MARIJUANA ACTIVISTS URGE NATIONAL BOYCOTT OF STARBUCKS Update from SAFER, Monday Jan 25, 2010: "SAFER and supporters of marijuana policy reform have won Round 1 in the fight against the Arrest and Prosecution Industry and the companies that sponsor their efforts to keep marijuana illegal . . . SAFER is no longer calling for a nationwide boycott of Starbucks or these other companies." You can read SAFER's complete statement at http://mapinc.org/url/uqHsjhDw This is from Chris Gyrgiel, Jan 23: Starbucks officials said the effort is misguided. The company does not provide financial support to the Colorado law enforcement group, Starbucks said in a statement. "This organization is apparently targeting us because a local law enforcement organization in Colorado posted our logo on their Web site. Starbucks has not taken a position on their issue," the statement said. "We have a tremendous amount of respect for the men and women of local law enforcement. However, we have not sponsored this particular organization through our foundation. It is up to the discretion of our local teams to support those groups that are relevant in their neighborhoods. Our stores often support organizations in their community by donating coffee for their events." The Colorado Drug Investigators Association Web site, which apparently listed other national and Colorado companies besides Starbucks as backers, is no longer working. Continues: http://www.kval.com/news/national/82516892.html DrugSense FOCUS Alert #428 - Saturday, 23 January 2010 Mason Tvert and SAFER Colorado this week called for a boycott of Starbucks and other sponsors of the Colorado Drug Investigators Association (CDIA), after the coffee franchise was listed as a sponsor of the rabidly prohibitionist police association on their web site. Writes SAFER, "the Colorado Drug Investigators Association (CDIA), the group spearheading anti-marijuana lobbying efforts, is sponsored by several local and national businesses including Starbucks Coffee, Glock handguns, and -- you guessed it -- members of the alcohol industry! This might seem a bit odd, but when you consider the fact that their Web site and merchandise features the grim reaper and military helicopters, a skull motif, and the slogan, 'Death on Drugs,' it all makes a little more sense. These guys are not out to protect people; they're out to fight a literal war on marijuana . . . "It's no surprise that the Arrest and Prosecution Industry is determined to maintain the war on marijuana. But Starbucks and other companies' funding of this war should strike any marijuana consumer or reform supporter as truly appalling. It's time to stand up and send them all a message." The report, below, is just one about this story now circulating in the blogosphere. By using MAP's newsbot http://drugnewsbot.org http://drugnewsbot.org?concept=safer_colorado you can follow the news about the Mason Tvert and Starbucks boycott, as it breaks. SAFER Colorado has put up a page suggesting some ways you can immediately take action http://www.saferchoice.org/content/view/995/9/ Writing letters to the editor to newspapers about the vested interests many have in maintaining marijuana prohibition can help advance the issue. Contacts for newspapers may be found at http://mapinc.org/media.htm Updated facts on marijuana you may wish to use are at http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/53 Articles and opinion items about Mason Tvert updated hourly may be found at http://drugnewsbot.org/topic/safer_colorado.htm Pubdate: Fri Jan 22nd, 2010 Source:Indybay.org> Webpage: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/01/22/18635964.php Today, Mason Tvert, founder of SAFER (Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation), called for a boycott of Starbucks, saying the coffee chain supported the Colorado Drug Investigators Association, a lobbying group that has opposed to medical marijuana. The CDIA, which listed Starbucks as a sponsor on its website alongside such vendors as Glock handguns and Point Blank Body Armor, is a group that is seeking to overturn Colorado's constitutional amendment allowing cannabis for medical use. Oddly, Tvert says, the CDIA's website was curiously taken down an hour before his noon appearance at the 300 East 6th Avenue Starbucks branch. But SAFER outreach director Eva Enns called it "totally metal." According to her, the site featured skull-and-crossbones graphics and a grim reaper rappelling from a helicopter declaring "Death on Drugs." "Law enforcement is an industry like any other, and the decriminalization of marijuana threatens part of that industry," Tvert says, adding that regulation of marijuana poses a conflict of interest for drug enforcement agencies. On one hand, marijuana dispensaries keep some of the drug trade out of the hands of organized traffickers, ultimately reducing crime (something you might think law enforcement would support). On the other, that reduction in crime takes jobs away from those enforcement agencies. "Law enforcement groups are not motivated by maintaining public safety or developing a workable system of medical marijuana regulation," Tvert adds. "They are motivated by one thing -- job security." Tvert hopes to spread awareness among consumers that don't realize Starbucks helps fund the CDIA's efforts. He believes that by pressuring Starbucks (and other national corporations such as Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts and Embassy Suites) through consumer backlash, he can help impede the CDIA's efforts to abolish dispensaries and wage war on marijuana. PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER Please post copies of your letters to the sent letter list () if you are subscribed. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches. To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form Suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism Center http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides Prepared by: Doug Snead * MAP Editor www.mapinc.org * International Drug Policy Analyst *www.drugnewsbot.org =.

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