cannabisnews.com: Celebrities Join Call for Rational MJ Policies Celebrities Join Call for Rational MJ Policies Posted by CN Staff on April 06, 2004 at 17:38:00 PT For Immediate Release Source: Common Dreams Hollywood -- Comedian Bill Maher, former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura (I), former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, M.D., former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson (R), and singer/ actor Michelle Phillips are helping the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) launch an effort to enlist celebrities and other public figures in the battle for sensible marijuana laws. MPP, America's largest marijuana policy reform organization, has hired a new director of VIP relations, Francis DellaVecchia, to oversee the effort. The first project for DellaVecchia, a Los Angeles-based writer, director, and board member of the Open Fist Theatre Company as well as former candidate for mayor of Los Angeles, is to expand MPP's advisory board, which now includes Maher, Ventura, Elders, Johnson, and Phillips, among others.Phillips, an accomplished actor who first became famous as a member of The Mamas and the Papas, has helped launch the effort with a letter to her colleagues in the entertainment industry. Noting that there are nearly 700,000 arrests every year on marijuana charges -- 88 percent for simple possession, not sale or manufacture -- Phillips wrote, "Arresting adult marijuana users does nothing to keep marijuana out of the hands of children, but arresting adults does tear families apart and ruin careers. I support MPP because it is the most professional and credible organization working to change these harmful policies."Last year MPP led the successful lobbying effort for Maryland's medical marijuana law, the first such measure signed into law by a Republican governor. Protection of medical marijuana patients will remain a top priority this year as the organization lobbies for legislation to end the Drug Enforcement Administration's raids on patients and caregivers obeying the provisions of California's Proposition 215 and other state medical marijuana laws.Projects planned for this year range from private soirees to concerts and other public events. MPP has also created a special VIP Web site -- http://www.mpp-vip.org/ "All of my professional endeavors have mixed culture and politics, so this project is a perfect fit," DellaVecchia said. "The public is increasingly coming to see that America's current marijuana laws are a destructive failure, and this effort will give new momentum to the drive for policies based on reason, science, and compassion."Complete Title: Bill Maher, Jesse Ventura, Joycelyn Elders Join Call for Rational Marijuana Policies Contact: Marijuana Policy ProjectBruce Mirken, 202-543-7972 or 415-668-6403 Francis DellaVecchia, 310-452-1879Source: Common Dreams (ME)Published: April 06, 2004Copyright: 2004 Common DreamsContact: editor commondreams.org Website: http://www.commondreams.org/Related Article & Web Site:Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Celebrities Join Legal Marijuana Campaignhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18595.shtmlCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #10 posted by John Tyler on April 07, 2004 at 17:49:52 PT 420 money in circulation Here is an idea to see how much economic strength we have. Write 420 anywhere on your paper money. Spend it as usual. Lets see how much "420" money we can get into circulation. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by E_Johnson on April 07, 2004 at 11:11:51 PT We're making it without the Democrats By the time Kerry gets elected, there won't be much left for him to do to protect us, because we've done a really good job of mounting our own defense and protecting our own community.Hats off to all of us!Poop on all of them!:-) [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by OverwhelmSam on April 07, 2004 at 07:31:31 PT Way To Go MPP! It's great to see news like this. Celebrities can be a very powerful influence on the population. Good job MPP. Really makes me feel like I'm getting my money's worth from my monthly donations. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by kaptinemo on April 07, 2004 at 04:24:42 PT: This is the result of challenging the Commerce Clause.Namely, the fact the cannabis was to be grown and consumed within California State borders, thus removing the legal rationale for Federal intervention as it *hadn't crossed State lines*.The ramifications of this are obvious. The Fed position has *always* been based upon the assumption that *all* cannabis trade was *inter*state commerce. Everything they do is based upon this unproven legal fiction. This makes clear a difference between inter- and *intra*state commerce. Soon, every State may claim the right to do the same. So long as it is literally 'home grown', and remains within the particular State, the Feds cannot legally, Constitutionally interfere. Unless they actually do track a shipment from one State to another, they are forced to back off.And why would the various States of the Union support this? Because this ruling has ramifications BEYOND just the immediate one of concern to our community. It is a rolled-up newspaper to whack the snout of the Fed pig seeking to jam his face and trotters into the affairs of the States. A clear delineation now exists as to whether a commodity is State or Federal jurisdiction. 'State's Rights' has *finally* come to mean something other than code for 'legalized' racial discrimination; now it serves to protect the citizens of the sovereign States against unwarranted Federal intrusion.A huge chunk of the prohib wall has dropped, swiftly and silently, to the ground. The end isn't around the corner yet...but it's getting a lot closer. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Patrick on April 06, 2004 at 21:14:20 PT 292,964,508 People in the US according to the US POPClock http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.htmland only two, 2, two people in all the land will have "permission" to grow marijuana! At that point, Ms. Raich & Monson will become the first persons legally authorized to grow marijuana under U.S. law aside from the government's official NIDA-sponsored farm at the University of Missisisippi.So what is it again that the DEA does with millions of our tax dollars besides chasing the other 292,964,506 of us who don't have permission?The whole idea of legal or illegal drugs is such a crock. Life is a drug and then you die. yada yada yada It's either all drugs with real information and availability or it's prisons, corruption, and greed which is pretty much basically the status quo. Do the math. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Max Flowers on April 06, 2004 at 19:19:05 PT This injunction This (the injunction) is awesome, but still I would like to know the exact legal moves that it will take to ensure that DEA and DOJ, and EVERYONE who will feel compelled to continue oppressing medical cannabis patients, stops entirely such harassment! I fear they will just keep on doing what they want, with the illegal collusion of police, DAs and the judiciary. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by FoM on April 06, 2004 at 18:52:25 PT Press Release from DPFCA DPFCA: US Judge to Issue Injunction Protecting Prop 215 Patients Raich & Monson SAN FRANCISCO, April 6, 2004. In a ground breaking victory for medical marijuana patients, US District Judge said he would issue a preliminary injunction to Prop. 215 patients Angel Raich and Diane Monson protecting their right to possess and cultivate marijuana for personal medical use under federal law. The government did not contest that the injunction was mandated by a recent 9th Circuit decision -- http://www.canorml.org/news/raich9thcircuitruling.html but announced that it would challenge the latter by seeking a writ of certiorari from the Supreme Court. Judge Jenkins will formally issue the injunction in a week or two. At that point, Ms. Raich & Monson will become the first persons legally authorized to grow marijuana under U.S. law aside from the government's official NIDA-sponsored farm at the University of Missisisippi. Release by Dale Gieringer. -- ---- Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858 // canorml igc.org2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by FoM on April 06, 2004 at 18:27:15 PT EJ Very True NORML and MPP are both necessary. They are different and they both do what they feel they should. I have always been concerned when one organization thinks it has all the answers. That bothers me because then I think of the governments ways. Little pockets of activists spread all around the Internet and a few good organizations make the big difference I believe. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on April 06, 2004 at 18:18:30 PT NORML needs some love too "I support MPP because it is the most professional and credible organization working to change these harmful policies."Ouch! NORML and MPP each have their own job to do. Two organizations are better than one. Then neither organization has to be tied down by the need to satisfy EVERYONE in the community. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Robbie on April 06, 2004 at 17:50:20 PT Good for them!! Nice to see some positive activism in a political year that will shun the question. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment