Marijuana Policy Project update

Dear Friend,

Some quick updates ...

1. In just the past week, we have gained two more co-sponsors on
H.R. 2592, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank's (D-MA) medical marijuana
bill. With the addition of U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and
U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA), the bill now has 30 co-sponsors
I want to thank you if you have used http://www.mpp.org/usa to
fax a personalized, pre-written letter to your U.S.
representative -- your grassroots activism is really making a
difference. If you have not already done so, please visit
http://www.mpp.org/usa to fax letters to your U.S. representative
and two U.S. senators.

2. On Wednesday, March 13, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time, Court TV is
airing the premiere of "Guilt by Association", a film that tells
the story of a woman unjustly caught in the web of mandatory
sentencing laws, as well as the efforts of Families Against
Mandatory Minimums to change these bad laws. (The film is also
scheduled to air on March 16 and 17.) Please see
http://www.famm.org/nr_sentencing_news_guilt_release_february_2002.htm

3. On March 7, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the
hemp industry's motion to block the DEA's new hemp ban from
taking effect until the court has an opportunity to hold a
hearing on the matter, which is scheduled for April 8. Since the
DEA issued its new hemp regulations on October 9, thousands of
citizens have used http://www.savehemp.org to send angry letters
to their state and federal legislators, more than 115,000 people
wrote directly to the DEA to oppose the ban, and 22 members of
Congress sent a letter to the DEA stating that the new hemp rules
are "overly restrictive." In sum, MPP and hemp advocates believe
we have a good chance of blocking the DEA's ban, because our
argument rests on the simple notion that Congress intended for
non-psychoactive hemp products to be treated differently from
heroin, LSD, marijuana, and other Schedule I controlled
substances; in sum, Congress intended for hemp products to be
treated similarly to poppy seeds, which contain trace amounts of
opiates but do not produce a psychoactive effect, no matter how
many poppy-seed bagels one eats.

Of more than 9,700 subscribers to this e-mail list, fewer than 1,400
(14 percent) are dues-paying members of MPP. If you have never made a
financial donation to our work, would you please consider donating now
if you like what you're seeing? Thank you ...

Sincerely,

Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

P.S. To make a tax-deductible contribution, please visit
http://www.mpp.org/join-mpp.html . Thanks again.

http://www.savehemp.org