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Latino Voters League, National Black Police Officers Latest Groups to Endorse California Marijuana Legalization Measure

Representatives from the Latino Voters League (LVL) and the National Black Police Association have given formal endorsements of Proposition 19, The Regulate, Control & Tax Cannabis Initiative of 2010. If passed, the measure would legalize the private adult possession and cultivation of marijuana, and allow local government the option to regulate the plant’s commercial production and sale.
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Gov. Bill Ritter Turns to Medical Marijuana Fund to Help Balance Colorado Budget

The plan Ritter announced to bridge a nearly $60 million shortfall in the current budget year relies on $9 million from the state's Medical Marijuana Program Cash Fund, financed by fees on patients who get cards to use medical marijuana. With the number of applicants for medical marijuana cards expected to double to 150,000 this year, there will still be about $1 million left in the fund even after $9 million is swept from it.
In The Trenches

Facebook Censors Marijuana Legalization! (Action Alert)

SSDP Action Alert

SIGN OUR PETITION
Act now!

Dear Friends,

To draw attention to the need for ending marijuana prohibition, SSDP teamed up with Firedoglake for our Just Say Now campaign. The campaign has been gaining international media coverage but just yesterday, Facebook banned our ads that support marijuana legalization.

The social networking site says we can no longer advertise our campaign for marijuana legalization using our Just Say Now logo, because it has a pot leaf.

We need to fight back against Facebook's political censorship. Can you sign our petition protesting Facebook's unfair policy against legalization ads? We'll send the petition to Facebook and tell the media about the site's censorship of this popular political issue.

Click here to add your name.

Share the image to the right and make it your Facebook profile picture.

Facebook's decision is actually a flip-flop: the Just Say Now ads appeared more than 38 million times before Facebook issued a new policy banning them.

Our ads show marijuana leaves as part of a political campaign to change public policy. It's like telling a political candidate for office that it's unacceptable to show the candidate's face in advertising.

Sign our petition to Facebook and protest censorship of marijuana legalization.

Thank you for supporting marijuana legalization and SSDP's work. Please consider making a donationtoday.

Best,

Jonathan Perri

SSDP Associate Director

Donate to SSDP Today

Latest News

Drug Prohibition Sends Bullets Whizzing Across the Border

At least eight bullets have been fired into El Paso, TX in the last few weeks from the rising violence in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, one of the world's most dangerous places. And all American police can do is shrug because they cannot legally intervene in a war in another country. The best they can do is warn people to stay inside.
Latest News

Senator Scutari Introduces Measure Urging Governor's Support of Federal Bill to Protect Medical Marijuana Patients

New Jersey State Senator Nicholas P. Scutari (D-Union) introduced a measure urging Governor Christie to support and advocate for federal legislation that would provide legal protection to patients who use medical marijuana in compliance with state laws. The Senator’s bill would express the Legislature’s support and urge the Governor to support and advocate for H.R. 2835, known as the “Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act.” In states with legalized medical marijuana, H.R. 2835 would protect patients, prescribing doctors, distributors and anyone authorized to obtain, possess or distribute marijuana on behalf of a patient against arrest and prosecution by federal authorities.
Latest News

Facebook Blocks Ads For Pot Legalization Campaign

Proponents of marijuana legalization, which is on the California ballot in 2010, have hit a Facebook wall in their effort to grow an online campaign to rethink the nation's pot laws. Facebook initially accepted ads from the group Just Say Now, running them from August 7 to August 16, generating 38 million impressions and helping the group's fan page grow to over 6,000 members. But then they were abruptly removed.
Chronicle
cannabis prescription legally produced in Netherlands (courtesy Marijuana Policy Project)
cannabis prescription legally produced in Netherlands (courtesy Marijuana Policy Project)

Reports of Germany Legalizing Medical Marijuana are Premature

The German health ministry announced last week that it was moving to legalize medical marijuana, and that no law changes are necessary, merely the changing of some regulations.
Chronicle
too much cash can corrupt cops
too much cash can corrupt cops

This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

A Texas DA plays funny with the drug money, so does a Baltimore narc, and cops in Alabama, Georgia, and Oklahoma join the hall of shame.
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Blog
Chronicle
In The Trenches

Drug Truth 08/23/10

Cultural Baggage * Century of Lies * 4:20 Drug War NEWS  *  Time 4 Hemp

Cultural Baggage for  08/22/10 29:00 Russ Bellville of NORML re forthcoming conference in Portland + Brendan Kiley reports on 70% of US cocaine has dog dewormer as cut & Neill Franklin re National Black Police Association endorsement of CA prop 19 - the legalization of cannabis

LINK:   http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3030

TRANSCRIPT:  http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3030#comments

Century of Lies for  08/22/10  29:00  Clarence Walker, writes about "Trillion Dollar Drug War" + Bob Newland of S. Dakota ungagged & Mary Jane Borden of Drug War Facts: "Does Drug Testing Work?" + Winston Francis with Official Govt TruthLINK:   http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3037

TRANSCRIPT: Tue

4:20 Drug War NEWS, 08/23 to 08/29/10  Link at www.drugtruth.net on the right margin -

Sun - Dominic Holden a Seattle Journalist re his latest: "Pot Paradox"

Sat - Russ Bellville of NORML re forthcoming conference in Portland Fri - Brendan Kiley reports on 70% of US cocaine has dog dewormer as cut Thu - LEAP Dir Neill Franklin re National Black Police Association endorsement of CA prop 19 - the legalization of cannabis Wed - Bob Newland of S. Dakota, gagged for 1 year by a judge, speaks out against prohibition Tue - Jodi James is a candidate for state Rep in Florida, seeks end to prohibitions Mon - Mary Jane Borden of Drug War Facts: "Does Drug Testing Work?"

