MPP's 2007 Strategic Plan

September 2007

Dear Friend:

As you can see in the 2007 strategic plan below, this year is an ambitious and bold one for MPP. If you like what you see below, would you please consider donating to our work?

• Lobbying Congress to pass medical marijuana legislation: November's elections have created the best conditions ever for passing medical marijuana legislation in Congress, as the entire Democratic leadership is supportive of medical marijuana. MPP's full-time congressional lobbyist will be working to build support for U.S. Rep. Barney Frank's bill to allow states to determine their own medical marijuana policies without federal interference, as well as U.S. Rep. Sam Farr's bill to allow defendants in federal court to avoid being convicted if they can show that their marijuana-related offense was medical in nature. But our primary focus is building support for the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment, which would prevent the U.S. Department of Justice (which includes the DEA) from spending any money to raid medical marijuana patients and providers in the 12 states where medical marijuana is legal. This amendment received 165 votes in July; we need 218 votes to pass it through the House and over to the Senate, which has never voted on medical marijuana legislation. See www.mpp.org/medical for details.
• Expanding medical marijuana laws in Rhode Island and Vermont: Rhode Island's medical marijuana law — passed by the state legislature over the governor's veto in 2006 — was permanently reauthorized at the end of June, when 88% of the Senate and 84% of the House voted to override the governor's veto. Vermont's original medical marijuana law — passed by the state legislature in 2004 — only allows people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, cancer, or multiple sclerosis to use medical marijuana, and no legal protections are provided to unregistered patients. At the end of May, the governor let MPP's bill to expand the current medical marijuana statute become law without his signature. As a result, the narrow list of qualifying medical conditions has been expanded to include serious conditions that cause nausea, wasting, chronic pain, or seizures, and the number of plants that patients and caregivers may grow has been increased. In addition, the program's application fee has been reduced. See ri.mpp.org and vt.mpp.org for details.
• Medical marijuana initiatives in two states: As in most states, the majority of voters in Arizona and Michigan support making medical marijuana legal, so MPP is currently exploring the possibility of placing a medical marijuana initiative on each of these states' ballots in November 2008 — which requires running signature drives this year. In May, we launched a signature drive in Michigan and have already collected half of the required signatures. See www.StopArrestingPatients.org for more information. To date, medical marijuana laws have been enacted in 12 states, only four of which were enacted by state legislatures (in Hawaii, Rhode Island, Vermont, and New Mexico). Statewide ballot initiatives — rather than bills — are a more surefire way to ensure passage of medical marijuana laws, because we can draft the text and force the votes. The only thing that limits the number of medical marijuana initiatives we can run is money, as the signature drives are quite expensive.
• "War on Drug Czar" Campaign: In September 2006, the release of an independent report on the White House drug czar's deceptive advertising campaign verified that the ads are ineffective at reducing marijuana use by teens — an assessment the drug czar's office chose to ignore for a year-and-a-half while continuing to run the ads. MPP continues to lobby Congress to eliminate all funding for this ad campaign. (Plus, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee in July 2006 proposed cutting the salaries and expenses of the drug czar's office by more than half "to more closely reflect actual performance.") And continuing with our campaign to prevent the drug czar from using taxpayer money to lobby against MPP's bills and initiatives, MPP filed a complaint with the Alaska elections office in 2005 because the drug czar's office failed to file any campaign expenditure reports for its campaign to defeat the initiative that was on the statewide ballot there in November 2004. The Alaska government dismissed MPP's complaint, and MPP lost an hearing of that decision in February, so we are now exploring our next step. Visit www.mpp.org/WarOnDrugCzar for details.
• "Decriminalization" initiative in Massachusetts: Since 2000, Massachusetts residents have approved 41 out of 41 local marijuana-related initiatives by an average of 63% of the vote. Of these, 30 urged state legislators to support legislation to make the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana punishable by a citation and a small fine, as opposed to arrest and jail. This string of local victories — as well as growing support for such legislation in the state legislature and in the news media, including the Boston Globe — means that Massachusetts is ready for a statewide initiative to remove the threat of arrest and jail for adult marijuana users. The Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy, a campaign committee which is being supported by MPP and a coalition of Massachusetts advocates, legislators, and policy makers, began in September to collect the signatures needed to place the initiative on the November 2008 ballot.
