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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 24, 2009 CONTACT: Jennifer Carnig at 212.607.3363 or [email protected] NYCLU to City Council: Rockefeller Drug Laws Cause Racial Disparities, Huge Taxpayer Burden February 24, 2009 – At a hearing today before the City Council, the New York Civil Liberties Union presented testimony illustrating the stark racial disparities and enormous financial burden generated by the Rockefeller Drug Laws in New York City. Socheatta Meng, the NYCLU’s legislative counsel, testified before the Council’s Committee on Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse and Disability Services. “By mandating harsh prison sentences based primarily upon the amount of drugs involved, this state’s drug-sentencing scheme has proven itself to be draconian, irrational, unfair and racially discriminatory,” Meng said. The NYCLU called on the City Council to urge New York State’s political leaders to significantly reform the drug sentencing laws. “This is a new political moment,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman, who did not testify. “Governor Paterson, as well as key legislative leaders in Albany, have publicly pledged their commitment to reform. A fiscal crisis requires strict cost-cutting. The time is ripe for us to demand real changes to our state’s drug sentencing laws.” Enacted in 1973, the Rockefeller Drug Laws mandate extremely harsh prison terms for the possession or sale of relatively small amounts of drugs. Supposedly intended to target drug kingpins, most of the people incarcerated under these laws are convicted of low-level, nonviolent offenses, and many of them have no prior criminal record. Despite modest reforms in 2004 and 2005, the Rockefeller Drug Laws continue to deny people serving under harsh sentences the ability to apply for shorter terms, and restrict the power of judges to place addicts into treatment programs.

Washington: Voting Rights Legislation Receives Editorial, Police Support Writing a Seattle Post-Intelligencer op-ed in support of voting rights legislation being considered in Washington State, a police chief and county sheriff stated that reenfranchisement was part of "good law enforcement." Gil Kerlikowske, chief of the Seattle Police Department and John Lovick, Snohomish County sheriff, wrote: "We support this legislation and do not think that the financial obligation should be a barrier to being able to vote. Why? Voting is an important way to connect people to their communities, which in turn, helps them avoid going back to crime. We want those who leave prison to become productive and law-abiding citizens. Voting puts them on that path." Following the guest column, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial board contributed its own view on disenfranchisement, calling the proposed measure "excellent legislation." Currently, the law strips voting rights from people with felony convictions who have outstanding court restitution and other fees which incur interest. The editorial states: "Combined with sociological factors, the current law has the dire effect of eliminating 17 percent of African-Americans and 10 percent of Latinos from voting eligibility. That's shockingly excessive. Legislators and Gov. Chris Gregoire should re-enfranchise those who have served their terms." The Columbian also published an editorial arguing that the time dedicated to the administration of checking individuals' balances is unnecessary. It also stated that the current law was not only a modern poll tax, but also racially discriminatory and "just plain malicious." Maryland: Bill Proposes Eligibility Notification Upon Release from Prison The Baltimore City Branch NAACP worked to help introduce into the Maryland General Assembly H.B. 483, which would require the Commissioner of Correction to provide written information on voter eligibility upon inmates' release from a State correctional facility. The bill, introduced by Del. Samuel Rosenberg and Sen. Lisa Gladden, would also require the Commissioner to work with the State Board of Elections in notice issue. Virginia/Kentucky: Disenfranchisement Reform Being Considered by Strictest States Project Vote's blog, TPM Café, featured an article on reform movements in the two states that permanently disenfranchise all citizens with felony offenses. Lawmakers in Virginia and Kentucky are considering reforming the law which bans that population from voting and requires people with felony convictions to seek permission to vote from their governors. South Dakota: Election Officials' Misunderstanding Disenfranchises Two Citizens "I will never get the chance to go back and make my voice heard," stated a woman who was erroneously denied the right to vote in the Nov. 4 general election, the Star Tribune reported. American Indians, Eileen Janis and Kim Colhoff are suing government officials in South Dakota because they say their felony criminal histories were improperly interpreted by election officials. State law disenfranchises those who have been sentenced to prison, according to the ACLU, but Janis and Colhoff were sentenced to probation, and thus should have been granted the right to vote. "It's hard not to feel like a second-class citizen when such a fundamental right is stolen in such a random way," said Janis. Nancy Abudu, staff counsel with the ACLU Voting Rights Project, said cases such as this one illustrates "the tragedy of what happens when election officials do not know how to administer the law." - - - - - - Help The Sentencing Project continue to bring you news and updates on disenfranchisement! Make a contribution today. Contact Information -- e-mail: [email protected], web: http://www.sentencingproject.org