Programs produced at Pacifica Radio Station KPFT in Houston, 90.1 FM.  You can Listen Live Online at www.kpft.org

-  Cultural Baggage Sun, 7:30 PM ET, 6:30 PM CT, 5:30 PM MT, 4:30 PM PT

-  Century of Lies, SUN, 8 PM ET, 7 PM CT, 6 PM MT & 5 PM PT

Who's Next?":  Jaime Felner of Human Rights Watch

Hundreds of our programs are available online at www.drugtruth.net, www.audioport.org and now at James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.  http://www.bakerinstitute.org

We have potcasts, searchability, CMS, XML, sorts by guest name and by organization. We provide the "unvarnished truth about the drug war" to scores of broadcast affiliates.  You can tune into both our 1/2 hour programs, live, at 6:30 central time on Pacifica's KPFT at http://www.kpft.org  and call in your questions and concerns toll free at 1-877-9-420-420.

The two, 29:00 shows appear along with the seven, daily, 3:00  "4:20 Drug War NEWS" reports each Monday morning at http://www.drugtruth.net .  We currently have 74 affiliated, yet independent broadcast stations.  With a simple email request to [email protected] , your station can join the Drug Truth Network, free of charge.

Check out our latest videos via www.youtube.com/fdbecker  Please become part of the solution, visit our website: www.endprohibition.org for links to the best of reform.  "Prohibition is evil." - Reverend Dean Becker, DTN Producer, 713-462-7981, www.drugtruth.net

Latest News

State Receives Second Round of Pot Dispensary Applications

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services is seeking companies to run two medical marijuana dispensaries in York and Washington Counties. The state has received 19 applications from non-profit corporations to operate the dispensaries.
In The Trenches

It Could Happen to You (Action Alert)

We Are the Drug Policy Alliance.

Protect your community!Tell Congress to stop supporting
militarized police drug raids.

Take Action!

Email Your Members of Congress

Dear friends,

How would you react if a large group of men in camouflage and combat boots came bursting through your front door with machine guns pointed at you? Helen Pruett, a 76-year-old woman who lives alone in Polk County, GA, suffered a heart attack when her house was mistakenly stormed by about a dozen local and federal agents looking for suspected drug dealers. Militarized police units are used every day to conduct drug raids and it is getting out of control.

Tell Congress to put a stop to these dangerous home invasions.

The Polk County raid is not an isolated incident, and it’s not a result of rogue police officers overstepping their orders. There are more than 100 SWAT raids in America every day, most commonly to serve drug warrants. When police invade homes in riot gear with machine guns and flash bang grenades, they’re following standard procedure.

What’s even more disturbing is that these raids can happen anywhere, to anyone, no matter how minor the offense. Sometimes a crime hasn’t even occurred. Police raid the wrong house or act on information from untrustworthy informants, and completely innocent people wake up in the middle of the night to armed men breaking down their front door.

Congress’s funding of the war on drugs has allowed police excess to escalate out of control.Federal drug war grants for SWAT team equipment and drug task forces create incentives for local police to militarize. Local squads even have access to weapons from the Pentagon’s surplus arms stock.Demand an end to federal funding for this misuse of police resources.

The war on drugs isn’t just an ideological battle.  It’s a real war, with real weapons and real casualties, waged against American civilians. These dangerous raid tactics show just how far it’s escalated -- they're the end result of the drug war’s militarization of local law enforcement. 

Paramilitary raids should not be happening daily in our neighborhoods.  They should not be happening when no threat to public safety exists. Police should be keeping the peace instead of treating our communities like war zones.

It's time to push back on politicians who let these raids continue.  Urge your members of Congress to stop supporting SWAT raids for nonviolent drug law violations.

Sincerely,

Bill Piper
Director, Office of National Affairs
Drug Policy Alliance

Latest News

35 Taken Hostage During Gunfight in Rio

Terrified vacationers were caught up in an intense gunfight between a Rio de Janeiro drugs gang and police, during which gang members invaded a luxury hotel and took 35 people hostage. The gang fought off police with machine guns and rifles as it sought to make its way back to Rocinha, with several gang members fleeing on foot or forcing passing motorists to drive them away. The shootout lasted about 40 minutes leaving the surrounding streets littered with bullet casings.
Latest News

Shootout Near School Shocks Mexico

Drug prohibition violence continues to build in Mexico where a gun fight occurred in front of the American School Foundation, the school of choice for the children of many of Monterrey's top businessmen as well as the children of Americans working in the city. The gun battle is the latest sign that Mexico's prohibition violence is spreading to wealthier areas of the country which had long thought themselves immune, and has deepened the fear that has gripped Monterrey in the last few months.
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Chronicle
Latest News

Jury Finds Officer "Justified" in Trevon Cole Shooting

As predicted, a Las Vegas coroner's inquest into the Trevon Cole shooting found the police officer's actions justified. Only one police officer has been found at fault in a shooting in the procedure's 30 year history. Officer Yant by contrast has shot peole three times, twice fatally.
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