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[Courtesy of Americans for Safe Access] For Immediate Release: June 14, 2008 Contact: ASA Media Liaison Kris Hermes at (510) 681-6361 or AMA-MSS member Sunil Aggarwal at (206) 375-3785 Medical Student Section of AMA Unanimously Endorses Medical Marijuana Resolution proceeds to AMA House of Delegates for a vote in November Chicago, IL -- The Medical Student Section (MSS) of the American Medical Association (AMA) unanimously approved a resolution yesterday urging the AMA to support the reclassification of marijuana for medical use. The AMA is currently holding its annual conference in Chicago and is making a number of policy decisions over the next few days. The MSS will send the resolution to the AMA House of Delegates for a final vote at its interim meeting in November. With nearly 50,000 members, the MSS is the largest and most influential organization of medical students in the United States. "While it is an historic occasion for any section of the AMA to endorse medical marijuana, the MSS is merely affirming existing science and urging the adoption of a sensible medical marijuana policy," said medical student and AMA-MSS member Sunil Aggarwal, who is leading the effort to seek AMA endorsement. "As a future medical doctor, I look forward to exploring and utilizing the many medical benefits of cannabinoid medicines in patient care." Aggarwal is also supported by many of his colleagues in the AMA already in the field of medicine. "This is a positive and necessary step in the right direction," said Dr. David Ostrow, a member of the AMA and Chair of the Medical & Scientific Advisory Board of Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the country's largest medical marijuana advocacy organization. "We are hopeful that the full house of delegates will follow the example set by the American College of Physicians earlier this year and vote to support this resolution, thereby placing the needs and safety of our patients above politics." The American College of Physicians (ACP) adopted a resolution in February, on which the AMA-MSS resolution is based. Like the AMA-MSS resolution, the ACP called for rescheduling of marijuana and an expansion of research into its medical efficacy. The ACP, at 124,000 members, is ranked as the country's second largest physician group and the largest organization of doctors of internal medicine. Since 1996, twelve U.S. states have adopted medical marijuana laws, and in 2002 a Times/CNN poll showed that 80% of Americans support access to physician-recommended medical marijuana.

[Courtesy California NORML] June 20, 2008 In final election returns, Mendocino's anti-marijuana Measure B eked out a narrow 52-48% victory. The final margin was the same as the one announced after election day, before 11,000 absentee ballots were counted. California NORML, which supported the No on B campaign, regards the result as a moral victory, given that Measure B had been widely expected to win by a lopsided margin. Pre-election polls had suggested a victory margin of 60 - 65% , leading Measure B proponents to express disappointment at the narrowness of their win. The final margin was so close that opponents would have won in a general election, where turnout is larger, younger, and more liberally inclined. Marijuana proponents intend to return to the county with more workable proposals for legally regulating the county's marijuana industry. The No on B campaign succeeded in raising substantial doubts about Measure B, arguing that it in no way addressed the underlying problems of large-scale growers. http://nomeasureb.org. Measure B repeals Mendocino's Personal Use of Marijuana Initiative, Measure G, passed by an overwhelming 58% of the vote in 2000, but otherwise leaves the county's marijuana policy in doubt, since it seeks to establish the same state limits for marijuana growing that were recently declared unconstitutional in the California appeals court Kelly ruling. Measure B's validity will be subject to two immediate court challenges. The No on B campaign thanks supporters and volunteers for helping wage a strong mail, media, and get-out-the-vote campaign. "Everything was stacked against us from the beginning," said No on B campaign director Laura Hamburg. Measure B was placed on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors, with support from the city councils of Willits and Ukiah, the district attorney, the county's leading newspaper and major media, and local development interests upset by the difficulty of paying wages competitive with the marijuana industry. California NORML is proud to have played a leading role in supporting the No on B campaign, along with a devoted core of Mendocino activists, the Mendocino Marijuana Patients Union, and the Mendocino Green Party. Thanks too to the Drug Policy Alliance for their financial support.

