The Smarter Sentencing Act (S. 1410), sponsored by a bipartisan coalition including Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mike Lee (R-UT), would bring real change to destructive mandatory minimum sentences in our criminal justice system. Aside from saving billions of dollars spent on incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders, the bill would give judges more flexibility in sentencing those with minor criminal records.

More specifically, some current mandatory minimum sentences would be cut in half. That means that if this bill passes, we could potentially see 10 and five-year mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana offenses cut to five and 2.5 years, respectively. This would be a huge victory, and we need your help to secure the votes.

[caption id="attachment_7783" align="alignright" width="228"] Sen. Harry Reid[/caption]

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid recently announced that he wants to bring the Smarter Sentencing Act up for a vote in the Senate this summer. Twenty-four senators have co-sponsored the bill already, but we need to secure 60 votes to pass the bill on the floor. The House companion bill, H.R. 3382, already has a bipartisan coalition consisting of 33 co-sponsors.

Please contact your senators and representative today, and tell them to support the Smarter Sentencing Act this summer!

Last Friday, after days of intense negotiation and more than a decade of advocacy, the Assembly and Senate voted to approve a limited medical marijuana program. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has already agreed to sign this bill, which includes several revisions he insisted upon. Finally, New York will be the 23rd state with an effective medical marijuana law.

Click here for a summary of the Compassionate Care Act.

Access to medical marijuana literally means the difference between life and death for many seriously ill patients. While this new law represents a hard-fought victory and a long overdue step forward for New York, the bill is far from perfect. Unfortunately, due to the compromises with the governor’s office, many patients will still be left behind. But, together with our local allies, including the Drug Policy Alliance and Compassionate Care NY, who led recent lobbying efforts in the state, we will not give up on improving the law.

If you have any questions about how the new law may affect you or your loved ones, please join Compassionate Care NY this Wednesday at 6 p.m. for a campaign call. You must register here to attend.

Over the weekend, lawmakers in Providence wrapped up the 2014 legislative session. Despite majority public support for the idea, they adjourned without bringing the Marijuana Regulation, Control, and Taxation Act up for a vote. However, we are undaunted. MPP and our allies in Rhode Island are committed to seeing that the will of the people is enacted, and we need your help.

Colorado and Washington already treat marijuana like alcohol, and many other states are considering doing so as well. This should come as no surprise considering that, like alcohol, marijuana is responsibly used by millions of Americans daily but, unlike alcohol, has never caused a lethal overdose. What sense does it make to waste limited resources enforcing failed marijuana prohibition?

While we are disappointed the bill didn’t pass this year, we are not discouraged. This long overdue policy change enjoys majority support among voters, and the Regulate Rhode Island coalition continues to grow and strengthen. If you are a Rhode Island resident, please ask your lawmakers to support this bill next year and then ask your supportive friends and family in Rhode Island to do the same.

As MPP previously reported, Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) cosponsored an amendment to the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act that would make medical use of marijuana legal. MPP’s director of federal policies, Dan Riffle, commented on this amendment last week after predicting action on the bill would be forthcoming. “Poll after poll shows 70-80 percent of Americans support medical marijuana. Even among conservatives, most oppose enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states where marijuana is legal for some purpose. Having two rising stars like Rand Paul and Cory Booker team up to introduce this amendment just shows how popular the issue has become, and that our outdated federal marijuana laws are inevitably going to change.”

However, shortly after this statement, the bill started to run into snags, Denver Westword reports. The chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), delayed the main bill after claiming she felt “caught between White House veto threats and Republican amendments.” Riffle is confident that it isn’t the medical marijuana amendment that is causing the problems. He also expressed that, even without the current bill, the goal is to see a standalone piece of legislation for the medical use of marijuana.

A bill that would allow Philadelphia’s police department to cease arrests in minor marijuana possession cases has passed the City Council with a veto-proof majority, Reading Eagle reports. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has until September to make the decision to either veto or sign the bill. His spokesman has not made it clear if he is inclined to sign the bill. The Nutter administration said that it appreciates the intent of the bill to save the city’s criminal justice system time and money. Supporters of the bill believe that it could save the city up to $4 million a year and spare offenders criminal records for what they believe are minor infractions.

The bill itself would no longer require police officers to arrest offenders who possess less than 30 grams of marijuana and would allow them to issue a $25 fine instead. Officers would still be allowed to arrest someone if they could not properly identify themselves or had outstanding warrants. The bill also does not change the law for selling marijuana, driving under the influence, or possession by minors.

Finally, the New York Legislature has adopted an effective medical marijuana law!

