This just in from Medical Marijuana Project:
"Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit."
— White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske, at a Fresno, Calif., press conference yesterday
This will not be much of a diary - I am having server troubles today! I am just forwarding this email from Medical Marijuana Project that I just received.
Legalization of Marijuana is one of the most important civil liberties issues facing Americans. 90% of all drug interdiction efforts are aimed at marijuana. The Denver voters voted not once, but twice, to stop marijuana arrests. Yet the response from the Denver prosecution / police industry is to increase arrests.
It is truly a culture war issue. Junkies are junkies but pot smokers are liberal free-thinkers. This is why there is so much effort is put into this issue by those with a Statist mentality. The same people who promulgate torture and indefinite detention. I see the issues of Drug War, and serious human rights abuses over the last 8 years as closely related issues.
I hope that people consider supporting MPP, they have just a tiny group of supporters, yet we can see many successes over the last few years.
Sorry - I won't be able to hang around too much today, gotta put up a new server for my business.
Not again.
In fact — and it's getting a little tiresome to keep repeating it — the esteemed Institute of Medicine, American Nurses Association, American Public Health Association, American Academy of HIV Medicine, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Lymphoma Foundation of America, American Academy of HIV Medicine, and dozens of other medical organizations recognize marijuana's medical value.
What's more, President Obama's own statements on the campaign trail about marijuana's medical efficacy run counter to his new drug czar's statements yesterday.
We need to stop this in its tracks. Would you please speak out against this ridiculous, outdated argument:
- Please use MPP's online action center to e-mail the president about the drug czar's statement.
- Please call the drug czar's office at (202) 395-6700 to politely complain that we're still hearing this sort of nonsense.
We need to make sure the drug czar receives the message loud and clear that the anti-science Bush era is over.
Thank you,
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 $2.35 million that MPP can raise from the rest of the planet in 2009. This means that your donation today will be doubled.
P.P.S. You can opt out of receiving fundraising mentions in the e-mail alerts I send you in 2009 by visiting http://www.mpp.org/... at your convenience.