CALIFORNIA'S PROPOSITION 19 DrugSense FOCUS Alert #448 - Sunday, August 22nd, 2010 Today the San Francisco Chronicle printed two OPEDs. The first 'Californians Must Look at Science of Marijuana' http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n677/a08.html is interesting for what is not disclosed. It is by an addiction therapist. The therapeutic community has a vested interest in continuing the current system. About half of all users in therapy are there because of their marijuana use. Of those, over 40% are there from court referrals -- they take therapy as a preferred alternative to jail whether they need it or not. Many of the others are there because their parents' health insurance will buy therapy as an alternative to being expelled from school or referred to the juvenile justice system. The second 'Legalizing Marijuana Is Bad For California' http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n679.a06.html is by Susan Manheimer, the president of the California Police Chiefs Association. There is more spin and propaganda in the OPED than we can count. Your letters to the editor about either or both are invited. Opinion items are always good letter targets. They are MAP archived at http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm The same applies to Proposition 19 items which may be found at http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Proposition+19 Please check out the new Proposition 19 website at http://yeson19.com/ - and please do whatever you can to support the effort. We have started a list of who appears to be for and against Proposition 19 based on MAP's news clippings. FOR The International Longshore and Warehouse Union The National Black Police Association The United Food and Commercial Workers Union The California National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Law Enforcement Against Prohibition The Drug Policy Alliance Network Students for Sensible Drug Policy The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws The American Civil Liberties Union The Courage Campaign Dr. Joycelyn Elders, the former United States Surgeon General The Cannabis Consumers Campaign DRCNet DrugSense Common Sense for Drug Policy Marijuana Policy Project Citizens Opposing Prohibition The California Black Chamber of Commerce Retired Orange County Judge James Gray AGAINST The California Chamber of Commerce The California Police Chiefs Association The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Mexican Marijuana Trafficking Organizations The California Narcotics Officer's Association Gubernatorial candidates Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer The California League of Cities Suggestions for writing letters are at our Media Activism Center http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides For the latest facts about marijuana please see http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/53 Prepared by: Richard Lake, Focus Alert Specialist www.mapinc.org

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