Earn Points for Helping to Promote Marijuana Policy Reform

MPP-TV VIDEOS

George W. Bush's Final Drug War Report Card
Two-Minute Truths: The Cost of Marijuana
75 Years Later Prohibition Still Doesn't Work
An Open Letter to President-elect Barack Obama
Two-Minute Truths: Marijuana and Addiction
Two-Minute Truths: Marijuana and Lung Cancer
Two-Minute Truths: The Gateway Myth

In the News

MPP Warns That New Michigan Draft Rules Contradict Medical Marijuana Law
[D]raft rules for Michigan's medical marijuana law presented at a ... public hearing this morning were met with intense criticism from the public ... “The draft rules ... seek to add onerous and unreasonable restrictions on patients,” Karen O'Keefe, the author of the Michigan medical marijuana law and an attorney with the Washington-based medical marijuana advocacy group, the Marijuana Policy Project, said. “In several cases (the draft rules) contradict the language of the voter-enacted law.” (January 5, 2009)

MPP Says Massachusetts Initiative Is Simple, Modest Change
Massachusetts officially decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana yesterday, but many police departments across the state were essentially ignoring the voter-passed law … "[I]t seems that they never stopped campaigning against this, even though the law passed on Nov. 4th," said Dan Bernath, a spokesman for Marijuana Policy Project … "It's been surprising and disappointing to see the reaction of some folks in law enforcement since voters passed this," Bernath said. "It's a very simple and modest change and there's nothing new about having a civil violation process." (January 3, 2009)

Massachusetts Editorial Calls for Good-Faith Effort Implementing Marijuana Decriminalization
The voters of Massachusetts spoke clearly Nov. 4 on the topic of marijuana: They want simple possession treated as a civil infraction, more like a parking ticket than a serious crime, with a maximum fine of $100. ... The only ones unclear about what Question 2 intends are law enforcement officials who act like a civil violation is some radical idea no one ever heard of. (December 26, 2008)

MPP Says New Data Shows Marijuana Prohibition Is "Utter Trainwreck"
Buried in the latest Monitoring the Future survey -- the major annual, federally funded survey of teen drug use -- is an astonishing finding: More 10th-graders now smoke marijuana than smoke cigarettes. Strangely, in announcing the results, White House drug czar John Walters failed to mention this evidence that our current drug policies constitute an utter train wreck. ... [T]he long-term news is devastating for Walters and others wedded to the current, prohibition-based approach to marijuana. ... We can only hope that the incoming Obama administration will do an honest appraisal of our current antidrug efforts and break Washington's addiction to failed policies. (December 18, 2008)

MPP Op-ed Applauds New Jersey Medical Marijuana Bill
Monday's 6-1 vote by the state Senate Health Committee to approve medical marijuana legislation sponsored by Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Linden, bodes well for New Jersey, and particularly for citizens suffering from a variety of painful, hard-to-treat illnesses. By protecting such patients from arrest, New Jersey can help avoid untold suffering. (December 17, 2008)

MPP Blog

Michigan Ponders Medical Marijuana Rules

MPP director of state policies Karen O’Keefe spoke this morning at a hearing convened by the Michigan Department of Community Health to consider draft regulations implementing the state’s new medical marijuana law. The very well attended hearing took the whole morning, Karen reports, with large numbers of patients presenting constructive criticisms of rules that in some [...]

Published: Jan 05, 2009 11:54 AM CST

For Mass. Officials, Pouting Is a Form of Political Expression

Massachusetts voters didn’t like the old marijuana law, so they changed it. Some Massachusetts officials don’t like the new law, so they’re, well, pouting. Today is the first day Massachusetts adults will no longer have to fear arrest for possessing an ounce or less of marijuana. Under the new system, approved by 65% of commonwealth voters [...]

Published: Jan 02, 2009 12:25 PM CST

Still Lying to the End

David Murray, the alleged “chief scientist” at the White House drug czar’s office, seems determined to end his tenure in a blaze of dishonesty. In a just-published article in New Scientist that examines the excellent Beckley Foundation Global Cannabis Commission report, Murray touts recent declines in U.S. teen marijuana use and claims, “In the absence of [...]