For Immediate Release: February 23, 2009 Contact: Dale Gieringer at (415) 563- 5858 Ammiano Bill to Tax and Regulate Marijuana Would Raise Over $1 Billion for State San Francisco, Feb 23 - Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-SF) announced the introduction of a landmark bill to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol and tobacco at a press conference today. The bill would save the state's taxpayers over $1 billion, according to an economic analysis by California NORML, with additional economic benefits of $12 -18 billion. See: http://www.canorml.org/background/CA_legalization2.html. "This bill is a winning proposition for California's taxpayers," says California NORML coordinator Dale Gieringer, a sponsor of the bill. "In this time of economic crisis, it makes no sense for California to be wasting money on marijuana prohibition, when we could be reaping tax benefits from a legal, regulated market instead." The bill would provide for licensed producers and distributors, who could sell to adults over 21. Producers would pay an excise tax of $50 per ounce, or about $1 per joint. Sales taxes would generate additional revenues, bringing total tax revenues to $1 billion. Additional economic benefits would be generated in the form of employment, business and payroll taxes and spin-off industries, like the wine industry, amounting to some $12 - $18 billion. Last but not least, the bill would save the state $170 million in costs for arrest, prosecution and imprisonment of marijuana offenders. The result would be to eliminate such prohibition-related problems as black market dealers and smugglers, grow houses, and pirate gardeners on public lands. The bill would not alter California's medical marijuana law, which allows patients, caregivers and collectives to grow medicine for themselves. Ammiano's bill is the first of its kind since California outlawed cannabis in 1913. Only after being prohibited did marijuana become widely popular, eventually being enjoyed by millions of Californians. Due to soaring enforcement costs, the legislature decriminalized possession of small quantities in the Moscone Act of 1975, saving the state's taxpayers $100 million per year. However, production and distribution remained illegal, leading to continued prohibition-related enforcement costs. Last year, agents eradicated a record 5 million illegal plants, up more than tenfold in five years. Marijuana arrests jumped to 74,119 in 2007, their highest level since the Moscone Act. California has over 1,500 inmates in state prison for marijuana offenses, ten times as many as in 1980. Marijuana is reported to account for 61% of the illicit drug traffic from Mexico, where prohibition-related violence has killed over 6,800. "Tom Ammiano deserves credit for recognizing that legal taxation and regulation is the only solution to California's marijuana problem," says Gieringer. "Marijuana users would happily pay taxes to buy it legally." California NORML also thanks former Sen. John Vasconcellos for providing the original draft of this legislation. Recent polls indicate that public support for legal marijuana is growing. A new Zogby poll found 44% of American voters support taxing and regulating marijuana, with support as high as 58% in western states: http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7806

For Immediate Release: February 23, 2009 Contact: Tony Newman at (646) 335-5384 or Rosanne Scotti at (609) 610-8243 First-Ever Senate Floor Vote on NJ Medical Marijuana Legislation New Jersey State Senate to Hold Voting Session on Monday, February 23, 2 P.M. Patients, Doctors and Advocates Are Hopeful As Compassionate Use Legislation Moves Forward Trenton - New Jersey is yet another step closer to becoming the fourteenth state to allow safe access to medical marijuana with a doctor's recommendation for qualifying patients. The State Senate will hold a floor vote on Monday, February 23 on Senate Bill 119 (The Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act). The voting session is scheduled at 2 p.m. and will take place in the Senate Chambers. Senate Bill 119 would allow patients suffering from certain debilitating and life-threatening illnesses such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis to use medical marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. Medical marijuana has proven efficacious for relief from chemotherapy-induced nausea, muscle spasms, chronic pain, loss of appetite and wasting syndrome. Patients would need a recommendation from a doctor and would need to register with the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services. When approved, they would receive registration cards indicating that they are allowed to legally possess and use medical marijuana. "New Jerseyans overwhelmingly support this legislation," said Roseanne Scotti, director of Drug Policy Alliance New Jersey. "Polling has shown support running as high as 86 percent. This legislation is moving forward because legislators have heard the voices of constituents across the state. For the sake of our most vulnerable, our sick and dying patients struggling for relief, now is the time for New Jersey to join the growing list of states allowing compassionate use of medical marijuana." Senate Bill 119 is sponsored by Senators Nicholas P. Scutari (D-Middlesex, Somerset, Union), Jim Whelan (D-Atlantic), Sandra B. Cunningham (D-Hudson), Raymond J. Lesniak (D-Union), Brian P. Stack (D-Hudson), Stephen M. Sweeney (D-Salem, Cumberland, Gloucester), Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), and Joseph F. Vitale (D-Middlesex). Senator Scutari explained the need for the legislation. "It is time that we adopt a policy on medical marijuana that reflects both our values and the facts," said Sen. Scutari (D-Union). "I strongly believe that we have a moral obligation not to stand in the way of relief for people who are painfully suffering from chronic and debilitating illnesses. My bill, the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, is a common sense measure that places a premium on treatment and relief." Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris), one of the primary sponsors of the companion bill in the Assembly, echoed Scutari's strong support for the legislation. "If you can go to your doctor and get a derivative of the poppy to treat pain, why can't you get a derivative of the cannabis plant to treat your symptoms? There is no such thing as an evil plant," Carroll said. "If a doctor using his or her best medical judgment thinks marijuana is the best thing for the patient, he or she should be allowed to [recommend] it." On December 15, 2008, the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee voted S119 out of committee by a 6-1 margin and amended the legislation so it would allow for the licensing of centers where qualifying patients could safely access medical marijuana. Informational hearings on the Assembly companion bill, A804, were held on May 22, 2008 in the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee and a scheduled vote is pending. Advocates are looking forward to New Jersey moving in the direction of Compassionate Use legislation. Don McGrath, whose son-a cancer patient who suffered from wasting syndrome-found medical marijuana drastically improved his quality of life during his battle, was thrilled that the entire Senate would be considering the important issue of medical marijuana. "If passing this bill could reduce the suffering of just one patient in New Jersey, it would be worthwhile and it would demonstrate the concern the Senate has for their most needy citizens." Dr. Denis Petro, an internationally known expert on medical marijuana who has testified before the legislature regarding the scientific support for medical marijuana, praised the New Jersey State Senate for scheduling a vote on the legislation. "With passage of the legislation, patients with serious and life-threatening disorders can be offered a safe and effective alternative when conventional therapy is inadequate. The bill represents a positive step toward a rational policy regarding medical marijuana," said Petro, a board-certified neurologist in Pennsylvania with more than 25 years experience in neurology, clinical pharmacology and marijuana research. Nancy Fedder, a 61-year-old, who lives with her daughter and two grandchildren, is a retired computer programmer who has coped with multiple sclerosis for 16 years. She tried every legally prescribed medicine her doctors suggested while searching for relief from her symptoms, before she decided to try medical marijuana. Nancy is excited regarding the prospects of medical marijuana access in New Jersey. "I have struggled with terrible muscle spasms, pain and nausea, which at times was complicated by the side effects of my prescribed medications. However, after trying marijuana to treat my symptoms my quality of life drastically improved," said Nancy. "I am so grateful that the Senate will be taking action on this important piece of legislation and hope that they vote in support of seriously ill patients like me." Supporters of the legislation include: the New Jersey State Nurses Association; the New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians; the New Jersey Hospice and Palliative Care Organization; the New Jersey League for Nursing; the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Southern NJ and Northern NJ chapters; and the American Civil Liberties Union. # # #

Today Marks 36,539 Days of DRUG WAR! 4:20 Drug War NEWS from 90.1 FM in Houston and dozens of radio affiliates in the US, Canada and Australia & on the web at www.kpft.org. 4:20 Drug War NEWS 02/23/09 to 03/01/09 now online (3:00 ea:) Select online at www.drugtruth.net Sun - Mike Gray, author of Drug Crazy and Chairman of Common Sense for Drug Policy Sat - Police Chief of Houston Texas, Harold Hurtt Fri - Australia Weed Wacking III Thu - Australian Weed Wacking II Wed - Martin Jansen reports from Nimbin Australia on marijuana raids I Tue - Terry Nelson reports a more personal story of the drug war for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Mon - Richard Lee, founder of Oaksterdam University Next - Century of Lies on Tues, Cutural Baggage on Wed (Now With Transcripts): - Cultural Baggage 12:30 PM ET, 11:30 AM CT, 10:30 AM MT & 9:30 AM PT: Coverage from Oaksterdam University - Century of Lies 12:30 PM ET, 11:30 AM CT, 10:30 AM MT, 9:30 AM PT: Coverage from Oaksterdam University Hundreds of our programs are available online at www.drugtruth.net, and www.audioport.org 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, Drug Truth Network Producer Dean Becker 713-849-6869 www.drugtruth.net