• Building a coalition of supporters in Nevada: MPP's ballot initiative to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol in Nevada received 44% of the vote in November — the highest proportion of the vote that any such measure in any state has received. Because public support for making marijuana "legal" has been rising at the rate of about 1% per year nationally, it's quite possible that another marijuana initiative could pass in Nevada in November 2010 or 2012. To prepare for this, MPP will be building upon the support that MPP's 2006 initiative received, including endorsements from the Las Vegas Review-Journal and 33 religious leaders across the state.
• Lobbying the presidential candidates to support medical marijuana access: During the New Hampshire presidential primary campaign, MPP will be unleashing a full-time grassroots operation to pressure the presidential candidates on the medical marijuana issue. During the 2004 campaign, MPP's New Hampshire efforts enjoyed tremendous success, with two of the leading candidates (Howard Dean and John Kerry) markedly improving their positions on medical marijuana and six of the candidates ending the campaign with supportive positions. MPP's efforts this primary season have resulted in positive statements by 10 of the 18 major candidates, including all eight Democratic hopefuls. See www.granitestaters.com for more information.
• Recruiting celebrities: One of MPP's 31 full-time employees is based in Hollywood for the purpose of organizing celebrities to speak out in favor of ending marijuana prohibition. Recent additions to our advisory board include actor Jack Black, musician Ani DiFranco, and screenwriter Steve Faber. Visit www.mpp-vip.org for details.
• Ending marijuana prohibition in California: In November 2006, residents of Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Santa Monica voted to make marijuana offenses the lowest law enforcement priority in all three cities. The Santa Cruz measure also urges the California and federal governments to tax and regulate marijuana similarly to alcohol. In 2004, Oakland voters enacted a similar proposal, and the West Hollywood City Council and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors also de-prioritized marijuana offenses last year. MPP hopes that the successful passage of these six measures will lead to the introduction of legislation in Sacramento to tax and regulate marijuana statewide. Visit www.taxandregulate.org for details.
• Passing medical marijuana bills in Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and New York: MPP has retained professional lobbyists in the capitals of Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and New York for the purpose of passing our medical marijuana legislation through each state legislature, similar to how Hawaii, Vermont, Rhode Island, and New Mexico passed medical marijuana bills in 2000, 2004, 2006, and 2007 respectively. MPP expects to succeed in all four states by 2009. See il.mpp.org ... and mn.mpp.org ... and nh.mpp.org ... and ny.mpp.org for details.
• Working with doctors and medical organizations to pass resolutions and set internal policy supporting medical marijuana access: These efforts have already paid off with successes with the California Medical Association, the HIV Medical Association, and one of the seven chapters of the American Psychiatric Association. MPP is also organizing a national coalition of medical, religious, civil liberties, and limited government organizations, which are activating their members and lobbyists to push for the passage of medical marijuana legislation in Congress, as well as working with our 8,000 physician supporters who agree that "seriously ill people should not be subject to criminal sanctions for using marijuana if the patients' physicians have told them that such use is likely to be beneficial."

Please consider visiting www.mpp.org/donate if you support this strategic plan for 2007.

By supporting our work, you will also be empowering us to engage in the day-to-day battles that come up, including (1) debating White House officials on national television and otherwise conducting our day-to-day public relations activities, (2) testifying before Congress and state legislatures, and (3) monitoring and analyzing all marijuana-related bills in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and sending state-specific alerts to MPP's e-mail subscribers in each state.

As you can see, we're busy, and we can't do this without your help. If your membership is current with MPP, I want to thank you. If your membership has lapsed or you've never joined, would you please consider changing that by visiting www.mpp.org/donate today?

Sincerely,

Rob Kampia

Executive Director

Marijuana Policy Project

Washington, D.C.

P.S. Donations to MPP are not tax-deductible. To make a tax-deductible donation, please direct it to MPP Foundation instead. The mailing address for both organizations is P.O. Box 77492, Washington, D.C. 20013.

P.P.S. Parts of this plan may change from time to time as the year progresses.