Marijuana Policy Project

The Marijuana Policy Project ( MPP , dt. Roughly initiative to marijuana policy ) is the largest US-based lobbying organization for the legalization of cannabis . The organization was founded in 1995 and is based in Washington, DC

aims

The “vision” of the Marijuana Policy Project is a drug policy in which cannabis, like alcohol, is a legal and state-regulated good, in which an honest and realistic education about cannabis takes place and in which therapies are offered without coercion and geared towards harm reduction . To achieve this, the MPP has set itself four goals:

Increasing public support for a non-repressive cannabis policy,
Identify and mobilize supporters for a non-repressive cannabis policy,
Change state laws in the direction of less or no penalties for medicinal and non-medicinal cannabis use, and
Gaining influence in the United States Congress .

History and organization

The Marijuana Policy Project was founded in 1995 by Rob Kampia and Chuck Thomas. Both were employees of NORML , the second major organization for the legalization of cannabis, which has existed since 1970 and is now next to the MPP. Due to different views on the strategic direction of the organization and a personal rift between the then NORML boss Richard Cowan and Rob Campia, NORML split off.

The Marijuana Policy Project consists of two different legal entities: the Marijuana Policy Project and the Marijuana Policy Project Foundation. For 2011, both organizations together raised around US $ 2.5 million in donations and contributions. The Marijuana Policy Project employs a core team of ten people.

activities

The Marijuana Policy Project is active in three areas: in the classic lobby work in the sense of influencing the parliaments and governments of the states and the federal government, in the support of popular initiatives ("ballot initiatives") for a more liberal cannabis policy and in public relations. The projects supported by the MPP range from smaller liberalization and decriminalization measures to full legalization of both medical and non-medical (recreational use) use of cannabis.

MPP employees regularly comment on cannabis policy on the Internet, on local and national radio and in the press. In 2006, the MPP launched a radio advertising campaign on cannabis use of US President George W. Bush , former Vice President Al Gore , the California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Supreme Court -Richters Clarence Thomas respect took and rhetorically asked : "Is it fair to arrest three quarters of a million people a year for doing what presidents and a Supreme Court justice have done?" - "Is it fair to arrest three quarters of a million people a year for something that US presidents and a Supreme Court judge did?" In the 2009 California referendum on full cannabis legalization, MPP ran TV commercials for legalization.