MPP Update

by Dan Bernath, Mon Jul 27, 2009

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says it's time California had an open, honest conversation about marijuana policy, but apparently that's too scary for some local TV stations in the state.

Earlier this month, MPP produced a 30-second TV ad featuring Fair Oaks resident Nadene Herndon talking directly to the camera, saying:

"We're marijuana consumers. Instead of being treated like criminals for using a safe substance, we want to pay our fair share. Taxes from California's marijuana industry could pay the salaries of 20,000 teachers. Isn’t it time?"

Inflammatory stuff, right? We didn’t think so, but apparently it was too much for the tender sensibilities of the station managers at KABC, KCOP, KNBC, KTLA and KTTV in Los Angeles, as well as a couple in San Francisco, all of whom refused to air the ad.

Aside from one station manager telling us our ad advocated …READ MORE

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MPP Update

by Dan Bernath, Tue May 26, 2009

Some things never change. This month, a new report came out from the federally funded Marijuana Potency Project declaring THC levels in marijuana to be at an all time high.

Scare stories about high-potency marijuana are almost as old as the war on marijuana itself. Prohibitionists for decades have warned people that the contemporary version of the drug is "not your father's marijuana" (of course, they wanted to arrest your father for his low-grade stuff as well). Bush drug czar and technological hepcat John Walters likes to refer to modern marijuana as though it were an entirely different drug altogether: marijuana 2.0, he calls it.

The news hook for this latest in what has become an annual ritual of phony hand wringing over rising marijuana potency is that the samples tested have reportedly edged over an average of 10 percent for the first time. I say "reportedly" because, although the National Institute on …READ MORE

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MPP Update

by Dan Bernath, Mon Apr 6, 2009

It was hard not to feel some déjà vu last month when President Obama mocked the idea of ending marijuana prohibition during an online town hall meeting, even though the issue was by far the most popular of those brought up. I mean, would Bush have handled the situation any differently?

And only the day before, DEA agents raided a San Francisco medical marijuana facility, just like the good old days. Although federal officials claim not to have violated the new administration's more hands-off policy, they refuse to give any details justifying what appeared to be business as usual for these culture warriors in public servants' clothing.

Given these events, one could forgive marijuana policy reform activists for wondering just what exactly has changed under this new, science-and-reason-based regime.

Even so …READ MORE

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MPP Update

by Dan Bernath, Mon Feb 23, 2009

Activists have been anxious to see just how much the social and political climate for marijuana policy reform might change under the Obama administration. Up until early February, there was a lot of speculation, skepticism, and hope but not much observable evidence of whether President Obama's call for objective, science-based policies would extend to marijuana.

Well, just a little more than a month into the new president's term, we're already getting a clearer picture, and the signs appear to be more encouraging than not.

OK, OK, just hear me out before you jump down to the comments section to tell me how naïve I'm being. Yes, the administration's paltry response to questions concerning ending marijuana prohibition was disappointing, especially after the issue topped the list of ideas Obama solicited from the public on his change.gov Web site back in December. Considering the general dissatisfaction with prohibition among …READ MORE

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MPP Update

by Dan Bernath, Mon Dec 22, 2008

Like I said last month here, 2008 turned out to be a big year – one of the biggest, in fact – for marijuana policy reform.

Voters in Massachusetts passed a landmark ballot initiative ending the threat of arrest, jail, and a criminal record for adults caught with an ounce or less of marijuana. Michigan became the 13th state – and the first in the Midwest – to pass a law protecting qualified medical marijuana patients from arrest for using their doctor-recommended medicine. No fewer than seven local initiatives improving marijuana laws were passed by voters across the country, from Arkansas to Hawaii. And, for the first time ever, we have a president who has promised to end federal raids on medical marijuana patients and providers in states that offer them legal protection.

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MPP Update

by Dan Bernath, Wed Nov 5, 2008

Back in May I wrote in that one day, when marijuana prohibition is history and responsible adult marijuana users no longer live in fear of arrest, we may look back on 2008 as one our most pivotal years.