Florida: Finally, "Sub Group" of Potential Voters Getting Attention In Florida there are an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 potential new voters - former felony offenders - that could participate in the upcoming presidential race, the Tamp Bay Tribune reported. NBC affiliate WPTV-5 is calling formerly incarcerated individuals the most sought after "sub group" in the upcoming election and reports that both Republicans and Democrats are vying for their support. Despite the positive news, there continues to be a backlog in rights restoration cases, according to the Parole Commission, the investigative arm of the Clemency Board. Since Governor Charlie Crist and the Clemency Board voted to ease the restoration process for nonviolent offenders last year, about 115,000 individuals have regained the right to vote. About 300,000, however, are still waiting in the wings to be notified of their eligibility. Adding to that, about 4,000 ex-offenders come up for review each month after they are released or their probation is terminated, stated Mark Schlakman, senior program director at the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights at Florida State University in a Tallahassee Democrat opinion editorial. "With another stroke of his pen, Gov.Charlie Crist, with support from at least two Cabinet members, also could enable many ex-offenders to regain their civil rights and register to vote. Only then will the rights-restoration process reflect the fundamental fairness that the governor has been talking about." Gov. Crist spoke highly of the restoration process during a two-day Restoration of Rights Summit sponsored by the state Department of Corrections. It was also learned that the Legislature recently cut 20 percent of the Parole Commission's budget, which resulted in the loss of nine employees who work on civil rights applications, the St. Petersburg Times reported. "Even with the changes to the rules in Florida's civil rights laws, the process for ex-offenders to regain voting rights is cumbersome, particularly in the face of budget cuts and shortage of staff at the Florida Parole Commission," writes Martha Hill in a News-Press op-ed. "Gov. Crist walked the first step, but the journey is still long." Muslima Lewis, director of the voting rights project at the American Civil Liberties Union in Florida, agreed in a New York Times article. "There is a large demand for this," she said. "And it is a lot higher this year with the election." Virginia: Governor, Advocates Play 'Beat the Clock' to Register Former Offenders "This is not a radical idea," states a Roanoke Times editorial, of automatic restoration for formerly incarcerated individuals. "In most states, a felon's right to vote is restored automatically upon completion of his or her sentence. Virginia is unusually and unreasonably restrictive." Applauding Gov. Tim Kaine's efforts to restore voting rights in time to participate in the presidential election this fall, the editorial states that Kaine is "bringing greater fairness to an unduly harsh system." There have been claims that Gov. Kaine's effort to register this new pool of voters by August 1 is coupled with Sen. Barack Obama's campaign to also register tens of thousands of new voters this summer in Virginia; Gov. Kaine said partisanship isn't a factor. Civic and social associations including the ACLU and the NAACP are teaming up to aid thousands of citizens with felony offenses to apply for rights restoration by the deadline. "A lot of felons operate under the miscomprehension that loss of their voting rights is permanent, so what we are doing, is saying, 'No, no, no, there is a way,'" Gwinnett Hagens, executive director of Democracy South was quoted as saying in the Washington Post. "It is going to be a challenge for us if we get absolutely swamped, but we will divert staff to do this." - - - - - - 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

[Courtesy of Canadian Harm Reduction Network] The Canadian Harm Reduction Network and Canadian AIDS Society Launch a New Report on Harm Reduction in Canada 18 June 2008 The Canadian AIDS Society and the Canadian AIDS Society, in partnership, have launched a new publication entitled "Learning from Each Other: Enhancing Community-Based Harm Reduction Programs and Practices in Canada." The report is the culmination of a 17-month-long study based on the findings of a harm reduction symposium and a series of focus groups, site visits and community walkabouts in nine medium-sized cities across Canada. The study was funded by the federal government's Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund. "The recent judgment on the operation of Insite, Vancouver's safe injections site, reminds us that harm reduction services are fundamental healthcare rights and that to deny such services is in effect an infringement of the right to life, liberty and security of the person. Our report shows how Canadian harm reduction programs are vital to our communities through their service to a population that is often marginalized and alienated," says Monique Doolittle-Romas, Executive Director of the Canadian AIDS Society. "These programs are making a valuable difference in people's lives and to society by helping protect the health and well-being of those most in need. They typically do this under the constraints of insufficient or insecure funding." Targeted to health care professionals, outreach workers and service providers working in the field of harm reduction in Canada, the report highlights how various programs were developed and implemented, the challenges encountered and the lessons learned along the way. It also provides in-depth testimony from people with drug-use experience about what works well, what does not, the impact that harm reduction programs and services have on their lives, and what can be done to improve programs. "People who work in harm reduction and people who use drugs told us at various meetings that they don't know what is happening in other cities. The need for information sharing is critical," says Gail Flintoft, Chair of the Board of the Canadian AIDS Society. "We took this project on so that people don't have to recreate the wheel. Sharing this information will enhance harm reduction services by enabling people to learn from each other's experiences." "Service providers and service users alike told us that having information about the 'unknown' harm reduction - what goes on outside the major cities across Canada - would help them save both lives and money, said Walter Cavalieri Director of the Canadian Harm Reduction Network. "Now they have it." The report shows how community and health care organizations prevent harms related to drug use, primarily the transmission of HIV and hepatitis C. It also portrays the holistic underpinnings of the programs which cater to both the basic health and emotional well-being of people who use drugs. Most importantly, the report shows the human side of harm reduction, including the perspectives from the many people harm reduction programs serve, in their own words. It's a celebration of the dedicated harm reduction pioneers and proponents who are working to protect the lives of people who use drugs. Often discussing issues beyond harm reduction, it also provides a compelling glance at societal challenges, including poverty, homelessness and gentrification in urban centres. The report can be accessed, in English and French, on the websites of the Canadian Harm Reduction Network at www.canadianharmreduction.com/project and the Canadian AIDS Society at: www.cdnaids.ca/learning_from_each_other.

