Rhode Island State law allows registered patients or their caregivers to legally set up an indoor grow with a certain number of marijuana plants for personal medical purposes. Unlike similar schools in California and Colorado, the New England School of Alterative Horticultural Studies operates in the north eastern USA and offers professional medical marijuana training at a fraction of what the cost would be for a north eastern USA based student.  

"Traditionally, someone who lives in the New England area and wants to take this type of MMJ training would have to travel to California or Colorado at their own expense. This is in addition to the tuition costs which make the total cost for these classes quite steep for folks in the north east United States," said the school founder, Luis Hernandez. "Now, everyone here in the north east has access to professional medical marijuana training right in their own back yard."  

Another unique feature of this school is its strong sense of social responsibility. No less than 20% of all class proceeds are donated directly to causes such as AIDS & Cancer research, cannabis law reform, and other worthwhile patient advocacy programs. As stated by Hernandez himself: "Environmental and social responsibility are core values which we take very seriously around here." The school also extends special discounts to registered patients who cannot afford the full class tuition.  

Yet another distinction for the school is having incorporated state law, fire and electrical safety, ethics, confidentiality and professional conduct to the curriculum in addition to the horticultural aspect of a medical marijuana training class.

More information: http://www.nesahs.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                                 

JULY 28, 2010

Ideologically Diverse Advocates Echo Call to End DEA Raids on State-Sanctioned Medical Marijuana Providers

Tenth Amendment Center, Firedoglake Publisher Join Drug Policy Organizations’ Condemnation of Recent Raids

CONTACT: Steve Fox: 202-905-2042 or [email protected]; or Mike Meno: 202-905-2030 or [email protected]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two ideologically diverse advocates today echoed an earlier call by a coalition of drug-policy reform groups by condemning a series of recent raids by the Drug Enforcement Administration on medical marijuana collectives that were operating legally under state law. The Tenth Amendment Center, a group that advocates on behalf of states’ rights, and Jane Hamsher, the publisher of Firedoglake.com, called on the DEA to respect duly adopted state medical marijuana laws and immediately end these raids.

         “The federal government is only authorized to exercise those powers that ‘We the People’ delegated to it in the Constitution. Included among the myriad of constitutional violations from D.C. are federal laws that ban the use of cannabis,” said Michael Boldin, founder of the Tenth Amendment Center. “It is especially egregious when these laws are used to justify raids in states where the use and distribution of cannabis is expressly allowed by law. How many hundreds of thousands of people are going to be arrested before We the People say ‘enough is enough’? The time to end this unconstitutional, immoral, and costly federal war on people is now.” 

            Under the leadership of acting-administrator Michele Leonhart, the DEA has staged medical marijuana raids in apparent disregard of Attorney General Eric Holder's directive to respect state medical marijuana laws. Most recently, DEA agents flouted a pioneering Mendocino County (CA) ordinance to regulate medical marijuana cultivation by raiding the very first grower to register with the sheriff. Joy Greenfield, 69, had paid more than $1,000 for a permit to cultivate 99 plants in a collective garden that had been inspected and approved by the local sheriff.

         Informed that Ms. Greenfield had the support of the sheriff, the DEA agent in charge responded by saying, “I don’t care what the sheriff says.” The DEA's conduct is inconsistent with an October 2009 Department of Justice memo directing officials not to prosecute individuals “whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.”

         “At least 73% of Americans support medical marijuana, according to recent polls, and its use has been made legal in 14 states plus the District of Columbia,” said Jane Hamsher, publisher of progressive political blog and advocacy group Firedoglake.com. “Attorney General Eric Holder was crystal clear last year when he directed officials within his department not to waste federal resources interfering with state medical marijuana laws. Yet throughout the tenure of President Obama’s administration, the DEA’s raids have continued in a manner wholly inconsistent with the spirit of that directive. What part of ‘not a priority’ does Michele Leonhart not understand?”

“We are pleased that opposition to the DEA’s over-aggressive behavior is spreading across the political spectrum,” said Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project. “The agency is defiantly sending agents on missions to destroy the private property of citizens who are in full compliance with state medical marijuana laws. In doing so, the DEA is intentionally undermining the will of state voters and lawmakers who have acted to ensure that medical marijuana patients are no longer treated as criminals. Such acts are not just an insult to advocates of medical marijuana – but also demonstrate a desire to flaunt the power of the federal government in a manner that denies states the right to pass and carry out laws in the best interest of its own citizens.”

Based in large part on these recent raids, a coalition of drug policy organizations—including MPP, NORML, California NORML, the Drug Policy Alliance, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, and Students for Sensible Drug Policy—last week called on President Obama to withdraw the nomination of Ms. Leonhart to be the permanent head of the DEA.

         With more than 124,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. For more information, please visit www.mpp.org.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 28, 2010

CONTACT: Tom Angell - (202) 557-4979 or [email protected]

New Head of Pro-Legalization Police Group Praises Congressional Actions Against "War on Drugs"

Former Baltimore Cop Saw Colleagues Killed in "Drug War"

WASHINGTON, DC -- As the U.S. House passed separate bills this week to scale back penalties for crack cocaine and to create a commission to reconsider the entire "war on drugs," a group of pro-legalization police officers, judges and prosecutors announced that it has hired a former Baltimore narcotics cop as its new executive director.

Neill Franklin, a 33-year police veteran who led multi-jurisdictional anti-narcotics task forces for the Maryland State Police and training for the Baltimore Police Department, officially took the helm of the legalization group, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), on July 1.

"The 'war on drugs' has done nothing to reduce drug use," said Franklin. "But this failed prohibition policy has achieved some results: far too many cops killed in action, billions of tax dollars wasted, powerful and well-funded drug cartels and out-of-control violence in our cities. It's great to see our elected representatives finally beginning to address these problems, but there's still a lot more work to be done."

The pro-legalization criminal justice professionals of LEAP are working to change the current debate about the "war on drugs" to help more people understand that current drug policies harm public safety and that only by legalizing and regulating drugs can we actually control them and thereby reduce death, disease, crime and addiction.

To that end, LEAP is actively organizing cops, judges and prosecutors who are campaigning for Proposition 19, the statewide marijuana legalization initiative on California's ballot this November. Representatives of the organization's 100-member speakers bureau have also testified for drug policy reform measures in recent months in places like the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington.

"When my good friend Ed Toatley was killed in the line of fire during an undercover drug purchase, Maryland lost one of the best narcotics cops in our state's history," said Franklin.  "It is in his honor, and in the names of all the good cops whose lives have needlessly been lost in this failed 'drug war,' that I will work with LEAP to change these deadly drug laws."

On Tuesday the House passed H.R. 5143, which would create a blue ribbon commission to study the criminal justice system from top to bottom and recommend reforms.  Sen. Jim Webb, sponsor of the Senate companion bill, said that the commission should study drug legalization. On Wednesday, the House passed S. 1789, which would lower the disparity between sentences for crack cocaine and powder cocaine from it's current 100-to-1 ratio down to 18-to-1. That bill unanimously passed the Senate in March.

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) and its 30,000 supporters represent police, prosecutors, judges, FBI/DEA agents, US marshals and others from around the world who want to legalize and regulate all drugs after fighting on the front lines of the "war on drugs" and learning firsthand that prohibition only serves to worsen addiction and violence.  More info at http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com.

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