Month of 01/Jun/2006 to 30/Jun/2006

CRCM has met our goal for the month! We made 3,000 phone calls to Nevada voters all over the state. Your efforts are a huge help to our campaign to end marijuana prohibition in Nevada. Give yourselves a big pat on the back!

A couple of volunteers took the time to share their thoughts on helping us reach our goal.

Key quote from Nathan M.:

I'm not very political, but this is something I really care about.

Key quote from Leroy C.:

If we can get something done here in Nevada, it's a step in the right direction.

A tremendous "thank you" to all the volunteers who pitched in to make this happen. With your help, we're going to end marijuana prohibition in Nevada this November. Here's to a job well done!

Our amazing volunteers have put us up to 2,800 phone calls. Only 200 calls left with five hours to go!

Only 24 hours to go! The clock (or cactus) is ticking on 3,000 volunteer phone calls for June. CRCM needs your help to meet our goal by the end of the month, and we have only one day left! Please give us some of your time to reach out to Nevada voters. It's a fantastic way to make your contribution toward reforming our marijuana laws.

Just log into the Volunteer Action Center and click on Home Phone Banking in the left menu. Phone banking from home is simple and easy to do, and it's a huge boost to the campaign. Just a few phone calls from you can help end marijuana prohibition in Nevada. And you can watch that cactus turn green as you go.

Please help out today!

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), a non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating waste and mismanagement in government, released a report attacking the federal government's spending on anti-marijuana campaigns. Their report lays out the total failure of the Office of National Drug Control (ONDCP) campaign to end or even reduce marijuana use, due largely to its reliance on the false "gateway theory." Additionally, CAGW points out the real need for funding of programs to end use of dangerous drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine.

Key quote:

The most wasteful aspect of these [ONDCP] programs continues to be the media campaign that was created to reduce the use of marijuana in the United States. Despite a lawsuit concerning the integrity of the ad agency, a government report detailing the failure of the campaign, and a study revealing that the ads provide a reverse effect, the federal government, using the federal appropriations system, has decided to throw another $120 million at the problem in fiscal year 2007, a $30 million decrease from fiscal year 2006.

As the ONDCP continues to run this wasteful program, it is becoming apparent that it is attacking the wrong target. Although numerous studies have revealed that marijuana does not serve as a gateway drug, it continues to be the primary focus of the federal government's war on drugs. As methamphetamine and cocaine use continue to grow in the United States, the government refuses to acknowledge that its current prevention techniques are ineffective and wasteful.

CAGW's report lays out in clear terms the need for reform of our marijuana policies. As long as the federal government continues to pursue misguided programs -- with approval from the bureaucrats in Congress -- we're going to fail at controlling marijuana use. But here in Nevada, we have the opportunity to change that. By putting marijuana into a tightly regulated system with sensible safeguards on how and by whom it can be used, we can implement a rational way of dealing with marijuana and end a huge waste of public resources. It's a sensible alternative to the failures of prohibition and bad federal programs.

Please help us pass the initiative to tax and regulate marijuana in Nevada. Register to vote, volunteer, donate.

CRCM has new T-shirts! We've expanded our inventory from the tried-and-true original of "I am not a criminal" to include two new designs: "Our marijuana laws don't work" and "Drug dealers don't card." We're also carrying a wider range of sizes and colors. For a mere $10 donation to the campaign, you can show your support for ending marijuana prohibition with the coolest T-shirts in town. Get 'em while they're hot.

Two TV news affiliates in Reno aired segments on the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard endorsement of the marijuana initiative. Check out the clips from ABC (KOLO-TV) and NBC (KRNV-TV).

For your viewing pleasure, here's the KOLO-TV clip in its full glory.

Hello loyal CRCM supporters! You'll notice a lovely green and white cactus at the top right-hand side of our home page recording how many volunteer phone calls have been made this month. Our goal is to have a total of 3,000 calls completed in June, and we're getting dangerously close to the end of the month.

The campaign really needs your help to ensure we meet this month's goal before the end of the day on Friday. Log into the Volunteer Action Center and click on Home Phone Banking in the left menu. If you've never used our phone banking system before, you're in for a treat: it's simple and easy-to-use, with complete instructions and a fabulous training video to guide you through the process.

Many fantastic volunteers have completed nearly 1,400 outreach calls to voters in Nevada in June. But without your help, we won't reach our goal of 3,000 calls. A little of your time this week will go a long way toward ending marijuana prohibition in Nevada.

