| MPP confronts White House, White House debates MPP Dear Kris Millegan: Last night, the White House finally debated MPP out in the open, in public. The Drug Policy Alliance's Ethan Nadelmann and I debated David Murray, special assistant to White House Drug Czar John Walters, on the medical marijuana issue in a theater in Washington, D.C. (Andrea Barthwell, former deputy director of the drug czar's office, chickened out at the last minute.) Ethan and I won. I'll send you a link to a video of the debate when it becomes available online. Also, last week at the National Press Club in D.C., MPP's congressional lobbyist confronted the drug czar about how his office had buried a government-sponsored report that's critical of his national advertising campaign. In his response, the drug czar made the outrageous claim that MPP staffers spend their time "in ... chat rooms encouraging people to use marijuana." He also issued this caution to the room full of prohibitionists and reporters while pointing to MPP's lobbyist: "Make sure you keep your kids away from them." You can read the exchange between MPP's Aaron Houston and Drug Czar John Walters here. To support MPP's aggressive campaign to confront the White House and its drug czar everywhere possible, please make a financial contribution today. According to MPP's records, you have not yet made a financial donation to MPP (or the tax-deductible MPP Foundation) in 2006, so I'm hoping you will donate $10 or more today. ![]()
As I mentioned in an alert last week, a new report commissioned by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found that the White House-sponsored National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign — which runs ridiculous ads featuring teenagers under the influence of marijuana committing violent crimes — not only fails to reduce teen marijuana use, but in some cases actually increases teen marijuana use!
The drug czar — whose office runs those ads — is coming under heavy fire with the release of the report ... which was kept under wraps for a year-and-a-half until the Marijuana Policy Project pushed for its release. USA Today, The Washington Post, CNN, Fox News' Web site, Slate, a Scientific American podcast, and newspapers around the country have all covered this damning new evidence of the drug czar's failure. Read some of the coverage here. When MPP's Aaron Houston asked the drug czar to comment on the findings of the report and the fact that his office sat on it for so long, Walters dismissed the report as a "sideshow." But the drug czar's troubles keep coming: The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee recently recommended cutting salaries and expenses in his office from $26.6 million to $11.5 million — a reduction of more than half — "to more closely reflect actual performance." You can read about the Senate committee's recommendation here. Thanks in advance for anything you can donate to help us in our "War on Drug Czar." With your help, we hope to see a drastic reduction in the scope of his power and influence in the coming year. Sincerely, Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C. P.S. As I've mentioned in previous alerts, a major philanthropist has committed to match the first $3.5 million that MPP can raise from the rest of the planet in 2006. This means that your donation today will be doubled.
P.P.S. If you've decided you don't want to donate anything today — and you're also sure you don't want to donate any money during the remainder of this year — you can opt out of receiving fundraising mentions in the e-mail alerts I send you by visiting http://www.mpp.org/2006optoutpreference at your convenience. | | Raised in '06
$2,472,317
Goal in '06
$3,500,000
Days until Election Day
54
MPP will be able to tackle all of the projects in our 2006 strategic plan if you and other allies are generous enough to fund our work. Popular Links:
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