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In The Trenches

Announcing MPP videos, a blog, and much more

Dear friends:

We've just unveiled two exciting new features at mpp.org:

  • MPP TV, where you can watch entertaining and educational videos about marijuana policy issues, including interviews and expert news analysis.
  • MPP's new blog, featuring some of the nation's most insightful writing on marijuana policy reform. We expect to post news and analysis you're unlikely to see anywhere else, including little-reported events and research studies that deserve notice but escape the attention of the mass media.

We really want you to check these out, leave comments, subscribe to updates, create your own video responses, and generally join the conversation.

And want to check out more of our online universe? In addition to MPP TV and the blog, we also have high-activity pages on the following social networking sites (in fact, MPP's MySpace page is in the top 10 most popular nonprofit pages on the site!):

MySpaceFacebookDIGG
YouTubeTwitterChange.Org
 Care 2 45 

If you use online social networking, stay in better touch with us by “friending” us on these sites. Keep up-to-date on the latest marijuana policy news, weigh in with your own thoughts and ideas, and make connections with like-minded supporters of marijuana policy reform.

Come join the conversation now:

MPP TV

MPP's blog


Sincerely,
Kampia signature (e-mail sized)
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

P.S. As I've mentioned in previous alerts, a major philanthropist has committed to match the first $3.0 million that MPP can raise from the rest of the planet in 2008. This means that your donation today will be doubled.

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Blog

bupenorphine,another great white(powder)hope

Several months ago I read an article about how this drug was the best hope for drug addicts to come down the pike in years.Now,I can recall the exact same things being said about methadone so I was no
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Blog

Needle Exchange Saves Lives. Why Are We Still Arguing About It?

AP has a good story reminding us of the plight of Bill Day, whose effort to reduce AIDS in San Antonio has been blocked by overzealous local drug warriors.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Bill Day is a familiar face out under the San Antonio viaducts, where skinny addicts shoot drugs into their bruised arms.

Day, 73, is the source of something many of them desperately need: clean syringes, which Day sees as his calling from God to prevent the spread of disease.

Authorities see it differently. Backed by an opinion from the Texas attorney general, District Attorney Susan Reed says she can prosecute anyone in possession of drug paraphernalia, regardless of the reason they have it.
…

"I am really angry," Day said, pointing to piles of used needles in the brush under a bridge on the city's West side. "Every day we're not out here, someone is getting HIV."

How can anyone possibly dispute that? The drug czar's office continues to maintain that needle exchange enables drug use and makes the problem worse, to which Day responds:

"No one says to themselves, 'They're giving away syringes, let's go get some heroin,'"

The reality that addicts will shoot up with or without clean needles shouldn't have to be debated or even explained. It is deeply disturbing to witness opposition to proven AIDS prevention practices from the very people who are supposed to be protecting our society from the harms of drugs. For the thousandth time, I find myself shaking my head in amazement that the people in charge of our drug policy want to reduce the availability of clean needles.
Blog

A Revealing Remark From the Deputy Drug Czar

Deputy Drug Czar Scott Burns visited Arcata, CA last week to see "America’s grow house capitol" firsthand. After meeting with local authorities and accompanying police on a few marijuana raids, he said this:

…regarding enforcement, Burns seemed to offer a mixed message. While unyielding in asserting that federal law holds marijuana illegal under all circumstances and trumps all state and local medical cannabis laws, Burns nonetheless advised Arcatans to “defer 100 percent good judgment of the people who have been elected and appointed” while motioning to those present in the APD conference room. But most of them are working on guidelines under which medical marijuana may be safely cultivated and dispensed. [Arcata Eye]

I just cannot possibly point out often enough that the conflict between state and federal drug laws doesn't marginalize the value of state-level reforms. The deputy drug czar doesn’t arrive in California with a convoy of DEA super-narcs to slash and burn everything in sight. He can't do that and he knows it, as his remark clearly illustrates.

The federal war on medical marijuana is a political strategy designed to create the appearance of chaos in order to deter other states from implementing medical marijuana laws. Medical marijuana is more available than ever before, notwithstanding sporadic DEA activity in California. Yet we still hear folks suggesting that "the DEA will just swoop in and ruin everything" if we pass new marijuana reforms at the state-level. To be clear, the DEA has ruined many lives, but it has not ruined California's medical marijuana law. That should be obvious to all of us.

The DEA cannot overcome the will of voters and I'm tired of seeing the press and even some reformers helping them pretend they can.
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In The Trenches

Marijuana Policy Project Blog Debuts

[Courtesy of MPP] Dear friends, With the world desperately short of blogs and clamoring for more, the Marijuana Policy Project has come to the rescue with our very own blog, at http://blog.mpp.org/. Seriously, we expect to post news and analysis you're unlikely to see anywhere else, including little-reported events and research studies that deserve notice but escape the attention of the mass media. Please check it out, sign up for a feed if you're so inclined, and let me know what you think. Regards, -- Bruce Mirken, Director of Communications -- Marijuana Policy Project -- P.O. Box 77492 -- Capitol Hill -- Washington, D.C. 20013