A reader of the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard wrote to the paper praising their endorsement of the marijuana initiative. Writer Robert C. Thorndike of Hawthorne points out that taking a sensible position on the hot-button issue of marijuana policy reform "took conviction and a true belief in freedom of the press." Mr. Thorndike similarly supports passing the marijuana initiative.

Key quote:

I do not believe this bill will solve all our problems associated with marijuana, but I do believe this is a step in the right direction. I believe if we continue to follow the same path that we have been on, the results will continue to be the same: Disrupted lives, denied opportunities and unnecessary burdens placed on personnel and families.

Marijuana prohibition has failed to end or even limit the use of marijuana in our state. Yet over and over again, it has resulted in the negative consequences that Mr. Thorndike so eloquently describes in his letter. It's time to end the harmful policies of prohibition and take a better approach: taxing and regulating marijuana.

By placing marijuana in a regulated system, we can stop spending precious resources prosecuting nonviolent marijuana users, and we can gain greater control over how marijuana is sold and used. Additionally, profits from the legal sale of marijuana would generate millions in tax revenue for the state, half of which will go to drug and alcohol education and treatment and the other half to the state's general fund.

Please help us pass the marijuana initiative. Register to vote, volunteer, donate.

Rick Swart of the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard recently wrote an opinion piece questioning the difference between supporting the marijuana initiative and supporting the Churchill County Board of Commissioners allowing wine and liquor at charity and political events. Churchill County District Attorney Art Mallory opposes the initiative to tax and regulate marijuana in Nevada -- claiming that marijuana "leads to other drug use and criminal activity" -- but doesn't object to the change in county law when it comes to alcohol.

Mr. Swart questions how his public officials can take such contradictory stands on marijuana and alcohol by claiming that one is a gateway drug and the other is not.

Key quote:

At the same time there is something just a little bit hypocritical about standing around the VIP tent drinking cantaloupe margaritas and espousing the ills of “gateway� drugs. Mind-altering drugs are like lawyers -- your own is the greatest thing since sliced bread, it’s the other guy’s that’s all screwed up.

(OK, that line made us chuckle.) Our society gives adults the freedom to make their own choices when it comes to alcohol consumption, but we spend millions of dollars every year prosecuting nonviolent marijuana users. Meanwhile, the criminal market for marijuana -- just like the criminal market for alcohol that developed during the 1920s -- is putting money into the hands of violent gangs and drug dealers. Should a substance that is safer than alcohol really be costing us so much? It's time to step back and take a reasonable look at our marijuana policy.

Please help us pass the initiative to tax and regulate marijuana in Nevada. Register to vote, volunteer, donate.

The lead story in this week's "Political Notebook" of the Las Vegas Review-Journal is the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard endorsement of the marijuana initiative.

The Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard printed a letter-to-the-editor objecting to the paper's endorsement of the marijuana initiative. Unfortunately, writer (and Tennessee resident) Jason Haynie doesn't seem to have thought through his argument.

Key quote:

That [not objecting to marijuana policy reform because prostitution is legal] is akin to using the rationale that because there aren't enough police to pull over every speeder on the highway, that we should just let people speed.

By this reasoning, we should also allow murder, robbery, cheating on your taxes, white shorts with black socks, general vandalism, etc., etc. It's all the same, right? But no: The key point Mr. Haynie overlooks is the danger to others caused by speeding and other potentially harmful actions. Responsible marijuana use, on the other hand, does not put others at risk. In fact, allowing marijuana to remain in the criminal market creates more violence -- by funding the activities of violent gangs and drug dealers. If we really want to reduce the harm to our society, we should pull marijuana out of the free-for-all criminal market, put it in a tightly regulated system, and gain some controls over how it is sold and used. It's a sensible alternative to the current failure of prohibition.

Please help us pass the marijuana initiative. Register to vote, volunteer, donate.

Barry Ginter, editor of the Nevada Appeal in Carson City, commented on the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard endorsement of the marijuana initiative earlier this week.

As we blogged earlier this week, La Crosse County, Wisconsin, passed an ordinance reducing the penalty for first-time offenders caught with a small amount of marijuana, arguing the benefits to both nonviolent offenders and the criminal justice system. And yesterday, the La Crosse Tribune applauded the board's move, saying that it gives law enforcement and the judicial system another option in dealing with low-level offenders.

Key quote:

It makes sense, and makes for a wiser use of public resources in dealing with low-level offenses in which public safety is not threatened.

It's nice when local newspapers take a stand in support of sensible marijuana policy. Here in Nevada, you may have heard about the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard (best newspaper name ever, by the way) endorsing the marijuana initiative. Their straightforward position on reforming our marijuana laws will carry a lot of weight as we move towards passing the initiative to tax and regulate marijuana in Nevada.