Well, maybe not, but thanks to voters and advocates across the country, this Election Day turned out to be one of the greatest in the history of marijuana policy reform, and certainly the most significant of this decade.

Most notably, voters in Massachusetts and Michigan passed two landmark MPP-sponsored ballot initiatives, rejecting some of the most dishonest, inflammatory opposition we've ever seen in the process.

In Massachusetts, voters clearly understood that the current consequences for small marijuana offenses far exceed the violation itself, to the benefit of nobody. Now adults caught with an ounce or less of marijuana will no longer …READ MORE

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MPP Update

by Dan Bernath, Wed Aug 27, 2008

By Dan Bernath

A common source of frustration for MPP – and for most folks in the marijuana policy reform movement – is being mischaracterized as "pro-pot" or "pro-drug" by the press. Not only are these labels misleading and politically charged, they're completely inaccurate.

Most of us who wish to end marijuana prohibition do so because we see the policy's utter futility and its legacy of failure and waste. Our argument isn't that marijuana is fun; it's that marijuana prohibition is a disaster, and that perpetuating it is inhumane and irresponsible. That's true whether you use marijuana or not, and whether you approve of marijuana use or not.

I don't think reporters mischaracterize us on purpose. Reporters pride themselves on their ability to approach topics with a healthy dose of skepticism, but most of them haven't given marijuana policy much thought. They grew …READ MORE

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MPP Update

by Dan Bernath, Mon May 5, 2008

By Dan Bernath

We all know we have a long way to go before we end the government's war on marijuana users, but it's just possible we'll look back on 2008 as one of the major turning points in that difficult, inevitable journey.

We're constantly inundated with nonsense, hysteria and outright lies when marijuana is discussed in the public, so it's easy to miss the progress. But if you squint just right, you can see signs that policy, public opinion and the political landscape may slowly be edging toward sanity.

Medical marijuana probably gives us the clearest view of changing attitudes. Legislatures in just about every part of the country are taking up bills to protect many of the most vulnerable …READ MORE

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MPP Update

by Dan Bernath, Tue Jan 22, 2008

By Dan Bernath

It's too early to guess who our next president will be, but the odds have never been better that whoever it is will have spoken out publicly against federal raids in medical marijuana states.

In fact, every single Democratic candidate has pledged to end DEA raids on medical marijuana patients and providers in states that have laws protecting them, as did three Republican candidates, though only Congressman Ron Paul remains in the race.

Considering that public opinion polls consistently indicate as much as 80 percent approval for medical marijuana access for seriously ill patients, getting candidates to take a compassionate stance shouldn't be a big deal. But this is politics.

Still, medical marijuana advocates have come a long way in a short time to force the issue into the national spotlight in the first place, and even further to coax sensible policy statements from candidates.

It was …READ MORE

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MPP Update

by Dan Bernath, Wed Dec 5, 2007

By Dan Bernath

This is a story about a Nov. 13 meeting in which advocates and opponents testified before the Tennessee House Health and Human Services Committee about a bill to legally protect patients who use medical marijuana with a doctor's recommendation.

This is also a story about how such a seemingly straightforward event can get mangled by biased media coverage.

Opponents – including Family Action Council of Tennessee's David Fowler, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's David Murray, Nashville oncologist Dr. Kent Shih and anti-marijuana activist Steve Steiner – argued that medical marijuana was unproven as a medicine, would lead to increases in drug abuse among youths, and would serve as a stepping stone for those who would legalize marijuana for all.

Those favoring HB 0486, sponsored by Rep. Sherry Jones (D-Nashville), included Maury County epidemiologist and patient Bernie Ellis …READ MORE

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MPP Update

by Dan Bernath, Tue Oct 23, 2007

By Dan Bernath

Chalk it up to chance, changing seasons, or the law of averages finally catching up, but every once in a while our elected leaders in Congress surprise us and do something sensible.

