E-Actions for Freedom

Help MPP fight injustice and bad laws in 2004

Dear Friend:

Federal officials are subverting California's medical marijuana law
again, and California prosecutors are helping them do it.

After six months of pursuing the case, a California prosecutor
suddenly dropped state charges against a middle-aged couple who grew
marijuana for their own medicinal use. Then, as soon as the two were
deceived into thinking their troubles were over, federal officials --
invited by the state prosecutor -- swarmed into the courtroom and
arrested the couple on federal charges.

This elaborate ruse was enacted for the sole purpose of getting around
California's medical marijuana law. It is an outrage.

If you're upset about this and want to do something to fight back,
please consider working for the Marijuana Policy Project on one of our
upcoming ballot initiative campaigns.

I co-founded MPP nine years ago because of my deeply held conviction
that marijuana prohibition is wrong -- and that I could help end it.
If you share this conviction and are able to move to a different state
to work for relatively low wages from February to June (and perhaps
all the way to November), please visit http://www.mpp.org/jobs to
learn more.

If you cannot work for one of our state campaigns but instead want to
help pay for others to do so, please see http://www.mpp.org/donate0905
to make a financial donation.

David Dean Davidson, 52, and Cynthia Barcelo Blake, 53, grew marijuana
on their own property for their own use. They had a doctor's
recommendation to take marijuana for their illnesses. Yet they were
arrested, and Tehama County prosecutor Lynn Strom pursued a case
against them for six months. Then, in the courtroom, she suddenly
dropped the charges.

Thinking the case was dismissed, the couple's lawyers were lured into
the judge's chambers. While the lawyers were absent, the feds swarmed
into the courtroom and arrested Davidson and Blake on federal charges.
The lawyers were deprived of the opportunity to advise their clients
of their rights. If convicted, the couple now faces a mandatory
minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. Please see
http://www.mpp.org/states/site/quicknews.cgi?key=6004 or
http://www.mpp.org/states/site/quicknews.cgi?key=6040 to read more
about this outrageous story.

Strom "knew she couldn't win," defense attorney Tony Serra said. "So,
she concocted this terrible, illegal, underhanded scheme to separate
David and Cindy from their attorneys and transition them into federal
jurisdiction, where she knows that medical necessity is not a
defense." I'm sure you agree that the people of California don't pay
Strom her salary so she can undermine the law they passed by a
statewide ballot initiative.

MPP staffers are working seven days a week to end marijuana
prohibition so that outrages like this will become a thing of the
past. More good people are needed to do this important work, however.

MPP's most pressing need is for an experienced political organizer
(from anywhere in the country) to mobilize voters in Vermont to
pressure the state legislature to pass MPP's medical marijuana bill.
Please visit http://www.mpp.org/jobs and http://www.mpp.org/VT for
more information.

Other job opportunities -- in four other states that I will name in a
future e-mail alert -- include (1) collecting signatures for one of
MPP's ballot initiatives that will appear on the November 2004 ballot,
(2) doing door-to-door canvassing to persuade voters who are on the
fence, and (3) for those who have management or canvassing experience,
organizing teams of petitioners and canvassers. You must be willing to
travel for these positions.

Sincerely,

Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

P.S. Please consider visiting http://www.mpp.org/donate0905 to make
one financial donation this year or -- better yet -- to join our
monthly credit card pledge program. Donations early in the year
allow us to plan for the rest of the year. Thanks in advance for
anything you can do to help.

======================================================================

The Marijuana Policy Project hopes that each of the 41,000 subscribers
on this e-mail list will make at least one financial donation to MPP's
work in 2004. MPP will be able to tackle all of the projects in its
2004 strategic plan -- http://www.mpp.org/2004plan -- if you and other
allies are generous enough to donate the following sums in 2004:

TYPE OF DONOR ..... $ GOALS FOR 2004 ..... $ RAISED IN 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------
monthly pledgers ........ $60,000 ............. $4,380 ....
less than $1,000 ....... $583,000 ............. $5,740 ....
$1,000 donors .......... $300,000 ................. $0 ....
$1,001 to $25,000 ...... $200,000 ............. $5,000 ....
$25,001 to $100,000 .... $500,000 ............ $60,000 ....
$100,001 and up ...... $1,000,000 ........... $145,000 ....
-----------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS ............... $2,643,000 ........... $220,120 ....

Help keep DownsizeDC.com Radio Ads on the air

Downsize DC: Radio Ads

These ads are pretty cool. They're put out by the American Liberty Foundation, which is also quite cool.

Read the ads, listen to them if you can, and then donate some money to help keep them on the air. Three simple steps to becoming an instant freedom activist. Who would have believed it could be so easy?