CRCM is looking forward to more and more supporters coming forward between now and Election Day. Won't you be one of them? Please help us pass the marijuana initiative. Register to vote, volunteer, donate.

The Associated Press has distributed an article on the endorsement of our initiative by the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard. It's already been picked up by a number of newspapers around the country.

The Nevada Appeal carried the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard endorsement of the marijuana initiative.

Within minutes of posting our challenge to Jon Ralston to have us back on his show, "Face to Face," his producer called and invited CRCM Campaign Manager Neal Levine back for a July 5th appearance. We'll keep you in the loop.

Check out the video of an earlier show with Neal and Clark County Sheriff Bill Young here.

Jon Ralston's "Flashpoint" in today's Las Vegas Sun wonders aloud if the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard's endorsement of our initiative could mean that Fallon is "a hotbed of joint-smokers." Contrary to Jon's musings, you don't have to use marijuana to know that our marijuana laws don't work.

And what's the deal with the shot at the end about this being our only endorsement? Come on, Jon. You know it's really early to have an endorsement and that this is the first in what we hope will be many. If you want to take some swings like that, at least have us back on your show so we can defend ourselves.

Fernley News covered our endorsement by the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard.

The Southern California city of West Hollywood passed a resolution making marijuana possession offenses a low priority for local law enforcement officers. One City Council member pointed to marijuana being "certainly no more dangerous" than alcohol in urging police officers not to prosecute nonviolent offenders.

CRCM is excited to announce that we have received our first newspaper endorsement: The Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard editorialized in favor of our initiative to regulate and tax marijuana and encouraged readers to vote for a sensible marijuana policy for Nevada. The paper provided numerous reasons for supporting the initiative, from the need to focus on a far more dangerous substance -- methamphetamine -- to the complete failure of marijuana prohibition.

Key quote:

Those who view marijuana as a blight on society have yet to offer an effective solution of how to stop its spread through society or better fund law enforcement. Continuation of the ill-funded, half-hearted campaigns of the past is little more than veiled acceptance of its current widespread and illegal use.

If governments won't embrace efforts to successfully eliminate marijuana use and distribution, then regulate it, tax it and transfer the money from drug dealers' pockets to worthwhile endeavors.

We couldn't have said it better ourselves. It's time for Nevada to tax and regulate marijuana, and it's good to see that the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard recognizes the value of a sensible marijuana policy for our state.

Please join our campaign to pass the marijuana initiative. Register to vote, volunteer, donate.

In April, U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) called on the President to fire the drug czar, John Walters, for spending too many federal resources fighting marijuana and not enough on methamphetamine. So what do we have this week? An announcement from the drug czar's office about a reduction in meth lab seizures.

Somehow, Congress wasn't convinced.

Key quote:

At a congressional hearing last week, Democratic and Republican lawmakers called the plan weak and said they remain frustrated that the Bush administration downplays the problem of meth.

It seems one press release wasn't enough to persuade Congress that the drug czar has escaped his bizarre obsession with marijuana -- a substance less harmful than alcohol -- and has moved on to the far more serious threat of methamphetamine.

Who can blame them? We're not convinced, either.

The county board in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, voted to reduce the penalties charged to first-time offenders for small amounts of marijuana. The board held a lengthy debate about the merits of the ordinance and ultimately voted to pass it, citing both the taxpayer expense of prosecuting nonviolent offenders and the undue burdens placed on first-time offenders who are charged with a misdemeanor for small amounts of marijuana.

Key quote:

[County board member and defense attorney Keith] Belzer said he’s represented many clients whose lives were equally affected by the legal snarls and inability to get insurance benefits and student loans after being busted for having marijuana seeds in an ashtray.

Here in Nevada, we have a chance to implement a complete solution to our failed marijuana laws through taxing and regulating marijuana. Our initiative prevents the needless prosecution of nonviolent offenders while allowing police officers to focus on dangerous criminals. And it will generate tax revenue for the state of Nevada -- which benefits law-abiding citizens, not criminals. Passing the initiative to tax and regulate marijuana will give Nevadans real control over the use and sale of marijuana in our communities.

Please help us pass the marijuana initiative. Register to vote, volunteer, donate.

On Wednesday, Border Patrol agents guarding the U.S.-Mexico border faced a hail of gunfire from a Mercedes-Benz SUV packed with marijuana traffickers.