Give credit to Sen. Jim Webb, the freshman Democrat from Virginia who conducted a hearing with the Joint Economic Committee Oct. 4 to examine the costs of mass incarceration.

With the United States comprising only 5 percent of the world's population but nearly a quarter of the world's prisoners, it should never have taken this long for our nation's leaders to turn their attention to this financial, social and humanitarian crisis. But better late than never.

What's more, several committee members agreed with Webb that the Nixonian "public policy experiment" of mass incarceration – during which the U.S. prison population has exploded from 300,000 in 1970 to more than 2 million this year – has never …READ MORE

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MPP Update

by Dan Bernath, Mon Sep 10, 2007

By Dan Bernath

Automatic weapons. Check. Helicopters. Check. Dogs. Check. Bulletproof vests. Check.

You may not buy the government's characterization of its campaign against medical marijuana patients as a "war on drugs," but increasingly violent, militaristic tactics in recent months offer a troubling glimpse into the federal law enforcement community's mentality: To them, this is war.

Raids on medical marijuana dispensaries throughout California July 17 by federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents, often with local law enforcement officers in tow, seemed designed to send a clear signal that the feds were deliberately escalating their war on medical marijuana patients.

The enemy, then, are people like Ronnie Naulls, a Riverside medical marijuana patient who owned two of the dispensaries raided that day.

A church-going family man who used medical marijuana to ease chronic pain from …READ MORE

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MPP Update

by Dan Bernath, Fri Jun 22, 2007

By Dan Bernath

A medical marijuana bill is signed into law in New Mexico. In Minnesota, the Senate passes a medical marijuana bill. An Illinois legislative chamber votes on medical marijuana for the first time. A similar bill reaches the governor's desk in Connecticut for the first time, only to have her veto it with a flimsy excuse. New York's governor renounces his previous opposition to medical marijuana as legislation passes the state's Assembly. Rhode Island's legislature overwhelmingly overrides a gubernatorial veto to make that state's medical marijuana law permanent. In Vermont, a bipartisan coalition of legislators enacts an expansion of the state's medical marijuana program to cover more patients and medical conditions.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, an amendment that would forbid the Justice Department – including the DEA – from using taxpayer dollars to interfere in states that have medical marijuana laws should soon receive …READ MORE

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MPP Update

by Dan Bernath, Tue May 22, 2007

By Dan Bernath

"Doctors: Pot Triggers Psychotic Symptoms," Associated Press, April 30

"Cannabis Chemical Curbs Psychotic Symptoms, Study Finds," The Guardian, May 1

It's hard to believe, but the two headlines above refer to the same event, a conference in Britain featuring research about marijuana and mental illness. What gives?

News media reports about marijuana sometimes resemble that parable about the three blind men who argue about what an elephant looks like. One man feels only the elephant's leg and concludes that elephants look like trees. Another feels only the tail and concludes elephants look like rope. The third feels only the trunk and concludes elephants look like snakes.

They all get it wrong, because no one is seeing the big picture.

To some degree, these problems are built into the way the news media work. Coming up with a headline …READ MORE

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MPP on the 420 Campaign

by Dan Bernath, Fri Apr 20, 2007

By Dan Bernath

Who knows what drives prohibitionists to block sensible marijuana policy reform with such fervor?

If you're reading this, then you've got your own theories. Maybe it's culture war residue from paranoid Nixonians who believed aversion to war was marijuana's most dangerous side effect. Maybe it's the net effect of 70 years of wild-eyed, race-tinged anti-marijuana propaganda. Maybe it's all those drug warriors who depend on the marijuana war for their livelihoods.

It doesn't really matter, because the solution is the same: marijuana policy reform, ultimately at the federal level.

April 20 is as good a day as any to step back and assess our progress so far.

The most egregious element of the federal government's war on marijuana users – criminalizing seriously ill patients who rely on marijuana as part of the treatment regimen they developed with their doctors – is crumbling fast.

READ MORE

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