Change The Law! MPP 2006 Strategic Plan

nacrypt · 06-28-2006, 02:28 AM

MPP 2006 Plan (link)

Quote:

Originally Posted by nacrypt

It's time to stick it to the man!

REGULATING MARIJUANA SIMILARLY TO ALCOHOL

Initiative already qualified for the ballot in Nevada: MPP beat the Nevada state government in federal court to qualify MPP's initiative for the November 2006 ballot. If passed by a majority of voters, the initiative would remove all penalties for marijuana use by adults aged 21 and older, and marijuana would be taxed and regulated. Visit www.RegulateMarijuana.org for details. This is MPP's flagship project for 2006.
Keeping marijuana safe and legal in Alaska: In May 2005, MPP successfully beat back the Alaska governor's attempt to overturn an Alaska Supreme Court decision protecting the use and possession of up to four ounces of marijuana in the privacy of the home for adults aged 21 and older. (This protection was won in August 2003 -- and reaffirmed in September 2004 -- through litigation funded by the MPP grants program.) When the governor relaunched his effort in 2006 with a bill to impose five years in prison for small amounts of marijuana, MPP fought hard, generating an enormous amount of pressure on the Alaska Legislature to maintain Alaska's marijuana law. After intense pressure from the governor, the legislature passed the bill. However, the battle is far from over: Once signed into law, the unconstitutional marijuana provisions will quickly work their way into the courts, where we expect the fight to continue. Visit www.RegulateMarijuanaInAlaska.org for details on MPP's continued fight to uphold Alaska's marijuana law.
Landmark legislation introduced in Vermont: For the first time in many years in any state, a bill to replace marijuana prohibition with regulation was introduced in the Vermont Legislature on March 8, 2005. One of MPP's 26 full-time employees is based in Vermont for the sole purpose of building support for this legislation, which had its first hearing in the spring of 2006. This is a long-term public-education and lobbying campaign; MPP is proceeding with the realistic plan of persuading the legislature and governor to enact the legislation by 2009. Visit www.vmpp.org for details.
"War On Drug Czar" campaign: Continuing our campaign to prevent the White House drug czar from using taxpayer money to lobby against MPP's bills and initiatives, MPP filed a complaint with the Alaska elections office in 2005 because the drug czar's office didn't file any campaign expenditure reports for its campaign to defeat the marijuana initiative that appeared on the statewide ballot in November 2004. Because the Alaska government dismissed MPP's complaint, we're appealing the decision. In addition, we plan to sue the drug czar in federal court to prevent him from using taxpayer money to run anti-marijuana ads in Nevada in the fall of 2006 just before the electorate votes on our ballot initiative there. Finally, we're continuing to lobby Congress to eliminate all funding for the drug czar's deceptive advertising campaign. (Congress has reduced its funding for the program from $180 million in 2002 to $100 million in 2006.) Please visit www.mpp.org/WarOnDrugCzar for details.
Lobbying Congress to end the federal prohibition on marijuana: MPP has identified a dozen U.S. House members who support the idea of de-federalizing all marijuana laws -- not just medical marijuana. Many are saying that they would cosponsor such a bill, and MPP has identified a high-profile member of Congress who is interested in introducing the legislation. Getting the first-ever broad-based bill introduced in Congress will spark a huge, lively, national debate about whether marijuana should be prohibited or regulated in the states.
Organizing celebrities: One of MPP's 26 full-time employees is based in Hollywood for the purpose of organizing celebrities to speak out in favor of ending marijuana prohibition. Please visit www.mpp-vip.org for details.
Local tax-and-regulate initiatives in California: In November 2004, Oakland voters passed a local ballot initiative calling for the city to tax and regulate marijuana as soon as possible under California law. More importantly, the initiative made all private adult marijuana offenses Oakland's lowest law enforcement priority. In 2006, the MPP grants program is funding campaigns in Santa Cruz, West Hollywood, Santa Barbara, and Santa Monica to place similar measures on their November ballots. Passing four out of four initiatives on the same day will spark a national debate -- and hopefully legislation in the state capitol to tax and regulate marijuana in California.

REMOVING CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Illinois, Minnesota, New York, and Rhode Island: We've retained professional lobbyists in the capitals of these four states for the purpose of passing our medical marijuana legislation through each state legislature, similar to how Hawaii, Maryland, and Vermont passed medical marijuana bills in 2000, 2003, and 2004, respectively. We expect to pass our legislation in Illinois, Minnesota, and New York sometime in 2007 and/or 2008. As for Rhode Island, we kicked off the year with an enormous victory, when the legislature overrode the governor's veto of MPP's medical marijuana bill in January, making Rhode Island the 11th medical marijuana state! Please see www.mpp.org/ IL ... and www.mpp.org/MN ... and www.mpp.org/NY ... and www.mpp.org/ RI for details.
Lobbying Congress to pass medical marijuana legislation: MPP employs a full-time lobbyist who is building support for U.S. Rep. Barney Frank's (D-MA) medical marijuana legislation; if enacted into law, states would be able to determine their own medical marijuana policies without federal interference. We're also lobbying the House to pass U.S. Rep. Sam Farr's (D-CA) bill that would allow defendants in federal court to avoid being convicted if they can show that their marijuana-related offense was medical in nature. But our biggest focus is building support for the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment, which would prevent the U.S. Justice Department (which includes the DEA) from spending any money to raid medical marijuana patients and providers in the 10 states where medical marijuana is legal. This amendment received a record 161 votes in June 2005 (13 more than in 2004); we need 218 votes to pass it through the House and over to the Senate, which has never voted on medical marijuana legislation.
Passing local ballot initiatives: MPP's grants program -- whose budget is entirely separate from the budget for all of MPP's other work -- provided the funding for the two medical marijuana initiative victories in Traverse City and Ferndale, Michigan, in November 2005. To continue with this trend, the grants program encourages activists to launch and win additional ballot initiatives in their local communities in 2006. The grants program will also fund proposals to lobby city councils and county boards of supervisors to pass local marijuana policy reform legislation.
Building a national coalition of supportive organizations: MPP is reaching out to national health and medical associations that are supportive of medical marijuana -- including the American Nurses Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Public Health Association -- to activate their dues-paying members and lobbyists to lobby for medical marijuana legislation on Capitol Hill. In addition, MPP is launching a campaign to persuade the American Medical Association to adopt a positive position on medical marijuana, which would surely tip the balance in favor of medical marijuana legislation in Congress.

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