• "We Believe..."  Play believe.mp3 (935k)
• "Talk Radio"  Play talk_radio.mp3 (935k)
• "Broken Promises"  Play promises.mp3 (935k)
• "Suzie and the Senator"  Play senator.mp3 (936k)

Donate to the Drug Policy Alliance

Received via e-mail from the Drug Policy Alliance:

We won a big victory earlier this month! By refusing to review a lower court's support for a doctor's right to recommend medical marijuana to patients in need, the U.S. Supreme Court became an unexpected ally in the fight for saner drug policies.

This victory, along with your willingness to take action and demand that our elected leaders end the wasteful and ineffective "war on drugs," is a source both of inspiration and optimism for the future.

But make no mistake - with John Ashcroft calling the shots in Washington, and other hard-liners in statehouses around the nation, drug policies based on reason, compassion and justice will take all of our collective effort in the coming years.

That is why I need to ask you to take another step and expand your efforts by making an immediate contribution of $50 or more to Drug Policy Alliance. Your support is essential if we are to capitalize on recent victories and take action at the state level to make marijuana legal for medical purposes.

Please donate to the Drug Policy Alliance right now:
http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=20747&l=6876

We will only ask you, our valued activists, for financial support every now and then. But given the enormity of the challenge, we need to call upon all who share our vision for the future.

The so-called "War on Drugs" is now in its fourth decade and has cost this country hundreds of billions of dollars and countless wrecked lives. The new drug warriors like Attorney General John Ashcroft are making the Drug War bigger, meaner and more wasteful of our tax dollars.

Your contribution of $50 or more is urgently needed to expand our efforts to end the Drug War and bring reason, compassion and justice to our nation's drug policies.

Together, we can put an end to the excesses and injustices of the Drug War. Join the fight today!

Thank you!

Ethan Nadelmann
Executive Director

Help fund promotion efforts for "BUSTED: The Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Police Encounters"

My friend, Troy Dayton is working on the winter release of a controversial new instructional video called BUSTED: The Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Police Encounters. From what I know of Troy, if he's working on it, it's a good thing. It certainly sounds good -- if you've ever been subject to a less-than-ideal police encounter, you know that it's not as fun as it appears. This is a message Troy asked me to pass on, and I hope you'll act to help him and Flex Your Rights.

This film teaches people what the laws are and it exposes all the tricks and intimidation tactics that police use and how to legally avoid them. Believe it or not there are a few rights we still have in America. This movie shows you how to use them through realistically recreating the actual stress of real police encounters.

We’ve all had friends get busted for stupid things because they weren’t prepared to assert their rights or because they were unclear on specifically what their rights were. Especially when you’re not doing anything illegal, it’s our civic duty to not consent to warrantless searches to ensure that cops play by the rules and to be an example for others.

Check it out at www.flexyourrights.org. They’ve gotten some great testimonials from some big names and the website has screenshots, useful information about the laws, and a place to donate to the effort.

Flex Your Rights needs to raise $50,000 by January 1 to pay for media, distribution, advertising, and outreach efforts powerful enough to hit their goal of having 100,000 people view BUSTED in the first year. Anyone who donates $35 or more gets a free copy of BUSTED when it comes out this winter. There are other benefits for giving more. Because the work they are doing now is geared towards creating exposure around the winter release, $1 donated now is worth like $10 given four months from now. All donations are tax-deductible. Put “friend of Troy’s” in the notes field.

You can donate via secure server here.

Troy has been raising money for non-profits for years and he has never asked me to donate before. I can definitely see how this could go big and make a measurable difference in people’s lives.

BUSTED is a production of the Flex Your Rights Foundation made possible by a grant from the Marijuana Policy Project. It’s directed by award-winning director, Roger Sorkin and narrated by Ira Glasser, who was the president of the ACLU for 23 years.

Action Works: Senators to Question DEA Nominee on medical Marijuana

This is a success story, not an action...though I wholeheartedly support the Marijuana Policy Project, and encourage you to assist them in their efforts in any way possible. They provide a link to donate to this campaign at the end of the letter.

I sent a fax to Senator Feinstein on this issue, and it's very nice to see that she's finally going to take a step to help defend the many medical marijuana patients and providers who are being abused, harassed, and incarcerated by the federal government.
===========================================

==============================================

It appears that between three and five U.S. senators, including
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), will be submitting written questions
about medical marijuana to Karen Tandy, President Bush's nominee for
DEA administrator. This is a major achievement for MPP's "Don't
Confirm the Raids" campaign, a grassroots and direct lobbying effort
aimed at making medical marijuana the focus of the DEA confirmation
hearings. (Please see http://DontConfirm.org .)

