Opponents of marijuana reform have been arguing for years that ballot initiatives are the wrong way to make laws because they circumvent the input of state legislators and other stakeholders, thereby creating a risk of unintended consequences. We've heard this complaint repeatedly in regards to medical marijuana, and now the same is being said about Prop 19. But as far as we're concerned, anyone who doesn't want marijuana legalized this way has only one option: beat us to it.
Last week's Wall Street Journal op-ed from nine former DEA administrators resulted in
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].
To arrange interviews contact Adam Eidinger at [email protected]. For further information please visit our website at www.ssdp.org/firetrucktour.html |
MEDIA ADVISORY 10/10/2010 12:00 NOON ET
PhillyNORML and NORML-NJ
Working to reform marijuana laws
www.phillynorml.org and www.normlnj.org
CONTACT: Lawrence Frydman at [email protected] or Chris Goldstein at [email protected] or 505-577-5093 (mobile)
Philadelphia: Hundreds plan pro-marijuana presence for Obama visit today
A rally was organized by Philadelphia area college students to show President Obama that America is serious about legalizing cannabis.
The President and Vice President Joe Biden are making a campaign stop in the Germantown section of Philadelphia.
The Facebook group shows over 600 people plan on attending today to hold signs or wear buttons and stickers. The theme is ‘Tax and Regulate’ using the marijuana leaf.
“We want President Obama to start working on legalizing marijuana nationally,” said Lawrence Frydman, one of the key organizers.
“This is also a way for people on the East Coast to support Prop. 19 in California.”
The upcoming CA ballot initiative would legalize and tax recreational marijuana. California voters get the measure on November 2 and current polls favor it passing by a slim margin.
PhillyNORML and NORML-NJ are the local chapters of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
Volunteers and advocates from both groups are attending today to participate and support the student effort.
Local medical marijuana patients are attending to bring attention to the struggle they face for safe cannabis access.
Organizers are planning a 2:30 start time for participants.
For more information: www.phillynorml.org
CONTACT: Lawrence Frydman at [email protected] or Chris Goldstein at [email protected] or 505-577-5093 (mobile)
Last week we reported on the forces lined up for and against California's Prop 19.
This video more or less speaks for itself. I doubt that marijuana smoking would be allowed in some of the public places where it depicts people doing that, but they were trying to present the arguments being made by both sides. One commenter on the video noted that they presented the stoned driver as going too slowly, not fast and recklessly, an insightful detail.