In his note below, our director Dennis Sobin expresses gratitude for your support, but also reveals a sad new development. From Dennis Sobin, Director, Prisons Foundation: Thank you so very much for the dozens of phone calls and emails I've received following my arrest at a public hearing in city hall, Washington, DC. They range from a supporter in Hawaii (who is contacting her own congressional representatives as well as Washington city officials to express outrage) to a local NPR radio reporter who is doing a story. The support I've gotten has been good, but it's also produced a bad reaction from government prosecutors. My charge was amended yesterday to include additional counts based on my visits to city hall LAST YEAR to attend and give testimony at other public hearings. My attorney is worried about this stacking. Instead of facing six months in jail, I now face two years. Plus the thinking of the judge may be colored. I am not entitled to a jury trial because these are all misdemeanors. Insisting on my right to a speedy trial, it will take place quickly: Tuesday, June 24, before Judge Jose Lopez in Courtroom 117, DC Superior Court, 500 Indiana Ave NW, Washington, DC 20001. Please feel free to attend to lend your support. In the meantime, here are the names and contact information of city hall officials who can transfer my son Darrin away from city hall so that I can visit these officials before my trial without fear of further arrest. Adrian Fenty, Mayor 202-724-8876 [email protected] (Mayor) 202-724-5556 [email protected] (Mayor's advisor) Vincent Gray, City Council Chairperson 202-724-8032 [email protected] (chief of staff) Jack Evans, City Councilmember (new phone #) 202-724-8058 [email protected] Phil Mendelson, Chair of Judciary Committee 202-724-8064 [email protected] ************************************************************* Below is the original email that the Prisons Foundation sent with details of the arrest of our director Dennis Sobin at a public hearing at city hall in Washington, DC Dennis Sobin, Director of the Prisons Foundation, went to City Hall to testify at a budget hearing on the priorities of the Attorney General's Office. This is routine for our director as these hearings represent important opportunities to advocate for alternatives to incarceration and the need for prosecutors to focus on serious crimes rather than non-violent offenses. One of those prosecutors happens to be Dennis Sobin's son, Darrin Sobin. He and his father have not seen eye to eye for some time. Last year the younger Sobin, Darrin, flexed his muscle as a government attorney by getting a stay away order to keep his father a set number of feet from him. Now he has gone the next step by having his father arrested for stepping foot in City Hall because Darrin has moved into an office in that building. When Dennis arrived for the hearing, his son knew of his presence because Dennis was on the witness list to testify. Dennis never got to testify because his son had him whisked out of the building in handcuffs and put in jail before a judge could release Dennis. By then the hearing was over. The building security officers who arrested Dennis have acknowledged that they were pressured to take this action by Darrin. They even went so far to try to appease Darrin, short of arresting his father, by offering to accompany Dennis to the City Council Chambers where the hearing was taking place and stay with him throughout his testimony. But Darrin rejected this. Darrin has let it be known that if his father returns to city hall for any reason, the same fate awaits him. It is therefore URGENT that the following officials at city hall be called TODAY to let our outrage be known. Says Dennis, "I don't want my son fired. That would be too extreme and a particular hardship for his children, my grandsons Alexander and Tristan." We are requesting that Darrin Sobin be relocated to the Attorney General's headqurters a few blocks away. That way our director Dennis can conduct Prisons Foundation business at city hall. Here are the names and phone numbers of officials at city hall who can make this happen. Please call them TODAY to get their assurance that this will indeed occur without delay. Even if you are not a resident of Washington you can demand action as a visitor who is shocked that such a thing could happen in the nation's capital. Adrian Fenty, Mayor, 202-724-8876 (This is Adrian's private number so please be brief when talking to him and please do not retain this number for any other purpose. He has been a supporter of the Prisons Foundation ever since his childhood friend Donald Thomas ended up in prison and needed our help.) Vincent Gray, City Council Chairperson, 202-724-8032 (Next to the mayor, Vincent is the most powerful person in city hall and has a reputation as a no-nonsense official. Dennis worked for his campaign and helped get him elected in 2006.) Jack Evans, City Councilmember, 202-724-8058 (As chair pro temp, Jack is number three in power at city hall. He also happens to be the councilmember representing Dennis in Ward 2. Still, Dennis cannot visit him at city hall as long as Darrin Sobin is there.) Phil Mendelson, Chair of Judciary Committee, 202-724-8064 (Phil is an at-large councilmember who chaired the hearing at which Dennis was set to testify and is reportedly upset at what happened there. He can bring about Darrin Sobin's transfer in the interest of justice and democracy.) On a personal note, Dennis is in good spirits and continues to meet his responsibilities daily as our director. He will be on hand at our fundraising prison art auction and reception being held at the Prisons Art Gallery this Friday, June 20 at 6 to 8 pm, and will also serve the next day, Saturday, June 21, 10 am to 4 pm, as one of the presenters at our Prison Artist Mentoring Workshop taking place at the Prison Art Gallery, 1600 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20006. Thank you for calling the above city hall officials and demanding that action be taken TODAY. Please call us at 202-393-1511 or email [email protected] if you need further information. Thank you for your help and support in this crisis.