UPDATE:  SAFER ended its boycott after Starbucks and several of the other companies listed as "sponsors" on CDIA's Web site publicly distanced themselves from the group (and in some cases said they had no knowledge of them or why they were listed as "sponsors"). Not surprisingly, CDIA has taken down its entire Web site.  CLICK HERE to read more.

Law enforcement groups are fighting to maintain Marijuana Prohibition and their industry of arresting and prosecuting people for marijuana. SAFER is fighting back and we need your help.

According to a recent report in The Denver Post, state and federal law enforcement officials have been meddling in Colorado's legislative process in hopes of rolling back the state's progress toward safer, more rational marijuana laws. As a result, bills are being introduced on their behalf, which threaten to shut down every medical marijuana dispensary in the state and allow these officials to continue harassing medical marijuana patients.

We wish this weren't the case, but these law enforcement officials are not motivated by maintaining public safety or developing a workable system of medical marijuana regulation. They are motivated by one thing -- job security. Perhaps even more unsettling is the source of the financial support behind the arrest and prosecution industry's war on marijuana.

In particular, the Colorado Drug Investigators Association (CDIA), the group spearheading anti-marijuana lobbying efforts, is sponsored by several local and national businesses including Starbucks Coffee, Glock handguns, and -- you guessed it -- members of the alcohol industry! This might seem a bit odd, but when you consider the fact that their Web site and merchandise features the grim reaper and military helicopters, a skull motif, and the slogan, "Death on Drugs," it all makes a little more sense. These guys are not out to protect people; they're out to fight a literal war on marijuana, ensuring alcohol -- the substance that contributes most to the crime and violence that keeps them busy -- is the only legal recreational drug available.

It's no surprise that the Arrest and Prosecution Industry is determined to maintain the war on marijuana. But Starbucks and other companies' funding of this war should strike any marijuana consumer or reform supporter as truly appalling. It's time to stand up and send them all a message.

Please Take Action Today!

1. Boycott Starbucks and other sponsors of the CDIA (see below), and CLICK HERE to send Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz an e-mail letting him know you will not be buying Starbucks products until it ends its sponsorship. (Or visit http://tinyurl.com/yelzaux)

2. CLICK HERE to send a message to the heads of the organizations below, urging them to end their lobbying and stop harassing people for using a substance far safer than alcohol. (Or visit http://tinyurl.com/y9v8u5a)

Regardless of which action you complete first, you will be given the option of completing the other action, as well. We've provided pre-written messages you can edit or send as they are, then we hope you will spread the word about these actions to as many people as possible.

Meet the Arrest and Prosecution Industry

Colorado Drug Investigators Association (CDIA) -- A non-profit trade group for members of law enforcement whose bread and butter is the enforcement of marijuana laws. Their sponsors include not only major businesses like Starbucks Coffee, but also liquor retailers and manufacturers of handguns and body armor. Paired with a Web site and merchandise reminiscent of the Gestapo (see right), these guys are clearly interested in one thing only: maintaining the war on marijuana. Board President and Denver Police Lt. Ernie Martinez is an outspoken opponent of reform who sits on the Denver Marijuana Policy Review Panel as the police department's roadblock to enacting SAFER's successful ballot measures.

Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA) -- The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) -- or Drug Czar's office -- funnels money to this regional organization for the stated purpose of coordinating interdiction and other enforcement efforts. Yet it seems like the group spends far more of its time fighting the movement to reform local, state, and federal marijuana laws. Director Tom Gorman spent countless hours campaigning against SAFER's statewide legalization initiative in 2006, and he is now working hard to abolish medical marijuana dispensaries.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) -- The federal government's primary drug enforcement body, it has a major stake in maintaining the prohibition of the world's most popular illegal drug -- marijuana. Jeffrey Sweetin, the special agent in charge of the Denver field office, has worked to defeat several reform efforts in Colorado, and it was under his watch that agents got caught campaigning against the 2006 statewide initiative.

These organizations point to the proliferation of drug cartels as their reason for opposing medical marijuana and broader reform, but if the drug cartels continue to operate in Colorado, so do they. In fact, the worst thing for these organizations would be a system of state-licensed medical marijuana producers and dispensaries; not because it would cause harm to anyone, but because it would diminish the illegal production and distribution of marijuana.

Make no mistake about it, this is a battle over jobs. Supporters of medical marijuana want to create new legitimate, state-licensed businesses with hundred of new taxpaying employees.  CDIA wants to ban these new businesses so that they can continue spending taxpayer money to arrest and prosecute people involved with medical marijuana.