Take Action Now! Protect Free Speech and Your Wallet

Everyone please do this! We have so many members here at the City. If we would all send in our faxes (it's free and done through the website at the Action Center of the Drug Policy Alliance), it would really make a difference in one phase of our cause! It's not just the matter of legalization; there are so many steps to go through in order to reach that goal.


Congressional Censorship Update

The Alliance is preparing to go to battle against the government. In December we warned you about a provision that will censor marijuana reform efforts. Rep. Ernest Istook, an Oklahoma Republican, snuck language into a federal spending bill that will effectively ban private advertising on buses, subways, or trains in support of marijuana law reform - including campaign ads in support of medical marijuana ballot measures. Worse still, the same bill also spends $145 million in taxpayer money on anti-marijuana government propaganda. This federal spending bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives late last year, and the U.S. Senate will most likely vote on it next week.

If you haven't faxed your Senators yet, please do so today. While there is only a small chance that we can stop this bill from passing (the reason why drug war extremists snuck this censorship provision into it), we need to show Congress that voters are outraged. This will give the Alliance leverage to work on removing the censorship provisions from the spending bills when they are voted on again at the end of the year. We need to show that we have your support and the support of the American people.

In addition to this legislative strategy that can repeal the ban if it passes, the Drug Policy Alliance is preparing to sue the federal government to have the ban overturned in court. We will keep you updated as our plans develop - we will definitely need your help!

ACTIONS TO TAKE

1) Fax your Senators and tell them to protect free speech.

2) Forward this alert to your friends, family, and co-workers. We need thousands of Americans to fax Congress.

MORE INFORMATION

Every year Congress passes 13 federal spending bills providing money to various federal agencies. Sometimes the House passes a spending bill that is different from a bill the Senate passes. When that is the case, Congress appoints what is called a "conference committee" to reconcile differences between the two bills. This conference committee then sends a final version of the bill to both the House and Senate for one final up and down vote, with no chance for amendments. Members of the conference committee frequently add controversial things to the spending bill at the last minute, knowing that their colleagues won't vote against an entire spending bill just because one thing in it is controversial.

This year Congressional leadership decided to reconcile multiple spending bills within one conference committee, producing a single federal spending bill (known as an "omnibus" spending bill) to send to the House and Senate floor for a final vote. This tactic allowed them to slip in all sorts of controversial things they could not otherwise pass into law. They know that Members of Congress are unlikely to vote against such an omnibus funding bill just because they don't like some of its parts.

During conference, House and Senate leaders loaded up the omnibus bill (HR 2673) with dozens of controversial provisions. One such provision, added by Rep. Ernest Istook Jr. (R-OK), would prohibit any transit system that receives federal funds from running advertising for groups that want to decriminalize or legalize marijuana. If enacted, it would prevent groups like Change the Climate and the Drug Policy Alliance from buying ad space on buses, trains, and subways around the country. It would prevent drug policy reformers from getting our reform message directly to the American people.

At the same time, the omnibus bill gives the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) $145 million to run anti-marijuana ads next year. (This provision was already a part of one of the federal spending bills that Congress considered earlier this year and was not added by the conference committee. The amount of taxpayer money spent on government anti-marijuana ads would have been significantly higher had the Drug Policy Alliance and other groups not worked to cut the budget.). ONDCP has already spent taxpayer money on television commercials comparing drug users to terrorists and claiming that smoking marijuana will make you a pregnant rape victim, make you shoot your neighbor, or make you run over little kids with your car. This year's ads could be even more outrageous.

The omnibus spending bill was approved by the House last year and the Senate will likely vote on the bill sometime during the week of January 19. Because the bill cannot be amended to remove the controversial provisions, the only way to prevent them from becoming law is if a majority of the Senate votes against the entire omnibus bill. While this is very unlikely, it is possible.

The Drug Policy Alliance is urging voters to contact their Senators and tell them to vote against the omnibus spending bill (HR 2673) because it was put together in an undemocratic manner and contains provisions that suppress free speech.



Go to this link to send in your fax today!

http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=13704&ms=achpfsad2

 

I've been sending my name and address in for years to reps all the way up to the President himself and with as much as I do and say and the things I get involved in, if they were ever to use the info sent in to go after someone then it would be me. I've been getting high for over half of my life and have yet (knock on wood) to ever be busted.

You have to be responsible about things and know your rights. I know the important one's by heart, such as the 4th Amendment...

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

If you're responsible and make sure there is no "probable cause" around then you're doing good.


Here you go...right here at NORML...protect yourselves and you can fight for what you believe in. This is a good rundown of your rights and how to exercise them when needed.

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3405


Trying to change the laws won't get you caught; only mistakes and irresponsibility with how you go about things such as growing, selling, buying and having it out in public get you caught.

 

I'm not sure if they've voted yet this week so everyone who hasn't done this, please do!!!!! TODAY!!!!