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Marijuana on the Ballot
Leading Reformers Available for Comment on Election Night
11-03-06|MPP

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With marijuana-related initiatives on the ballot in three states and in local communities across the United States, officials of the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), the nation's largest marijuana policy reform organization, will be available for election-night analysis in Washington, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. This year’s marijuana initiatives include:

Nevada: Question 7, MPP's flagship effort this year, would regulate and tax marijuana statewide in a manner similar to alcohol.

Colorado: Amendment 44 would permit adults to possess up to one ounce of marijuana.

South Dakota: Initiated Measure 4 would permit seriously ill patients to possess and grow marijuana for medical purposes, making South Dakota the 12th state with a medical marijuana law.

Local "lowest priority" initiatives: Local ballot measures in Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, and Santa Monica, California, as well as Missoula County, Montana and Eureka Springs, Arkansas would direct local law enforcement agencies to make private, adult marijuana offenses their lowest priority. These measures are similar to existing laws in Seattle and Oakland.

Massachusetts public policy questions: Nonbinding measures in the first and twelfth Plymouth Representative Districts urge making possession of up to one ounce of marijuana a civil violation subject only to a $100 fine. Measures in the seventh Norfolk Representative District and third Middlesex Senate District urge allowing the medical use of marijuana with a doctor's recommendation.

MPP Executive Director Rob Kampia, along with Question 7 campaign manager Neal Levine, will be available for interviews in Las Vegas. MPP Director of Government Relations Aaron Houston will be available in Washington, D.C., and Director of Communications Bruce Mirken will be available in San Francisco. In addition to Nevada's Question 7, MPP has lent support to Measure 4 in South Dakota and the lowest priority initiatives in California and Montana.

With more than 20,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit www.MarijuanaPolicy.org.

Date: 11/3/2006