Published: Dec 31, 2008 11:19 AM CST

New Year’s Resolutions

With that time of year approaching, we humbly offer a few New Year’s resolutions for some of the individuals and institutions sure to be affecting all of our lives in 2009: President-elect Barack Obama: To move quickly to keep your campaign promise to end the DEA’s medical marijuana raids. And to appoint a drug czar who [...]

Published: Dec 22, 2008 12:37 PM CST

California’s top cops: “If you don’t like the law, circumvent it”

Apparently the adage “if you don’t like the law, change it” isn’t that simple – not in California, anyway. Despite a tough opposition campaign by the law enforcement lobby, California voters approved Proposition 215, enacting the nation’s first effective state-level medical marijuana law, in November 1996. But that didn’t stop some law enforcement officials from trying [...]

Published: Dec 19, 2008 07:38 PM CST

California’s capital county finally decides to obey California’s law

Medical marijuana patients living in California’s capital will finally be able to realize the full benefit of the state’s medical marijuana law. This week, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution making the state-mandated medical marijuana ID card program available to county residents. The cards keep patients who are already allowed to possess marijuana [...]

Published: Dec 18, 2008 10:17 AM CST

Year in Review: 2008 a Huge Year for Marijuana Reform

Since this is the season for year-end reviews, “best of” lists and the like, it seems like a good time to take note of why 2008 was one of the most successful years ever for marijuana policy reform. 2008 saw major progress on legal reforms plus a raft of new data that validated reformers’ critiques [...]

Published: Dec 16, 2008 12:40 PM CST

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Victims

The Naulls Family

Ronald Naulls already had two successful careers when he established the Healing Nations Collective in Corona in 2006 to save fellow patients the hours-long drive to Los Angeles for medicine. Although it was widely considered a model medical marijuana dispensary, DEA agents invaded the Naulls family's home and businesses on July 17, 2007. They arrested Ronald and turned his three young daughters over to county child protective services, which charged him and his wife with child endangerment.

Kathryn Johnston

Members of a Georgia narcotics investigation team shot and killed 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston during a drug raid in her Atlanta home November 21, 2006.

Tyrone Brown

Tyrone Brown served 17 years of a life sentence for testing positive for marijuana while on probation for a $2 stickup committed when he was 17. No one involved was ever able to explain the severe penalty.

Carter Singleton

65-year-old Carter Singleton was arrested for cultivating marijuana in 2003. Carter, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2001, was using medical marijuana to stimulate his appetite, after chemotherapy treatments caused him to lose 80 pounds in 5 months.

Suzanne Pfeil

Suzanne Pfeil is a paraplegic who suffers from severe pain and muscle spasms linked to post-polio syndrome. On September 5, 2002, more than 20 armed federal agents raided her medical marijuana hospice, holding assault rifles to the heads of patients and their caregivers. When Pfeil was unable to stand, the agents handcuffed her behind her back and left her on the bed for several hours.

Gary Silva

Medical marijuana patient Gary Silva, who suffers from degenerative disk disease and nerve damage, was asleep in his Sky Valley, California home, when he heard a knock on the door. When Gary, who cultivated marijuana in his home on behalf of his patients' collective, went to undo the deadbolt, DEA agents kicked in the door. The force sent Gary sprawling to the floor, dislocating his shoulder and causing lacerations to his face.

Unnamed Florida college student

On June 6, 2003, a 19-year-old Alachua County, Florida, college student was raped by his cellmate as he served the first of four weekend sentences for delivering marijuana, a felony offense. The student's cellmate was a violent offender in jail awaiting trial on sexual battery charges; the two men shared a cell because of jail overcrowding.

Alberta Spruill

On May 16, 2003, 57-year-old Alberta Spruill died of a heart attack shortly after police mistakenly raided her Harlem, New York, apartment for drugs. The office of the city medical examiner attributed her death to "the stress and the fear that she experienced" during the raid.

Lester Siler

In July 2004, Lester Eugene Siler, 42, was brutalized by five rogue police officers in his Tennessee home. Siler, who is illiterate, was beaten and threatened with shooting and electrocution and had his head held underwater in a toilet after refusing to sign a search consent form that he could not read. Siler's wife caught the incident on an audiotape which was later used to convict all five officers.

Donald Scott

On October 2, 1992, 61-year-old Donald Scott was shot and killed by county sheriff's deputies on his ranch in Malibu, California. The deputies had a warrant claiming that Scott was growing thousands of marijuana plants on his property, but no marijuana plants were found. The federal government and Los Angeles County later settled a wrongful death lawsuit from Scott's family for $5 million.

Robin Prosser

Robin Prosser, of Missoula, Montana, used medical marijuana to treat an immunosuppressive disorder similar to lupus. Despite spending years in a successful fight to help establish a medical marijuana law in her state, federal authorities continued interfering with her access to medicine. On Oct. 18, 2007, after spending months in excruciating pain and unable to acquire the type and quality of medical marijuana she needed, Prosser took her own life.

Palm Beach County, Florida, school raid

Fifteen high school students in Palm Beach County, Florida, were arrested in January 2005 for selling drugs on school property. Some of the teens had sold as little as $10 worth of marijuana to undercover police officers who had befriended them. The teens, who will be tried as adults, face up to 15 years' imprisonment.

Don Nord

Though he was licensed in Colorado to use marijuana for medical purposes, 57-year-old Don Nord was arrested by DEA agents in 2003 and had his marijuana seized. Charges against Nord were eventually dismissed, but a federal court held in July 2005 that the DEA was not required to return his marijuana.

Cheryl Noel

In January 2005, 44-year-old Cheryl Noel was shot and killed by police officers raiding her Maryland home for drugs. Noel, who had been asleep when the raid started, came to her bedroom door with a gun — presumably in self-defense — and was shot and killed. Noel's husband, son, and a family friend staying in the house were charged with possession of a small quantity of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Jimmy Montgomery

Paraplegic medical marijuana patient Jimmy Montgomery was given a life sentence (later reduced to 10 years) for possessing two ounces of marijuana with intent to distribute. Evidence that he intended to distribute the marijuana came from a sheriff's deputy who was later convicted of embezzling seized property and assets.

Jonathan Magbie

Twenty-seven-year-old Jonathan Magbie died while serving a 10-day sentence for marijuana possession in a Washington, D.C., jail. Magbie, a quadriplegic since age 4, used his chin to operate a motorized wheelchair and required a ventilator to help him breathe. The jail could not provide the medical help he needed, and by the time he was taken to a hospital, he was dead. Magbie was a first-time offender who told the judge that marijuana made him feel better and that he didn't think there was anything wrong with using it.

Rhiannon Kephart

In January 2005, 18-year-old Rhiannon Kephart received second- and third-degree burns to her chest and stomach when police set off a stun grenade during a drug raid. Kephart was not a target of the investigation.

Esequiel Hernandez

On May 20, 1997, 18-year-old Esequiel Hernandez was shot in the back by U.S. Marines patrolling the Texas-Mexico border for drug smugglers. Hernandez, who was tending his family's herd of goats, bled to death. He was the first U.S. civilian to be killed by U.S. armed forces since the 1970 political protests at Kent State University.

Clayton Helriggle

On September 27, 2002, armed police officers raided a rural farmhouse in West Alexandria, Ohio, based on a tip from a convicted felon that there were drugs in the house. Nearly 30 officers, clad in body armor and riot shields, stormed the house with a battering ram and detonated stun grenades to disorient the occupants of the house. Awoken from his nap by the noise, 23-year-old Clayton Helriggle walked downstairs — allegedly with a gun — and was promptly shot in the chest by police. Two minutes later, he was dead in the arms of a roommate.

