MPP's third annual party at the Playboy Mansion drew more than 600 guests June 12, including supermodel and MPP Advisory Board member Adrianne Curry and many other supporters. Click the headline to see more photos of the event. |
- Puerto Rico Considers Taxing and Regulating Marijuana
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A former health secretary and an ex-university president want to legalize marijuana in Puerto Rico, saying it will reduce a burgeoning prison population and prevent young adults from being exposed to violent criminals. Under the plan, marijuana would be taxed as liquor and tobacco are now, with proceeds going toward drug-treatment programs, said former Health Secretary Enrique Vazquez Quintana. ... "The fight against drugs, using punishment, has not worked," said Jose Manuel Saldana, former president of the University of Puerto Rico. "This is a social reality." ... Lawmakers have said they are open to discussing the legalization of marijuana but only for medical purposes. ... Corrections Secretary Miguel Pereira said he favors drug-treatment programs and the legalization of marijuana — but only for medical use. (June 19, 2008)
- Local California Police Raid Paralyzed Medical Marijuana Patient's Home
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[Charles] Monson, 45, was paralyzed in 1979 when he and a friend decided to go for a swim. "I dove under a wave, hit a shallow spot and broke my neck," Monson recalls. ... he says he lives in constant pain and discomfort. ... When California voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996 ... Monson says he started to grow marijuana. ... [A] dozen Orange police officers armed with assault rifles and bullet-proof vests swarmed into his modest home and handcuffed both his house guest and care provider before coming into Monson's bedroom, demanding he get out of bed. (June 19, 2008)
- MPP Op-Ed Blasts ONDCP's Fear Mongering About Marijuana Potency
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In what is becoming a nearly annual ritual, on June 12 the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy released yet another report filled with dire warnings about rising marijuana potency. And the U.S. media -- led by the Associated Press, by far the nation's most powerful wire service -- once again mistakenly treated the story as if it was actual news. ... And not acknowledged anywhere, either by AP or most other news outlets, is the very large body of evidence suggesting that the whole "it's not your father's marijuana" scare story is phony. ... [T]he minimum acceptable THC content for medical marijuana in the Netherlands is over one-third higher than the level that has Walters and Volkow in such a tizzy. [And a researcher noted that] marijuana smokers simply smoke less when the product is more potent, just as drinkers imbibe smaller quantities of bourbon or vodka than they do of beer. (June 13, 2008)
- MPP Tells New York Times California County Bans on Dispensaries Are Mistake
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Medical marijuana was legalized under state law by California voters in 1996, and since then 11 other states have followed, even though federal law still bans the sale of any marijuana. ... a local ballot measure on June 3 ...called for new limits on the drug in Mendocino [County]. .In recent years, dozens of local governments have banned or restricted cannabis clubs, more formally known as dispensaries, that provide medical marijuana ... "I think there's no doubt there's been abuse, but there's probably no system created by human beings that hasn't been abused," said Bruce Mirken, the director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington ... "But the answer to that is not the wholesale throwing out the baby with the bath water." (June 9, 2008)
- MPP OPED Says Research Demonstrates Marijuana's Anti-Cancer Properties
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Once again the cancer diagnosis of a well-known national figure — in this case Sen. Ted Kennedy — has sparked a flurry of interest in efforts to treat and cure this frustrating, complex and deadly illness. One of the most promising areas of research involves a group of chemicals whose origins may seem shocking. The chemicals, called cannabinoids, are the active components in marijuana. (June 7, 2008)
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New York Assembly Passes Medical Marijuana Bill
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ALBANY, NEW YORK - The New York Assembly passed a bill today that would protect New Yorkers with life threatening or debilitating conditions from arrest for using medical marijuana when their doctors believe it would be the best treatment option, 79-48. The bill is similar to the medical marijuana bill the Assembly passed last year. The version passed today was modified to address concerns voiced by members of the Senate, who have until June 23 to pass the bill before the legislature recesses. (June 18, 2008)
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New Report Co-Authored by SUNY Albany Researcher: Teen Marijuana Use Down in States With Medical Marijuana Laws
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ALBANY - A newly updated analysis released today, co-authored by Dr. Mitch Earleywine, associate professor of psychology at the Albany campus of the State University of New York, shows that state medical marijuana laws have not increased teen marijuana use, despite fears that have been raised when such measures are considered. Teen marijuana use has consistently declined in states with medical marijuana laws, and generally more markedly than national averages. (June 16, 2008)
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CDC Survey: As Many Teens Smoke Marijuana as Cigarettes, Cigarette Use Dropping Faster
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -Two just-released federal reports indicate that regulation of tobacco continues to produce a steady drop in teen cigarette use and teen access to tobacco, with current cigarette use by high school students dropping markedly faster than use of marijuana. The just-released 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports rates of current cigarette use and current marijuana use among teens in grades nine through 12 in a statistical tie at 20 percent and 19.7 percent, respectively. The cigarette use figure represents a sharp drop from the 2005 survey, when it was 23 percent. Marijuana use, at 20.2 percent in 2005, showed a much smaller decline. (June 4, 2008)
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New York Patients Announce Medical Marijuana TV Ad Campaign
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ALBANY, NEW YORK — Hoping to build support in Albany for legislation to protect seriously ill New Yorkers from arrest for using doctor-recommended medical marijuana, patients at a press conference today unveiled a new TV ad that begins airing today across the state. The bill has passed the Assembly, but has not been acted on in the state Senate. Bill sponsor Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard N. Gottfried called on his Senate colleagues to finish the work the Assembly started last year when it passed a medical marijuana bill, 95-52. Following the press conference, patients from across the state joined Aldrich to lobby senators to support medical marijuana legislation. (June 3, 2008)
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New York Patients to Announce TV Ad Campaign, Urge Senate to Pass Medical Marijuana Law
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Patients from the across the state will join Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard N. Gottfried (D, WF – Manhattan) to unveil a new TV ad campaign urging the Senate to pass medical marijuana legislation before its June 23 adjournment. Right after the press conference, patients with serious conditions will lobby their senators on the issue. Journalists are invited to follow along. (June 2, 2008)
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MPP tracks marijuana policy in all 50 states and at the federal level.
