Scott Turner, a New Hampshire medical marijuana patient who made headlines during the presidential primaries when he got then-Sen. Obama to promise to end federal interference in medical marijuana states, died Aug. 4.

Scott, who suffered a long, painful battle with degenerative joint disease and a degenerative disc disease, was a great friend to MPP and a tireless advocate for the rights of patients to use medical marijuana without fear of arrest.

Most recently, he was involved in the fight to pass a medical marijuana bill in New Hampshire, which was vetoed by the governor after legislators scrambled to pass a bill they had reworked to his specifications.

We here at MPP will miss Scott dearly, and we offer our sincerest condolences to his wife and family. We'll continue your work, Scott, and make sure the New Hampshire legislature overrides Gov. Lynch's veto and ensures no seriously ill Granite Stater ever has to endure what you endured just to treat your pain.

Here's Scott back in August 2007, securing Obama's support for the rights of medical marijuana patients, which led the Obama administration to announce its historic policy change earlier this year:

Two weeks ago, when drug czar Gil Kerlikowske told reporters that “marijuana is dangerous and has no medical benefit,” he also repeated a line he’s been using since taking the job as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy: "Legalization is not in the president's vocabulary, and it's not in mine."

This oft-repeated line (see an example here) is concerning to those of us who want President Obama making informed decisions about our nation’s marijuana policies. How can he discuss its merits if he doesn’t know the word?

To solve this problem, MPP has created a Web page that allows you to e-mail President Obama the definition.

Click here to define “legalization” for President Obama.

It also lets you add a message about why you support ending marijuana prohibition. Go ahead and take action today, and help MPP arm President Obama with the knowledge he’ll need to make an informed decision about the future of America’s marijuana laws.

British scientists warn increasing hostility toward scientific evidence that contradicts political agendas could hinder the collaborative relationship policy and science enjoys in Britain, the Guardian reported yesterday.

Last November, the British government ignored the advice of its Scientific Advisory Board and moved marijuana into a more dangerous class of drugs, a move described by top scientists at the time as "a sad departure from the welcome trend … of public policy following expert scientific advice."

Of course, here in the United States, government has been ignoring its scientific advisors on marijuana policy for decades, at least since Nixon first lined his bird cage with the two-year study he commissioned recommending marijuana's decriminalization.

And that unwelcome trend continues to this very day here, as evidenced by drug czar Gil Kerlikowske's recent lie that marijuana "has no medicinal benefit." Not sure who Kerlikowske's scientific advisors are, but the one we taxpayers use, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, says: "Nausea, appetite loss, pain, and anxiety … all can be mitigated by marijuana."

Then again, it doesn't take a scientist to know that it's wrong to deny sick people medicine that eases their pain, or to arrest responsible adults because they prefer a drug that's safer than alcohol or tobacco.

Last week, several thousand MPP members called and e-mailed the White House to express outrage at drug czar Gil Kerlikowske’s statement that “marijuana is dangerous and has no medical benefit.” A big thanks to everyone who took action!

This week, the White House started sending out a form letter in response to our concerns. As you can see from the letter, the old half-truths and outright lies from the Bush administration still infect the drug czar’s position on marijuana. 

The letter essentially hides behind a 2006 statement from the FDA, which claims, “No sound scientific studies have supported medical use of smoked marijuana.” There are two problems with this: First, it’s not true. On MPP’s Web site, we’ve posted numerous studies that support marijuana’s medical efficacy. Second, the statement is widely recognized as untrue. When the FDA released it in 2006, health experts and newspaper editorial boards around the country immediately denounced the position as political and unscientific.

The letter also goes to great lengths to frame the issue around “smoked marijuana.” This is a classic tactic used by prohibitionists to link medical marijuana with smoking. However, many medical marijuana patients these days are vaporizing or simply eating marijuana, two delivery methods that virtually eliminate the health risks associated with smoking.

MPP spokesperson F. Aaron Smith responds to a raid on an illicit marijuana growing operation in Sonoma, CA. These raids usually target operations run by Mexican drug cartels and are the direct result of the prohibition of marijuana. He compares them to alcohol bootleggers and asserts that taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol will put these criminals out of business and save police time and money. 07/29/2009

It's already that time of the year again: CAMP season -- when law enforcement agents, donned in paramilitary gear, set out on the hunt for marijuana in the California wilderness. And prohibitionists are already touting massive plant seizures as a victory for their cause.

Over the past decade, CAMP (Campaign Against Marijuana Planting) seizures have increased by 2,000 percent but marijuana use and availability have remained relatively stable. And besides being futile, this "eradication" program actually drives illegal marijuana farms further into hard-to-find wilderness areas that are the most ecologically sensitive.

Every summer, the media jumps all over the CAMP raids but all too often, reporters fail to ask the obvious question of why criminals are growing billions of dollars worth of marijuana on public lands in the first place. The answer, of course, is that prohibition fuels an illegal market in marijuana -- just as it did when alcohol was illegal in the 1920s. These criminal marijuana farmers are the bootleggers of the 21st century.

Regulating marijuana is the only way to get it out of the forests and into a controlled market.

After all, it's no accident that there aren't clandestine vineyards, hop fields, or tobacco plantations being planted in the forests of California.

Check out the highlights of MPP's 4th Annual Party at the Playboy Mansion, from June 4, 2009.

MPP Executive Director Rob Kampia appears on Fox Business News "Happy Hour" to discuss efforts in California to tax and regulate marijuana, and how it will help the state's revenue problems. 07/24/2009

TiVo alert! MPP executive director Rob Kampia will be on the Fox Business News program "Happy Hour" this Friday, July 24, discussing the economics of taxing and regulating marijuana. The show airs from 5 to 6 p.m. Eastern time.

Is there something in the water over at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy that turns every new drug czar into a babbling idiot? If not, how else can one explain the latest statement from new ONDCP honcho Gil Kerlikowske? Has he somehow been possessed by the spirit of his predecessor, John Walters?

While never a reformer, Kerlikowske had a reputation for being pretty rational while he was police chief in Seattle. But a story in Wednesday's Fresno Bee quotes the drug czar as saying, "Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit."

Bear in mind that this is from an administration whose declared policy is not to attack state medical marijuana laws (even though the law authorizing ONDCP requires the director to "take such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use" of any Schedule I drug). And bear in mind that Mr. Kerlikowske's scientific judgment has been contradicted by, among others, the American College of Physicians, the American Public Health Association, American Nurses Association, American Academy of HIV Medicine, etc., etc., etc.

Click here to use our online action center to send a message to the president about his drug czar's statement.

Distressingly, Kerlikowske made the remark while tagging along on the latest adventures of California's marijuana "eradication" drive, for which he seems to have become an enthusiastic cheerleader. This is a campaign that, despite a 2,000% increase in plant seizures over the last dozen years, has produced zero reduction in marijuana availability. But it has had one notable impact: Until 2001, the majority of plants seized were on private lands. Now, nearly three-quarters are on public lands -- often environmentally sensitive areas located in national parks and forests. "Eradication" campaigns have literally driven growers into the hills, multiplying the environmental damage.

So the new drug czar is touting policies that make the problem worse while spouting unscientific nonsense. John Walters lives.