Goose Creek, South Carolina, School Raid

In November 2003, police officers with guns drawn swept through Stratford High School in South Carolina. Officers held guns to the backs of 130 students — a majority of whom were black though the school population is only 25% black — who were ordered to lie on the floor or kneel against lockers while police dogs sniffed for drugs. No drugs were found and no arrests were made.

MPP in the News

December 10, 2008 — MPP's Dan Bernath discusses recent changes in Amsterdam's marijuana coffee shop zoning on G4's "Attack of the Show!"

December 17, 2008 — MPP's Aaron Houston discusses the future of marijuana policy in the Obama administration, on Russia Today news.

May 13, 2008 — MPP's Rob Kampia and Montel Williams discuss marijuana law reform on Fox Business News' "Happy Hour".

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.

June 5, 2008 — MPP's Aaron Houston discusses the financial savings and potential revenue that could be generated by taxation and regulation of marijuana, on FOX Business News channel.

August 24, 2007 — MPP executive director Rob Kampia appeared on the Austin, Texas, ABC affiliate KVUE to discuss a new law allowing police the option of citing -- rather than arresting -- minor marijuana offenders. Each marijuana arrest costs Texas taxpayers an estimated $2,000 and takes a police officer off the street for four- to-six hours to book that nonviolent offender.

August 8, 2008 -- MPP's Dan Bernath discusses the portrayal of marijuana users in films and television on CNN Headline News' "Showbiz Tonight."

April 16, 2008 -- MPP's Neal Levine on CBS affiliate WCCO in Minneapolis, urging Minnesota lawmakers to pass a law protecting qualified medical marijuana patients from arrest.

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.

Jan. 27, 2008 - Bruce Mirken appears on KRON in San Francisco, discussing the California Supreme Court decision giving employers the right to fire legal medical marijuana patients in the state.

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

July 30, 2007 — MPP's Bruce Mirken discusses the safety and efficacy of medical marijuana on the Comcast Network's "Art Fennell Reports."

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.

December 19, 2006 — MPP's Rob Kampia appears on MSNBC to discuss a new study identifying marijuana as the top cash crop in the U.S.

May 22, 2003 — MPP's Rob Kampia watches as Gov. Robert Ehrlich (seated, center) signs Maryland's new medical marijuana bill into law.

June 6, 2005 — MPP's Bruce Mirken discusses the Supreme Court medical marijuana decision on San Francisco's KRON-TV.

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.

March 11, 2007 — MPP's Aaron Houston discusses medical marijuana on Fox News Channel's 'Studio B.'

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.

June 6, 2005 — MPP's Rob Kampia discusses the Supreme Court's medical marijuana ruling on MSNBC.

Celebrities

"[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

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.

"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

MPP Executive Director Rob Kampia and award-winning news correspondent John Stossel

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).

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.

"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

Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) received MPP's Legislative Leadership Award at MPP's June 2006 Awards Gala in New York City.

"I support MPP because our existing marijuana laws — based on fear, ignorance, and vested interests — are unenlightened, overreactive, and often inhumane to the point of tyrannical cruelty." — best-selling author Tom Robbins

"Instead of taking five or six of the prescriptions, I decided to go a natural route and smoke marijuana ... Every single one (of my doctors) was, 'Oh, yeah. That's the best help for the effects of chemotherapy."— Melissa Etheridge

Marijuana Policy Project

Earn Points for Helping to Promote Marijuana Policy Reform

MPP-TV VIDEOS

In the News

MPP Blog

Get Local

Member Center

Victims

The Naulls Family

Kathryn Johnston

Tyrone Brown

Carter Singleton

Suzanne Pfeil

Gary Silva

Unnamed Florida college student

Alberta Spruill

Lester Siler

Donald Scott

Robin Prosser

Palm Beach County, Florida, school raid

Don Nord

Cheryl Noel

Jimmy Montgomery

Jonathan Magbie

Rhiannon Kephart

Esequiel Hernandez

Clayton Helriggle

Goose Creek, South Carolina, School Raid

More Victim Stories

MPP in the News

Celebrities