4/20: TIME TO HAVE FUN - AND TO END MARIJUANA PROHIBITION!

We Need YOU to Help End Marijuana Prohibition.

April 20th is a special day for millions of people around the world,
the unofficial "holiday" for marijuana smokers.

Many people mark April 20th, especially at 4:20 pm, with a toke. Some
people will mark the day and the occasion with close friends. Others,
in cities like Santa Cruz or Boulder, will be part of gatherings of
thousands of people to celebrate the occasion. Both the intimate and
mass gatherings are fun. It is special to be with a small group
smoking a joint: the laughing, discussing, playing and chilling. It
is also exhilarating being with thousands of others, all smoking,
usually at a beautiful outdoor spot, often with some music.

On 4/20, in certain towns there is an open truce. The police allow
the 4/20 gatherings to happen and are reluctant to arrest people. It
is worth noting that at these mass gatherings of hundreds or
thousands of people smoking marijuana, there is none of the rowdiness
or, violence that we often see at alcohol-fueled gatherings.

In addition to the good times, 4/20 is also a time where many people
feel free to be open about their marijuana use. There is still stigma
and real fear that you may get arrested or lose you job for smoking
marijuana. The power-in-numbers, celebratory feel of 4/20 allows
people to enjoy their marijuana in the open and with friends and see
that there are more of us than we realize.

This is significant because many marijuana smokers don't feel
comfortable admitting to the world that they use marijuana and this
is one reason why marijuana is still illegal and almost a million
people get arrested for it every year.

While I appreciate the good times on 4/20 as much as the next toker,
I would like to put out a challenge: We Need YOU to Help End
Marijuana Prohibition.

While many people associate marijuana with fun times, it also happens
to be at the epicenter of a catastrophic war on drugs that is
destroying as many lives as ever. If the current rate holds, more
than 760,000 people in the U.S. will be arrested for just possessing
a small amount of marijuana in 2011 -- twice the amount of marijuana
possession arrests as in the 1980s. Once you're arrested, even for
just a small amount of marijuana, you can lose much more than just
your freedom you can lose your job, financial aid, housing, and
even custody of your children.
Sometimes it might feel like marijuana is already legal but it
isn't, especially if you're black or Latino. Nationally, in virtually
every town and city, marijuana arrests reveal stark racial
disparities. In 2010, 86 percent of those charged for marijuana
possession in New York were black or Latino, even though these groups
represent only about half of the city's population. Is this because
blacks and Latinos are more likely to use or sell drugs? Not at
all contrary to myths perpetuated in the media, the government's
own data shows that white people are just as likely to use or sell
marijuana as black or Latino people. Marijuana use doesn't
discriminate, but our marijuana policies do.

In addition to the lives harmed by arrests and incarceration, there
are enormous economic costs. The war on drugs costs the government at
least $51 billion every year at the state and federal level. And
that's not counting costs at the local level. For instance, according
to a recent DPA report, New York City alone spent $75 million dollars
arresting more than 50,000 people for marijuana possession in 2010.

The harms of marijuana prohibition are even more devastating to our
neighbors to the South. In Mexico, more than 37,000 people have been
killed since President Calderon declared war on the drug cartels, who
make about half their profits in the marijuana business. It is not
marijuana itself that causes violence on U.S. streets or the bloody
war in Mexico it is the policy of marijuana prohibition.

This June will mark the 40th anniversary of Richard Nixon launching
the war on drugs. The Drug Policy Alliance will be teaming up with
organizations across the country to protest this disgraceful
anniversary in cities and towns across the country.

We need you to join us! This war on marijuana and the people who
use it needs to end!