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News :: Drugs |
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Seattle Defies Drug Czar; Votes To Make Marijuana Prosecutions Lowest Priority |
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by Marijuana Policy Project
(No verified email address) |
17 Sep 2003
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It's time to end the fiscally wasteful and failed war on marijuana |
SEATTLE, WA - September 17 - In a sharp rebuke to White House Drug Czar John Walters, Seattle voters overwhelmingly passed Initiative 75 today, ordering Seattle police and prosecutors to make arrest and prosecution of adults possessing marijuana for personal use their lowest priority. With 97 percent of the vote counted, the measure was winning by a margin of 58.6 percent to 41.4 percent.
The measure, placed on the ballot by the Sensible Seattle Coalition, had broad local support, including endorsements from Seattle City Council members Judy Nicastro, Heidi Willis, and Nick Licata -- as well as the King County Bar Association, Seattle League of Women Voters, and the Washington chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), based in Washington, D.C., lent financial support to the campaign.
Walters campaigned against I-75 during a September 10 news conference in Seattle, calling the measure "a con."
"Seattle voters were smart enough to see that the real con job is coming from the Bush administration's drug czar, who keeps trying to prop up the failed policy of prohibition with phony arguments," said MPP Executive Director Robert Kampia. "The PRIDE survey of American teenagers, released on September 3, shows just what a disaster John Walters' policies have been: The drug czar's office has blanketed the airwaves with inaccurate ads designed to frighten kids and their parents about marijuana, and the result is that marijuana use has gone up sharply in nearly every age group. Kids are laughing at these ads, and parents are beginning to see that they've been duped.
"During John Walters' news conference in Seattle, he called for `a national debate' on marijuana policy," Kampia continued. "We accept Mr. Walters' challenge. I will debate him anytime, anywhere, and we will be contacting his office this week to start making arrangements. An honest, fact-based debate about marijuana prohibition is long overdue."
With more than 13,000 members nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP works to minimize the harm associated with marijuana -- both the consumption of marijuana and the laws that are intended to prohibit such use. MPP believes that the greatest harm associated with marijuana is imprisonment. To this end, MPP focuses on removing criminal penalties for marijuana use, with a particular emphasis on making marijuana medically available to seriously ill people who have the approval of their doctors.
For more information, please visit http://www.MarijuanaPolicy.org
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See also:
http://www.MarijuanaPolicy.org
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