Dear MAP Editors and Volunteers,

Please know that you are arguably the most important segment of the
drug policy reform movement. Your commitment to our common cause is
unparalleled. You provide the information and resource that allows
the rest of us to gain the knowledge and ability to articulate needed
in this political battle. Congratulations on this remarkable milestone.

Yesterday I had the privilege of debating an assistant DA from the
Orange County District Attorney's office at a drug symposium at Orange
Coast College produced by the United Student Sociologists and
Psychology Club. Our debate was concerning marijuana
decriminalization. My ability to bring a clear and rational message
to the student audience was a direct result of the hard work of the
MAP volunteers. The ADA left the stage quite embarrassed as he was
obviously less informed of the facts and students were notably moved
by information to which they had never been exposed.

In ending my prepared comments I asked that those who might be moved
to activism in drug policy reform to visit MAP on the internet as it's
the logical place to begin. Following the debate I was approached by
half a dozen students interested in our cause. Hopefully, new MAP
volunteers were born.

So, again, thank you for your efforts and best wishes on future
endeavors.

Rick Root

Freelance Drug Policy Reform Activist

Text of prepared opening statement before the Orange Coast College United
Student Sociologists and Psychology Club presentation, "Drugs: Nightlife or
Nightmare, a series of discussions" on March 26, 2003:

Good afternoon. Thank you to all those responsible for today's
symposium. And thank you for the invitation to speak on this very
important political subject. Please bear with me, as I am not a public
speaker. I'm a private citizen employed in the private sector and I'm
a political activist in the area of drug policy reform. My activism
primarily consists of writing letters to editors in comment on
published drug related stories and commentaries. I get published often
but seldom do I speak.

The question is, "How would the decriminalization of marijuana for
adults be beneficial to our society?"

I'll be breaking it down into 4 areas: Markets... Harm Reduction...
Industry... Medical

1. Markets;

Currently marijuana is distributed through a black market. It is
unregulated and untaxed. Without regulations the quality of product is
unsure and the supplier is unaccountable for the product. This is bad
for society. Without regulation, its sale is offered to anyone, of any
age, any time, anywhere, no questions asked. Decriminalization and
regulation solves these societal problems.

The black market operates on cash. Therefore there is no tax
collection involved. Billions of dollars exchange hands annually but
little of it sees its way back to our common coffers. Society would be
rewarded with a significant tax source through the regulation of marijuana.

The black market attracts criminal elements. The ONDCP has given us a
multi-million dollar ad campaign designed to show us just that.
Perhaps you've seen the television commercials; "that marijuana you
bought funds terrorism!" The reality is that prohibition itself funds
terrorism. Prohibition has made a simple garden product more valuable
than gold and handed on a silver platter a means for terrorists to
support their activities. Society would greatly benefit from turning
the distribution of marijuana over to reputable members of society.

For more information on markets visit the Marijuana Policy Project
www.mpp.org or the Ludwig von Mises Institute www.mises.org

2. Harm Reduction;

Currently the United States has a prison population of 2 million. In
the entire world there are 8 million in prisons. We have 5% of the
world's population but 25% of it's prison population. Over a third of
our prisoners are held on drug related offenses. A good number of
these prisoners simply don't belong there. The prohibition against
marijuana turns non-violent and otherwise law-abiding citizens into
criminals. Families are broken, children lose parents. Little harm is
done to the family from adult marijuana use. Much greater harm is done
to the family from marijuana prohibition.

We are addressing adult marijuana use but we ought to touch on use by
minors. Marijuana should not be available to minors. Just as alcohol
isn't available to minors. But marijuana is more readily available to
minors than alcohol. There aren't any liquor store owners pushing
their wares on playgrounds. That's because they are regulated and the
profit-margin incentive is taken away from the criminal element.
Society benefits by protecting its youth from harm.

There is a great waste of police resources on marijuana prohibition
enforcement. In the last year, while our society was being told of
possible threats of terrorism from outside sources, federal policing
agencies conducted large scale militarized raids on open and
above-board medical marijuana cooperatives throughout our state
operating within guidelines of local jurisdictions. Society would be
better served with these resources committed to protecting us from
real harms.

Prohibition has militarized our local police departments. Drug raids
are conducted in dynamic style, that is, entry is forced when
occupants are unsuspecting. The tactics and weaponry often times
results in death to occupants who react in instinct of self-defense or
confusion. Too often, these raids are the result of bad information
and innocent citizens are harmed. Society benefits when police cause
no harm and simply react to those who do harm.

For more information on harm reduction and related issues visit The
November Coalition www.november.org , Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition www.leap.org and Human Rights and the Drug War
www.hr95.org

3. Industry;

Marijuana prohibition carries along with it a prohibition against
hemp. The basic difference between them is that marijuana has THC, the
active ingredient that gets the user high, while hemp has only traces
of THC, at best. Our government considers them the same. Industrial
hemp is the world's premier renewable resource. Products and
possibilities include food, fiber, paper, fashion and accessories,
fuel and many more. The benefits to society from the exploitation of
hemp are as endless as our imaginations. Last year, the Hempmobile, an
automobile powered by hemp fuel toured the United States. A wide array
of healthy food choices are made available from the hemp seed. Our
national founding documents are printed on hemp paper. Hemp fiber was
used for centuries to fashion sails for ships.

