshing good old fashioned one-on-one on college campuses with mobile alert technology sums up our strategy to turnout young voters,” adds Houston.

SSDP already planned a massive canvass in Northern California months ago, but last week the group received a surprise $75,000 dollar donation from David Bronner, President of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps and another $25,000 from Capitol Hemp Clothing and Accessories. “We are ramping up our outreach to even more students thanks to the surprise support,” says Houston.

Dr. Bronner’s is providing the company’s promotional fire truck to ‘sound the alarm’ on college campuses across California before November’s election.  A California based company, Dr. Bronner’s buys 20 tons of hemp oil for their soaps from Canada each year.  For ten years the Bronner family has financially supported bringing back non-drug industrial hemp farming in the US as an environmentally sustainable crop that can be made into a wide variety of products including food, cosmetics, clothing, building materials and much more. Traditionally Dr. Bronner’s has publicly supported ‘hemp only’ advocates; however Mr. Bronner is now publicly calling for the end of cannabis prohibition entirely in light of the bloody conflict being fueled in neighboring Mexico and the enormous waste of California taxpayer and police resources in the current budget crisis.

Mr. Bronner stated:  “I’m calling up businesses like ours that I know are socially and environmentally conscious with a simple message, “Just Say Now, now is the time to step up support.”  Prop 19 will free up police for fighting real crimes and stop renegade cannabis cultivation by gangs that are destroying our national parks.  Cannabis prohibition, not the herb itself, has been ruining productive and upstanding citizens’ lives with courts and jails for decades.”

The Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, is a California ballot proposition which will be on the November 2, 2010 California statewide ballot. It legalizes various marijuana-related activities, allows local governments to regulate these activities, permits local governments to impose and collect marijuana-related fees and taxes, and authorizes various criminal and civil penalties. In March 2010 it qualified to be on the November statewide ballot. It requires a simple majority in order to pass. Yes on 19 is the official advocacy group for the initiative.SSDP is the lead student organization working with the Yes on 19 campaign.

The following is a tentative schedule for the Yes We Cannabis Fire Truck Tour and is subject to change.  To confirm exact times of events email Adam Eidinger at [email protected].

 

10/7/2010

San Diego State University

5500 Campanile Drive

San Diego

10/8/2010

University of California, San Diego

9500 Gilman Dr.

La Jolla

10/9/2010

University of California, Irvine

University of California- Irvine

Irvine

10/10/2010

University of California, Los Angeles

405 Hilgard Ave.

Los Angeles

10/11/2010

University of Southern California

1540 Alcazar Street

Los Angeles

10/12/2010

California State University, Northridge

18111 Nordhoff Street

Northridge

10/13/2010

Pitzer College

1050 North Mills Avenue

Claremont

10/14/2010

San Bernardino Valley College

701 Mount Vernon Ave

San Bernardino

10/15-17/2010

San Francisco SSDP Mobilization Tour

Various Locations

San Francisco

10/18/2010

Sacramento State University

6000 J Street

Sacramento

10/19/2010

Golden Gate University

536 Mission Street

San Francisco

10/20/2010

University of California, Hastings

200 McAllister St.

San Francisco

10/21/2010

San Francisco State University

1600 Holloway Avenue

San Francisco

10/22/2010

Mills College

5000 MacArthur Blvd

Oakland

10/23/2010

University of California, Berkeley

2198 University Avenue

Berkeley

10/24/2010

California State University, East Bay

25800 Carlos Bee Blvd

Hayward

10/25/2010

San Jose State University

One Washington Square

San Jose

10/26/2010

University of California, Santa Cruz

1156 High Street

Santa Cruz

10/27/2010

University of California, Merced

5200 Lake Road

Merced

10/28/2010

College of the Sequoias

915 South Mooney Boulevard

Visalia

10/29/2010

Azusa Pacific University

901 East Alosta Avenue

Azusa

10/30/2010

Santa Ana College

1530 West 17th Street

Santa Ana

To arrange interviews contact Adam Eidinger at [email protected]. For further information please visit our website at www.ssdp.org/firetrucktour.html

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