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| Also listed in: 2008 Rapid Response | All Women for Obama '08 | Barack Obama | Fist Bumps for Obama | Obama MaMa's08 | The Michelle Obama Truth Squad |
In just 10 days, the nation's largest political event will be held right in SAFER's backyard. We need your help to take advantage of it.
About 15,000 members of the media from around the world are expected to descend on Denver next week for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. As the international spotlight is being cast on the Mile High City, SAFER will be doing everything possible to draw attention to its message, the vast progress we have made in the convention's host city, and the growing support for marijuana policy reform around the country. 
Things got rolling last week with a column from SAFER Executive Director Mason Tvert featured in the Denver Post, discussing the upcoming convention and the hypocrisy in how marijuana and alcohol are treated in this country. However, to implement the rest of our DNC plans...
We NEED Your Help!
Please click here or visit http://www.SAFERchoice.org/donate today and make a tax-deductible donation to help SAFER create the materials we need to get our message out during the DNC.
Would you give $5 to see a story in the New York Times that highlights how marijuana is SAFER than alcohol? An interview on MSNBC? A segment on the Daily Show?
For every $5 you donate, SAFER will be able to hand a member of the media a professional-appearing folder emblazoned with "How to Have a SAFER 2008 DNC." Each folder will include:
Tips on how to have a SAFER DNC, highlighting the host city's status as the first in the nation to remove all legal penalties for the private use and possession of marijuana by adults.An envelope addressed to the City of Denver for those media members who get cited by police for making the SAFER choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol to enhance their convention experience. We hope to draw attention to the recent change in city policy that made citations for marijuana possession a simple mail-in fine (much like a traffic ticket) rather than a mandatory court appearance. Of course we will mention that this this a good start, but does not go nearly far enough.
A time-line, fact sheet and news clippings, detailing the progress of efforts to reform marijuana laws in Denver, across Colorado, at the federal level, and in other cities and states around the country.Information regarding the relative safety of marijuana compared to alcohol, explaining why it makes absolutely no sense to punish adults for simply making the SAFER choice and push them toward using the more harmful of the two.
These folders will provide the media with everything they need to cover our issue during the convention, plus it will allow them to do so whenever is convenient for them, as there will be tons of other events and issues with whom we'll be competing for attention.
SAFER is powered by its supporters, and any amount you can donate will greatly increase our chances of generating some positive news coverage. So please visit our Web site today and make a tax-deductible donation of $5, $20, $50 or more, and be sure to forward this message on to others.
Volunteer in Denver During the DNC!
Along with needing help putting together the folders mentioned above, we need volunteers to represent SAFER at information booths at various demonstrations and events surrounding the DNC. If you can help us put together folders next week, or help distribute literature and Know-Your-Rights information and sign up new supporters during the convention, please contact SAFER Outreach Director Anne Catto at anne@saferchoice.org or 303-861-0033.
Other Marijuana Reform Events During the DNC
(These events are NOT sponsored by or affiliated with SAFER)
Thursday, Aug. 21 - THC National Convention
Conference: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Music/Comedy: 6 p.m.-Midnight
(Oriental Theater, Map)
Friday, Aug. 22 - March Against the Prohibition of Marijuana
Meet: 1:45 p.m. March Begins: 2 p.m.
(Meeting at Lincoln Park)
Thursday, Aug. 28 - Citizens for Safe Access Medical Marijuana Parade
Meet: 12:30 p.m. Parade Begins: 1:15 p.m.
(Staging at Lincoln Park, Map of parade route)
Just checked my e-mail and came across this.
What Do You Think?
It's one of those issues I really don't follow much and have no opinion.
Sorry :-(
Drugs - all drugs - are a device used by the ruling elites to help them control the masses.
You should be over with the republicans.
Well have to go see you in Obamaland.
(((fist bumps to all)))
Link
;)
For the record Obama supports the use of marijuana if it is prescribed by a physician for serious illness's and disorders. Basically the same rules/guidelines the 13 states that currently have it legal for med use.
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I did not know about safer---and I won't repeat my comments, but you can read them on this link.
Denver votes to legalize marijuana possession
By Patrick O'Driscoll, USA TODAY
DENVER — Voters here approved making Denver the first major city to legalize small amounts of marijuana, but the mayor warned that state law still makes possession of the drug illegal.
"OK of pot issue gives new meaning to Mile High City," said Wednesday's headline in the Rocky Mountain News. The measure, which passed Tuesday with 54% of the vote, says adults 21 and older may possess up to an ounce of marijuana without penalty in the city.
A few other cities, including Seattle and Oakland, have laws that make marijuana possession a low priority for police. A dozen states, including Colorado, have decriminalized possession of small amounts but still issue fines.
Unlike Denver, the Colorado ski town of Telluride, population 2,300, narrowly defeated a measure Tuesday that would have made possession of marijuana the lowest police priority. It might be already: Just 17 citations were issued there last year for pot possession.
Don't expect clouds of marijuana smoke to fill Denver's thin air. Mayor John Hickenlooper said police will continue to arrest and charge people for marijuana because state law still makes possession illegal.
Hickenlooper said the city can adopt an ordinance that is stricter than state law on marijuana but not one that is weaker.
Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C., said Denver's vote will spur initiatives in other cities to legalize and regulate marijuana like alcohol or tobacco.
"It's certainly likely to energize people. This is the wind in the sails of reform," Mirken said Wednesday. "Rethinking marijuana prohibition is mainstream. This is the heart of America saying, 'Hold on, maybe our current marijuana laws don't make a lot of sense.' And the fact is, they're right."
Mason Tvert, who led the Denver campaign for legalized pot, said he will encourage people who are charged under state law to fight their arrests in court.
In Colorado, having an ounce of marijuana or less is punishable by a $100 fine but no jail time. "It's like a speeding ticket, and only a fraction of people end up going to court over it," said Tvert, founder of SAFER, or Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation.
Tvert said his group also will seek a state initiative to license and regulate the sale of marijuana. His campaign argued that legalized pot is a safer alternative, considering the problems that arise from alcohol abuse such as violent crime and health risks.
The mayor said he opposed the measure because he considers marijuana a "gateway" drug that can lead to harder substances and "much more self-destructive behaviors." Hickenlooper acknowledged, however, that Denver's vote "does reflect a genuine shift in people's attitudes."
Although Denver's marijuana vote caught attention, the main issue Coloradans approved Tuesday will let the state government keep $3.7 billion in tax revenue over the next five years. The money otherwise would have been refunded to taxpayers under a 1992 constitutional amendment, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which has strict caps on state spending. The statewide referendum passed with 52% of the vote.
Link
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chro nicle-old/410/denver.shtml
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