In this day of shortages in resources and concern for our forests,
hemp offers a renewable resource that can be grown in a wide variety
of climatic conditions. Farmers from the Dakotas to the mid-south
battle with the federal government to allow for the growing of this
crop that offers great benefit to society. The establishment of
marijuana prohibition in the 1930's was lobbied for by men of industry
though. The most notable of these was Peter Dupont who was developing
plastics. Others who lobbied for prohibition also sought economic
advantage by removing a competitive product from the market. Try to
find a hemp rope today. They're all plastic. Hemp could greatly reduce
our consumption of fossil fuels which would be of great benefit to
society.

I would be remiss if I failed to address the industry that thrives on
marijuana prohibition. That would be the drug war industry. Our
federal government alone spends $20 billion a year on the drug war,
most of it specifically targeted at marijuana. States spend another
$20 billion. That in itself creates a lot of advocates for continuing
prohibition and a lot of lobbies demanding it. I like to note that
it's the drug warriors who are addicted. The benefits to society here
are that you end an industry that consumes wealth and create an
industry that produces wealth. More information on this subject can be
found in Economics 101.

On the net visit the Campaign to Restore and Regulate Hemp
www.crrh.org or The Hemp Industries Association www.thehia.org to
further research the benefits of hemp.

4. Medical;

Marijuana IS good medicine. Its medicinal qualities are recognized and
taken advantage of by tens of thousands of sick and dying Americans
who have found a non-toxic means of improving the quality of their
lives. And that's the key; improving the quality of life. From pain
management, to appetite stimulant, to suppression of nausea and so
much more; marijuana is a Godsend of medicinal benefit. Literally! It
is a gift from God, a seed bearing plant. Yet government and most
politicians from both parties continue to refuse the facts, both
anecdotal and clinical, to promote and protect the prohibition against
and the Class 1 scheduling of marijuana. They lie to us. Millions of
Americans know the truth from years and years of first- and
second-hand experiences with marijuana. The lies are told to protect
and advance policies, programs and business dependent upon its
prohibition, which has caused great harm to a significant portion of
our society.

Marijuana doesn't kill. No one has ever died from its ingestion. Yet
government has you believe otherwise. They would have you believe
marijuana is addictive. Hardly. Marijuana is being used successfully
as a means of beating addiction to drugs that kill, such as alcohol.
But don't take my word for it, or government's. Simply look around
your community. Where are the bodies that marijuana supposedly claims?
Where are the signs of harm? Look in your jails and prisons - there's
your harm. The harms of marijuana are slight compared to the harms of
marijuana prohibition. Ending these harms would be of great benefit to
society.

I would like to introduce you to Peter McWilliams if you don't know of
him already. Mr. McWilliams was a best-selling author who in the mid
90's contracted AIDS. Never previously having been a marijuana
consumer he decided after the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996 to
see if it would help with the complications he was experiencing with
his regiment of prescription drugs. An AIDS patient consumes what is
referred to as a cocktail of prescription drugs which are designed to
keep the patient's viral count up. He was having trouble keeping his
load of drugs down and allowing them to work. He had lost significant
weight because of this and was too weak to lead any kind of productive
life. Marijuana changed all that. He was absolutely amazed at the
results of the marijuana use. He was able to suppress the nausea and
his other medicines began working. His weight started coming back and
he was able to enjoy life once again. He was so impressed with his new
medicine he decided he must write a book about marijuana as medicine.
He enlisted the help of Todd McCormick, a cancer patient in his 20's
who also benefited greatly from marijuana use. They started an indoor
grow operation carefully cataloging the various strains of marijuana
to see which strains suited which ailments best. It was a very
ambitious project for two men who by all accounts should have been
confined to bed wasting away toward death. But the DEA caught wind of
the project and came in and destroyed the garden and charged both men
with manufacturing with intent to sell. Federal Judge George King
ruled the defendants could not so much as mention medical condition or
medical need in court before a jury. As a condition for bail, which
was set in six figures, both were forbidden from further use of
marijuana. Both were subjected to drug testing to ensure compliance.
Facing mandatory minimum sentencing that would have put them away for
20 years, in essence a life sentence, and with no defense to present
they negotiated a guilty plea in exchange for a shorter sentence.

While going through the legal process Peter's condition deteriorated
greatly without the use of his Godsent medicine. On June 14, 2000
Peter McWilliams died. He choked to death on his own vomit, the
primary symptom marijuana helped to elevate. I say our government
murdered Peter McWilliams. His friend Todd McCormick is currently
suffering in Terminal Island Prison, a few more years yet to serve for
the crime of wanting to improve the quality of life of those
unfortunate in matters of health.

This is but one story of many of how marijuana prohibition is harmful
to our society. Locally, Marvin Chavez is in state prison, sent there
for providing marijuana to two undercover cops who presented him with
Doctor's recommendations for marijuana while he was operating the
Orange County Patient, Doctors and Nurses Cannabis Coop in Santa Ana,
operated within the scope of Proposition 215. He too suffers because
government refuses the truth.

More information on the medical aspects of marijuana can be found
at

www.safeaccessnow.org

www.christiansforcannabis.com

www.letfreedomgrow.org

I would like to leave you with this thought, a quote from a fellow
reformist, Matthew Elrod;

Even if cannabis were as addictive as tobacco, as criminogenic as
alcohol, as hazardous as mountain climbing, as toxic as
monosodium-glutamate and as demotivating as television, it would make
even less sense to abdicate its distribution to black marketeers who
sell on commission to anyone of any age, any time, anywhere, no
questions asked.

If you are moved to become an activist in this political cause please
visit the Media Awareness Project at www.mapinc.org or look into
participation with a political party interested in drug policy reform.
Your choices are the Green Party and the Libertarian Party.

Thank you.