As an added bonus, MPP, with the help of Suzanne Pfeil, a medical
marijuana patient with post-polio syndrome, has revealed Karen Tandy
to be nothing more than a coward. After Tandy's hearing before the
Senate Judiciary Committee, Pfeil waited patiently to hand her a
letter. Instead of approaching Pfeil, Tandy tried to sneak away
through a back door. Undeterred, Pfeil actually chased Tandy down the
halls of Congress -- in her wheelchair -- to hand-deliver her letter.
(To read about -- and see pictures of -- Pfeil's adventure, please see
http://DontConfirm.org/confront.html .)

Without the work of the campaign, Karen Tandy could have been
confirmed as DEA administrator without ever revealing her position on
medical marijuana. Now, her position will likely be made public. If
she doesn't signal an intention to stop Asa Hutchinson's policy of
raiding the homes and cooperatives of patients and providers acting in
accordance with California's medical marijuana laws, MPP will call for
senators to oppose Karen Tandy's confirmation.

Sen. Feinstein's decision to submit questions represents a milestone
for medical marijuana activism. This is her first official action to
reform the DEA's policy of aggressively targeting patients. Her past
silence had only emboldened the DEA.

=============================================

Sen. Feinstein's small step toward developing a medical marijuana
policy consistent with the laws of her state and the views of her
constituents came only after stories of the DEA raids were personally
delivered to her office by the people who have had their hands cuffed,
their medicine confiscated, guns pointed at their heads, and their
loved ones imprisoned -- all at the hands of the DEA.

In April, MPP brought Valerie Corral and Ashley Epis to Washington --
accompanied by Steph Sherer, executive director of Americans for Safe
Access (ASA) -- to share their experiences with Sen. Feinstein's
staff. Corral, who uses marijuana to treat her epilepsy, is the
director of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM), a
Santa Cruz cooperative that was raided by the DEA last September.
Ashley Epis is the eight-year-old daughter of Bryan Epis, a medical
marijuana patient and caregiver currently serving a 10-year federal
prison sentence for conspiring to grow marijuana for the Chico Medical
Marijuana Caregivers and to treat his own pain and disabilities
sustained in a near-fatal car accident.

Within the last week, a number of additional actions increased the
pressure on Sen. Feinstein:

* On Tuesday, ASA held a press conference in front of
Sen. Feinstein's San Francisco office featuring California-
approved patients, providers, and families who have suffered
from DEA raids on their homes and cooperatives. Twenty-three
of the people most directly affected signed and delivered a
letter to the senator requesting that she take action on
Wednesday to protect them from further DEA attacks. (See
http://DontConfirm.org/feinstein_letter.html .)

* In Washington, D.C., MPP sponsored the visit of the above-
mentioned Suzanne Pfeil, an active member of the WAMM
cooperative. Suzanne, who uses marijuana to treat muscle
spasticity and the pain of nerve degeneration, traveled
3,000 miles to educate the D.C. media about Sen. Feinstein's
refusal to support California patients.

* Valerie Corral followed up her April visit with an open
letter to Sen. Feinstein that she delivered on Monday.
(An Oakland Tribune article describing this letter is posted
at http://www.mpp.org/CA/news_4468.html .)

The day before Tandy's hearing -- in the midst of all this activity --
Sen. Feinstein's office called MPP and ASA to say that the senator
would submit written questions about medical marijuana.

Medical marijuana supporters should be encouraged by these events.
They demonstrate that even our most ardent opponents can be swayed by
personal stories and public pressure. If you have ever considered
lobbying your member of Congress, you should know that one or two
people can make a difference.

MPP is indebted to Valerie Corral, Ashley Epis, Suzanne Pfeil, and
Steph Sherer for traveling to D.C. to share their stories with
policymakers.

==============================================
To show your support for this campaign with a financial contribution,
please visit http://DontConfirm/support .

Donate to DRCNet (and get a sweet free book)

DRCNet is one of the best drug law reform groups in the country. Their weekly e-mail newsletter alone makes them worth supporting. You can find an excellent long excerpt from Jacob Sullum's book (their special $35 premium) here.

Note the desperation indicated near the end of the request. I donated $35.

Dear friends:

DRCNet is pleased to announce a new book offer: "Saying
Yes: In Defense of Drug Use," a new, scholarly work by
author Jacob Sullum of the Reason Foundation. "Saying
Yes," published by Tarcher/Putnam, strives to accurately
portray the controlled responsible use of drugs that is the
norm, not for all, but for most drug users. This is a
controversial notion in our society and to some extent even
in the drug reform movement itself. Whether you are
inclined to agree or disagree with Sullum's central point,
we hope you'll read "Saying Yes" and to hear and consider
Sullum's evidence and arguments in full. Just visit
http://www.drcnet.org/donate/ and donate $35 or more, and
DRCNet will send you a copy for free.