Now that the legislature has passed the bill, it’s up to Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to sign it. He was obstructing the bill earlier in the session, but the legislature made several amendments in order to reach a compromise and the governor has indicated he will support it.

Since 2003, MPP has been lobbying alongside allied organizations, patients, and other citizen activists to bring about this victory. Over the last 11 years, MPP has spent nearly $750,000 to pass a medical marijuana law in New York State.

In the early days, we recruited a coalition of more than 1,100 physicians in New York State who endorsed MPP's legislation. We announced this coalition in a full-page ad in the Albany Times, which made a big splash in the state capitol.

And just a couple weeks ago, MPP produced and aired a pair of TV ads that urged Senate co-leader Dean Skelos (R) and Gov. Cuomo to pass the measure this year.

The movement to make Oregon one of the next states to make marijuana legal got a major boost Wednesday when the petition to put the question on the ballot received 100,000 signatures, reports Gant Daily.The measure is backed by New Approach Oregon (NAO), which reported the collected signatures exceeded the minimum 87,213 required to qualify for the ballot on Monday. The ballot initiative, called the Control, Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana and Industrial Hemp Act, would strictly regulate marijuana sales and possession for adults over 21 years old. If passed, it would allow for possession of up to eight ounces and growing up to four plants. Sales of marijuana would be taxed at $35 an ounce and $5 per plant.

The ACLU of Oregon has thrown its support behind the petition. Their executive director, David Fidanque, commented, “We need to stop wasting taxpayer dollars arresting and searching people in Oregon just because they use marijuana. Prohibition hasn’t worked and it never will. It’s time to be honest about that and take a path that makes sense.” This was in response to a recent ACLU report, which claimed that Oregon’s law enforcement had stepped up its marijuana citations and arrests by 45% since 2001. This was the fifth highest in the nation. The NAO believes this endorsement will help them to get the ballot initiative passed in November.

[caption id="attachment_7759" align="alignright" width="220"] Sen. Rand Paul[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_7760" align="alignright" width="220"] Sen. Cory Booker[/caption]

Last month, we made history by passing an amendment in the U.S. House of Representatives intended to prevent the DEA from spending any money raiding and arresting medical marijuana patients and providers in states where it’s legal. Now, in order to get it to President Obama’s desk, we need to pass it in the Senate.

Please take two minutes to call both of your U.S. Senators and urge them to support the Paul/Booker medical marijuana amendment!

The good news is we will get a vote thanks to two courageous senators who are taking a stand for medical marijuana patients and respecting state laws. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) are sponsoring an amendment identical to the one that passed in the House last month. The amendment was filed yesterday and could be voted on at any time.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has started taking control of the medical research for marijuana and is focusing more on marijuana use patterns rather than its potential benefits, Businessweek reports. NIDA currently serves as the gatekeeper for marijuana’s medical research. NIDA also provides oversight for the farms that grow the plants that can be used in clinical trials. However, advocates say that NIDA’s control over which plants can be used effectively makes it impossible to test the benefits of marijuana on ailments such as cancer-related nausea or epilepsy. Many believe that the supply should not be controlled entirely by one organization.

MPP’s director of federal policies, Dan Riffle, weighed in on this issue. He claimed that the federal researchers aren’t “set up to study potential medical benefits, so it’s inappropriate for NIDA to have a monopoly on supply.” MPP and other marijuana advocates are pushing for the DEA to grant additional growing permits so that marijuana can be researched in conjunction with other diseases. This is partly because of organizations, like the Epilepsy Foundation, that want end restrictions on research for marijuana’s effect on alleviating seizures. With NIDA controlling the supply, there is not enough marijuana to test all of its medical benefits.

Yesterday, the Delaware House Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee voted 6-1 to release Rep. Helene Keeley’s decriminalization bill. This bill would remove criminal penalties for the simple possession of small amounts of marijuana, and instead impose a civil fine. The proposal may now be considered on the House floor.

This is a strong step towards more fiscally sound and humane marijuana policies. A March poll found that 68% of Delawareans across the political spectrum support making the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use punishable by a fine of up to $100, without jail time. Across the nation, 19 states and the District of Columbia have already passed similar measures.

This is a much-needed measure in Delaware, where African Americans are more than three times more likely to be arrested for the possession of marijuana than users of other races are, despite similar rates of use across all races. Criminal records have devastating effects; they can become obstacles to obtaining an education, employment, and even housing. This measure would also free up law enforcement to focus on addressing serious crimes instead of arresting adults for using a substance objectively safer than alcohol.