Our current system of marijuana prohibition encourages and funds this type of violence. It's time for a change. Please help us pass the marijuana initiative. Register to vote, volunteer, donate.

Authorities are investigating the discovery of hundreds of pounds of marijuana found in bathroom vanities sold at Home Depot stores throughout Massachusetts. Aren't criminals clever? They obviously found an easy way to transport huge amounts of marijuana across the country by piggybacking on shipments of furniture. Once again we see the ability of the criminal market to adapt and thrive -- regardless of our government's multi-billion dollar efforts to eliminate marijuana. Prohibition is putting money into the hands of these violent gangs and drug dealers, who are financing the shipment of hundreds of pounds of marijuana to anywhere in the U.S. (Not that we should be surprised, considering the profits to be earned by selling marijuana illegally.) It's time to take marijuana out of the criminal market and put it in a tightly regulated system so that we can control how and where it's grown, sold, and consumed. Taxing and regulating marijuana is a sensible way to gain control over marijuana use and a solution to the current free-for-all criminal market created by prohibition.

We Nevadans have the chance to take control of marijuana in our state this November. Please help us pass the marijuana initiative. Register to vote, volunteer, donate.

Authorities in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, removed wild marijuana plants that were growing on the lawn of a federal courthouse earlier this week. The federal government spends billions of dollars every year attempting to eradicate marijuana from the United States ... but they can't even keep it out of their own yard. Maybe it's time for the federal government to spend a little more on gardeners and less on aggressively pursuing nonviolent marijuana users.

Authorities found 13,000 marijuana plants growing in a national forest in San Diego County over the weekend. It's not uncommon for national forests and parks to be used by those seeking to cash in on the lucrative criminal market for marijuana in the U.S.

Key quote:

Last year law enforcement officials said San Diego County was ranked fourth in the state for pot plants seized on public lands, surpassing longtime pot-growing leaders Mendocino, Trinity and Humboldt counties. More than 178,000 plants were seized countywide.

Illegal marijuana farms like this are often heavily guarded, posing a threat to law enforcement, park rangers, and hikers. Not surprisingly, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle in late 2005, the main culprits behind marijuana farms on public lands are Mexican drug cartels ... the same Mexican drug cartels who are tunneling marijuana into the U.S. and earning billions of dollars from the illegal marijuana market (as has been blogged here before).

Despite record seizures and eradication by law enforcement, the U.S. Justice Department recently announced that "marijuana availability is high and stable or increasing slightly." No matter how hard the government tries to enforce marijuana prohibition, the criminal market adapts -- finding new and dangerous ways to funnel money into the hands of violent gangs and drug dealers.

The choice is clear: We can continue to let our public lands be used by violent criminals to grow marijuana, or we can finally take control of marijuana cultivation and use in our communities. We're guessing Nevadans will make the sensible choice this November. Register to vote, volunteer, donate.

Speaker Chief Richard Perkins received two responses in this week's CityLife regarding his attack on CRCM. It seems his viewpoint on the supposed ills of taxing and regulating marijuana wasn't too popular with some Nevadans.

The first writer, Robb Witmer Full, points out that creating a sensible marijuana policy is a mainstream concern.

Key quote:

Many people in this city, state, and country believe that decriminalization, regulation and taxation of marijuana would greatly restrict access of the drug to minors, while diverting resources in the criminal justice system toward fighting crimes with victims, increasing tax revenue and allowing adults more freedom to do what they please in the privacy of their own home.

And writer Scott Duran makes a plea for spending our resources on things more important than marijuana prohibition.

Key quote:

Let's stop the madness. The money saved by decriminalizing pot could then be used to pay for better screening at seaports, or decent wages and benefits for teachers, maybe even proper armor for the next bunch of apple-cheeked teens we send to fight in some oil-rich sandbox.

Cheers to these fellow Nevadans for taking a stand against Speaker Chief's lame attempt to pretend he speaks for all the people of this great state. Listening to the prohibitionists repeatedly say that anyone who votes for this initiative is stupid, or has been duped, is starting to get a little old. Marijuana prohibition is a complete failure and causes a lot of societal harm, and it's time for it to end. This November, we're betting that Nevadans will see through the prohibitionists' exaggerations and scare tactics and vote to pass the initiative to tax and regulate marijuana into law.

Please help us pass this important initiative. Register to vote, volunteer, donate.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently recommended that U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopters no longer be used to fight marijuana smuggling in the Bahamas. The program has been in place for twenty years, but Secretary Rumsfeld says the helicopters are needed elsewhere. Could it be that the secretary thinks the federal war on marijuana users is improperly wasting national resources?

Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project recently published a column about the falsehoods perpetuated by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in their ads warning that marijuana users develop lung cancer. As a recent study clearly demonstrated, there is no link between marijuana use and lung cancer. How did our government react to this new information that contradicts its earlier statements?

Key quote:

The White House simply ignored it. ...

The ethical thing for the Office of National Drug Control Policy to do would be to publicly retract its misleading ads. Correcting errors and even issuing full retractions of stories that prove incorrect is common practice among news organizations and scientific journals alike.

It's no fun for anyone concerned, but the pursuit of truth demands it.

Sadly, it appears the ONDCP isn't interested in pursuing the truth, since they obviously haven't issued a retraction. Shouldn't the federal government be held at least to the same standard of honesty we demand from news organizations and scientific journals? When it comes to the subject of marijuana use, we need an open, honest discussion -- not scare tactics that only distort the facts.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) yesterday filed suit in Alaska to challenge the unconstitutional law signed by Governor Frank Murkowski that illegally attempts to re-criminalize personal possession of marijuana. As predicted, it hasn't taken long for this bad law to come under attack.

Medical marijuana proposals are currently making news in South Dakota and New Jersey. Last week, the South Dakota Secretary of State certified that enough petition signatures were gathered to place a medical marijuana initiative on the November ballot. In New Jersey, state legislators on the Senate Health Committee will discuss a proposed medical marijuana bill this week. A number of other states are also considering medical marijuana legislation this year. In all, 11 states -- including Nevada -- have enacted laws to protect medical marijuana patients from arrest.

Earlier today, Governor Murkowski signed into law an unconstitutional bill that illegally attempts to re-criminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana in Alaska. The law undeniably violates the constitutionally-guaranteed right to privacy of Alaska citizens, and it is certain to be challenged immediately. The governor no doubt is aware of this, but he has nonetheless chosen to contradict the will of his constituents -- who clearly demonstrated in a recent poll that they oppose his efforts to re-criminalize marijuana. Instead, there is widespread support amongst Alaskans for a sensible marijuana policy. Could it be they see the way marijuana prohibition has failed in every other state? Unfortunately, it seems the professional bureaucrats in Alaska aren't exactly in sync with the independent and commonsense populace.

Allowing bureaucrats to make decisions about marijuana policy doesn't work in Alaska, and it doesn't work here in Nevada. It's time for us Nevadans to take control of marijuana use in our communities by passing the initiative to tax and regulate marijuana. Please help us pass this important initiative. Register to vote, volunteer, donate.

What's that you say? How can you, little old you, help to end marijuana prohibition?

Through phone banking from home, that's how! Volunteers from all over the nation can now get active in the campaign to tax and regulate marijuana in Nevada with a few simple phone calls. From the comfort of your own home, you can reach out to voters all across Nevada to find out what they think about the marijuana initiative. Every time you identify a voter -- whether they support, oppose, or are undecided about the initiative -- you are providing CRCM with vital information. Your help is crucial to the marijuana initiative's success.

All it takes is a home phone line and a computer with Internet access. We provide a few simple instructions, a training video to show you exactly what to do, and even a way to make practice calls before you begin. Then you'll be ready to start phone banking from home!

Visit www.RegulateMarijuana.org/homebank to see what it's all about. Phone banking from home is available from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Pacific on Monday through Friday, 12:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Saturdays, and 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sundays. If you have a few minutes, check it out today -- you can begin making phone calls right away or whenever it's convenient for you.

As an added incentive (in case you need more motivation than knowing you're helping to end marijuana prohibition), CRCM is offering some cool prize packages for our top volunteers. You can win tickets to see Jerry Seinfeld or Penn & Teller, as well as CRCM prize packs, mugs, and T-shirts.

Get started by logging in to the Volunteer Action Center (VAC). Don't have a VAC account? Signing up is easy, and the VAC is your pathway to becoming an integral part of the campaign. You can review the event calendar to find out about upcoming activities, schedule hours to volunteer with CRCM, and even see how many points you've earned. And when you log into the VAC, you'll see "Home Phone Banking" in the left menu. It's everything you need to become a champion for taxing and regulating marijuana in Nevada.

Please help us pass the marijuana initiative. Register to vote, volunteer, donate.

This week's CityLife includes a letter-to-the-editor from CRCM's Director of Communications, Patrick Killen, responding to the outrageous piece by Speaker Chief Richard Perkins in last week's edition. In contrast to Perkins' patronizing and evasive tirade, CRCM's letter provides straight talk in the debate over our failed marijuana laws.