Your donation will help in a second, very important way.
The drug reform movement is in a financial crisis of
greater proportions than I have ever seen in my nearly ten
years of involvement. While some help is on the way from
the movement's major grant program, the Tides Fund for Drug
Policy Reform, they have unfortunately chosen a timetable
that won't see funds disbursed until September. That means
your help is very much needed in the meantime -- DRCNet
literally will be unable to pay its bills or payroll or
keep its online petitions to Congress running through even
next month, without your support.

So please visit http://www.drcnet.org/donate/ to make a
generous donation by credit card or to print out a form to
send in with your donation by mail -- or just send your
check or money order to: DRCNet, P.O. Box 18402,
Washington, DC 20036 -- and contact us for instructions if
you'd like to make a contribution of stock.

This is some of the advance praise that "Saying Yes: In
Defense of Drug Use" has received:

"Jacob Sullum has produced a thoughtful, sane, and logical
analysis of our drug laws. Is that even LEGAL?"
- Dave Barry, syndicated columnist

"Saying Yes is a powerful refutation of the pharmacological
prejudices underlying the war on drugs. Jacob Sullum
highlights the injustice of punishing people for their
politically incorrect choice of intoxicants."
- Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil
Liberties Union; professor of law, New York Law School

"Sullum pits the truth against the lies of the drug
prohibitionists."
- Thomas Szasz, professor emeritus of psychiatry, SUNY
Upstate Medical University

"I've never used a recreational drug (or even had a sip of
alcohol) in my life, but Jacob Sullum makes a great case to
stop the drug wars. He exposes the tricks of the drug
warriors, who scam the crowd with huckster patter about
magical substances that force people to do evil."
- Penn Jillette, the larger, louder half of Penn & Teller

"Jacob Sullum shows that drug use is far from an all-or-
nothing phenomenon and that all use is not abuse. He puts
the erroneous claims of prohibitionists into historical
perspective."
- Mark Stepnoski, former NFL player (Dallas Cowboys,
Tennessee/Houston Oilers); president, Texas NORML

I have read Jacob Sullum's book and learned from and
enjoyed it, and I believe you will too. So visit
http://www.drcnet.org/donate/ and donate $35 or more to
make your contribution and get your free copy! (You can
also request other books we offer, as well as
StopTheDrugWar.org t-shirts, mugs and mousepads.)

Please note that donations to the Drug Reform Coordination
Network are not tax-deductible. If you wish to make a tax-
deductible donation to support our educational work, make
your check payable to DRCNet Foundation, same address.
Again, visit http://www.drcnet.org/donate/ to join, donate
and order your free copy of "Saying Yes." And make sure to
check out issue #289 of The Week Online, coming out
tomorrow morning, to read a review of "Saying Yes" by
DRCNet writer/editor Phil Smith. Thank you for your
support.

Sincerely,

David Borden
Executive Director

P.S. Visit http://www.cato-institute.org/events/030529bf.html
for links to watch Jacob Sullum's book talk live at the
Cato Institute, noon today (Thursday, 5/29), and Real Audio
to listen to afterward.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Subscribe: http://www.drcnet.org/Signup.html
Unsubscribe or change address: mailto:listhelp@drcnet.org

Donate to Anti-Slavery Freedom Biker Campaign

On June 19, 1865, General Gordon Granger and his union soldiers landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the civil war had ended and that the enslaved were now free.  This was two and a half years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.  The celebration of the slaves' freedom on June 19th was coined “Juneteenth” and is still celebrated in many communities across America. We live during a time where news travels in a nanosecond, so it may seem unbelievable that the word did not reach Texas and parts of Louisiana until two years later.  However, the presence of Confederate troops in the region was so strong that Union forces claimed that their regiments would not be able to overcome Confederate resistance if there was mass rebellion. As you know, most Americans have not received word that slavery still exists and did not end in 1865.  But Alexander Dynan, a  recent high school graduate, is leading a team of “freedom bikers” 1,600 miles from Seattle to Santa Barbara to let people know that the fight against slavery is not over and that we need financial help to continue fighting. Today we are asking you, members of the American Anti-Slavery Group Freedom Action Network, to forward this chain letter to 10 friends in the hopes that they might give $10 dollars to help Alexander’s goal of raising $16,000 to support vital human rights monitoring missions that will help free and assist individuals that are enslaved.  To support Alexander's goal of $16,000, you can click here to support vital field missions. Or send a check to: 198 Tremont St., #421 Boston, MA 02116. Tax-deductible donations should be made out to the American Anti-Slavery Group. Please also note on your check that it is for the Bike Campaign. To read more, view the team's itinerary, and send a message of support, click here. Watch the meter of support as donations pour in toward the goal of $16,000. With your help the American Anti-Slavery Group can continue its work in communities as modern-day “General Grangers,” letting people know that they are free from bondage and that the world community is demanding that they never be enslaved again.   Take a minute to send this message to ten of your friends. Click below:  Tell-a-friend! If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for iAbolish Freedom Action Network.