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #396 - Sunday, 22 February 2009 Today the Denver Post printed the column below Hopefully the syndicated column will be printed in many more newspapers. Please contact your local newspapers to request that they print the column. Newspaper editors should know how to obtain columns from the Washington Post Writers Group. Among the important issues addressed in the column is United Nations drug policy summit in Vienna next month. We also reflected our concern in this FOCUS Alert http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0392.html News clippings which mention our President may be found here http://www.mapinc.org/people/Obama Please let the Obama administration know your views. You may send a short message to the White House by using the webform on this page http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/. You may call the White House about the issue at 202-456-1111 or send a fax to 202-456-2461. Reports indicate that it may be necessary to call repeatedly to reach the phone number, but that your efforts are carefully noted when you do reach the number. ********************************************************************** Pubdate: Sun, 22 Feb 2009 Source: Denver Post (CO) Copyright: 2009 The Washington Post Writers Group Contact: [email protected] Author: Neal Peirce OBAMA'S TAKE ON THE DRUG WAR Fissures are suddenly forming along the edges of the giant iceberg of America's multibillion-dollar "war" on drug use, first formally proclaimed by President Richard Nixon in 1971. But so much depends on what President Barack Obama decides to do with the issue. This month a Latin American commission headed by former Presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico and Cesar Gaviria of Colombia condemned harsh U.S. drug prohibition policies that are based, in Gaviria's words, "on prejudices and fears and not on results." Fueled by Americans' drug appetite and dollars, drug-gang violence is engulfing Mexico, threatening the very stability of the state with massive corruption and close to 6,000 killings last year. Brazil is afflicted with daily gun battles between police and gangs in urban slums. And despite years of intensive U.S.-backed efforts to eradicate Colombia's cocaine exports, official reports show they've risen 15 percent in this decade. A high proportion are smuggled into the U.S. The drug war, the former presidents charge, is imperiling Latin America's democratic institutions and corrupting "judicial systems, governments, the political system and especially the police forces." As both the world's largest drug consumer market and the lead voice in setting global drug policy, the United States, the Latin leaders argue, has huge responsibility now to "break the taboo" that's suffocated open debate about the wisdom of a clearly failed 38-year "war." The leaders are placing hopes in Obama, who as a candidate said the "war on drugs is an utter failure" and talked favorably about more public health-based approaches. Given that history, and given this president's openness to hearing diverse points of view, it's hard to believe he'll maintain the stony wall of indifference to drug policy reform that all his predecessors since Nixon have maintained. Still, there are crucial issues of politics and timing. One can just imagine White House advisers telling Obama to steer clear of the drug issue, that it could be as perilous and distracting as gays in the military were for President Bill Clinton in his first year in office. Against that background, the Latin leaders' statement itself may help move the compass. Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, calls their manifesto (www.drugsanddemocracy.org) "a major leap forward in the global drug policy debate." One reason: these are conservative, highly respected leaders. Gaviria, as president of Colombia in the early '90s, for example, worked with U.S. anti-narcotics agents to hunt down and kill Pablo Escobar, the cocaine kingpin. But Gaviria and his fellow former presidents, along with Latin mayors, writers and other respected leaders joining in their declaration, say it's time to recognize that force and prohibition have failed to stop dangerous narco-trafficking. It's high time, they propose, to focus on harm reduction and prevention efforts -- following European models to change the status of addicts from drug buyers in an illegal system to that of patients cared for in a public health system. They also suggest considering decriminalizing possession of marijuana for personal use -- a step Obama recently indicated he's not ready to take. And they say they'll be watching how the U.S. handles the meeting of a key United Nations-sponsored Commission on Narcotic Drugs which convenes in Vienna next month. The commission is to review the prevailing, harsh, U.S.-molded drug policies the U.N. General Assembly set in 1998. But there's the question: Will Obama (and Hillary Clinton's State Department) send reformers, or just bureaucrats who've soldiered in our blind-alley war on drugs? Drug reformers were disappointed when Obama recently passed over public health advocates to appoint a police chief -- Gil Kerlikowske of Seattle -- as the country's new drug czar (director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy). But Kerlikowske does appear to have worked harmoniously with Seattle's cutting edge of drug reforms -- well-established needle exchange programs, marijuana arrests declared the lowest law enforcement priority through public initiative, and a local bar association that's a national model in finding alternatives to drug prohibition laws. So there are gleams of hope at the end of a long tunnel. And what better time than this wrenching recession to shift law enforcement to legitimately serious crimes, starting to discharge the hundreds of nonviolent drug offenders held in our bulging, cost-heavy jails and prisons? Predictably, any shift will be tough. Many law enforcement agencies count on the jobs -- and seizures of cash -- that the drug "war" delivers. Our "prison-industrial complex," guard unions included, remains potent. And federal law actually prohibits the drug czar from recommending legalization of any proscribed drug, no matter what his personal judgment may be. We have dug ourselves a deep hole. Only forthright and courageous leadership is likely to start us on a saner path. Can this be "the time?" Please, Mr. President.