Member Center
MPP in the News
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May 9, 2005 — Comedian Tommy Chong and MPP's Rob Kampia at MPP's 10th Anniversary Gala in Los Angeles.
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Oct. 6, 2006 — MPP's Bruce Mirken discusses new research showing marijuana may prevent Alzheimer's disease — and holds up the U.S. government's patent on cannabinoids as nerve-protecting agents — on CNBC. Note the misleading, DEA-supplied "fact" at the bottom of the screen.
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March 11, 2007 — MPP's Aaron Houston discusses medical marijuana on Fox News Channel's 'Studio B.'
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June 6, 2005 — MPP's Bruce Mirken discusses the Supreme Court medical marijuana decision on San Francisco's KRON-TV.
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October 6, 2007 -- Medical marijuana patient Clayton Holton asks GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney if he would end federal raids targeting patients in medical marijuana states during a forum in Dover, New Hampshire. Romney refused to answer Holton's question and walked away.
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March 9, 2007 – MPP's Rob Kampia appears on Fox News Channel's "The Big Story" to discuss dispensing medical marijuana to high schoolers who have doctor's recommendations and parental consent
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May 4, 2005 — Congresswoman Linda Sanchez (D-CA) presents MPP's Public Face of Reform Award to TV host and medical marijuana patient Montel Williams at MPP's 10th anniversary gala in Washington, D.C.
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Jan. 24, 2008 - Bruce Mirken appears on FOX affiliate KTVU in San Francisco, discussing the California Supreme Court decision giving employers the right to fire legal medical marijuana patients in the state.
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May 4, 2005 — MPP's Rob Kampia speaks in favor of federal legislation to protect medical marijuana patients at a Capitol Hill news conference on Wisconsin's WSAW-TV.
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June 6, 2005 — MPP's Rob Kampia discusses the Supreme Court's medical marijuana ruling on MSNBC.
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Singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco is on MPP's advisory board.
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MPP Executive Director Rob Kampia and award-winning news correspondent John Stossel
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In March 2006, more than 700 MPP supporters attended MPP's party at the Playboy Mansion, raising more than $170,000 for MPP's work to reform marijuana laws. - Pictured: Hugh Hefner after receiving Pioneer Award from MPP's Rob Kampia.
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"Marijuana is beneficial to many patients."
— Dr. Joycelyn Elders, former U.S. Surgeon General
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"It's about personal freedom. We should have the right in this country to do what we want, if we don't hurt anybody. Seventy-two million people in this country have smoked pot. Eighteen to 20 million in the last year. These people should not be treated as criminals." — Woody Harrelson
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"[A] marijuana grower can land in prison for life without parole while a murderer might be in for eight years. No rational person can defend this; it is a Dostoevskian nightmare and it exists only because politicians fled in the face of danger." — Garrison Keillor, radio personality
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Montel Williams called for passage for New York's medical marijuana bill at an MPP-organized press conference in Albany in May 2004 (pictured here with New York health officials and legislators).
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Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman -- shown here with MPP's Rob Kampia --
was a lifetime member of MPP and a staunch advocate of marijuana
policy reform.
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"I am absolutely in support of legalizing marijuana. It doesn't make any sense to me to keep it illegal when there is little argument that alcohol and tobacco are clearly far more deadly." — Margaret Cho
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"There's been medical marijuana ever since there's been medicine. Nobody gets hurt, so why not? People still smoke marijuana, and they still go to work." — Gary Coleman
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