Since 1965 over 20 million Americans have been arrested for a marijuana related charge, and that number grows by two about every minute. You heard me right. Someone in this country is arrested on a marijuana charge every 36 seconds--clearly marijuana prohibition isn’t working. But we can’t relent. We need to keep letting our government know how we feel.

For the second year in a row we have an opportunity to let the Obama administration know what ideas are most important to us. Last year ending marijuana prohibition was the number one idea on change.org’s top 10 “ideas for change in America” list, but it currently sits out of the money in fourth place. Let your voice be heard and vote to end marijuana prohibition once and for all (voting ends March 12).

When U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced last year that the federal Department of Justice would no longer prosecute medical marijuana patients and providers complying with state law, reform advocates cheered it as the greatest victory in over a decade.

The shift in federal policy was indeed a breakthrough for the medical marijuana movement, but did little good for Bryan Epis of Chico, California.

Last week, a federal judge ordered Bryan to prison for a 2002 conviction involving 100 marijuana plants he maintained for several state-legal patients. Under the current administration’s policy, Bryan would likely be left alone by the feds, but the problem is that his arrest and conviction occurred well before the new policy was implemented.

Bryan was sentenced to ten years in federal prison and has already served two years behind bars, but has been out on various appeals since 2004. Today he’s sitting in the Sacramento County jail awaiting transfer back to a federal penitentiary.

Friends and family are hoping President Obama pardons Bryan so that he isn’t forced to waste more of his life locked in a cage because of his compassion towards sick and suffering patients.

Bryan’s partner is circulating a petition urging President Obama to grant a pardon and she requests your help. A printable petition form can be downloaded here. Please help Bryan by collecting as many signatures as you can and mailing the petition back to the address at the bottom of the page.

In the latest sign of a growing embrace of medical marijuana by the business community in this country, a California-based insurer said this week that it will now offer medical marijuana-related coverage in all 50 states.

A spokesman for Statewide Insurance Services said the new program will include operations related to medical marijuana dispensaries and growers, including workers’ compensation, general liability, auto insurance, equipment breakdown and damage, and property or product loss—including marijuana spoilage.

As the cultivation and distribution of state-sanctioned medical marijuana proliferates in 14 states (and counting), it is only right that such establishments receive the same protections as other legitimate businesses. By taking this much-needed step, Statewide is helping to send a strong message to the rest of the country that this nearly untapped-market is not just credible, but ripe for new business opportunities, and here to stay.

The total amount of marijuana seized by the DEA nearly doubled from 1,539 metric tons in 2008 to 2,980 metric tons in 2009, according to numbers disclosed by the DEA as part of their budget request for 2011.

Meanwhile, the cultivation of marijuana in Mexico rose 35% in 2008 to nearly 30,000 acres, according to a report released by the U.S. State Department.

These latest numbers confirm that the only thing an increase in the amount of marijuana seizures by the DEA will do is force more marijuana to be grown by gangs in Mexico, lining the pockets of drug cartels, and further fueling the bloodshed along our border and in our respective countries.

When is the U.S. government going to realize that they will never eliminate the demand for marijuana? There is only one real solution to this crisis: tax and regulate marijuana.

A report released today by the Partnership for a Drug Free America shows that the number of American teenagers who use marijuana has increased for the first time in 10 years, with 25 percent of teens in grades 9 through 12 saying they’ve used marijuana in the past month, up from 19 percent.

What these numbers show—despite what organizations like PDFA might twist them to say—is that our current marijuana policies have clearly failed to reduce teen marijuana use, and a different approach is necessary. Right now, teens have easy access to marijuana because it is unregulated and controlled exclusively by drug dealers who do not check IDs.

The solution, therefore—as readers of this blog have heard time and again—is quite simple: Tax and regulate marijuana, so that it can be sold only by licensed merchants who would be required to check IDs and would face harsh penalties if they failed to do so. A similar approach has enabled this country to drastically reduce teen cigarette smoking over the past two decades. It’s also worked overseas. In the Netherlands, for example, marijuana is sold in regulated establishments to adults who must show proof of age. As a result, according to a 2008 World Health Organization survey, the overall rate of marijuana use in the Netherlands is less than half what it is in the United States. Additionally, only 7% of Dutch teens have tried marijuana by age 15. In the U.S., as many as 20.2% of teens have tried marijuana by age 15, according to government estimates.

If this country is serious about keeping marijuana out of the hands of teenagers, we need to accept the simple fact that prohibition does not work. Regulation does.

Since 1992, MTV has aired the true story of seven strangers, picked to live in a house, have their lives taped after drinking massive of amounts of alcohol while we find out over and over again that drinking alcohol often leads to reckless, violent, and oftentimes illegal behavior. Last night’s episode was no different. Extremely drunken cast member Ty got a little too real after a night of drinking and shoved his roommate Andrew over a tall concrete staircase, resulting in Andrew being carried off on a backboard by the paramedics.

I don’t think “The Real World” could survive on TV without alcohol. There wouldn’t be enough drama. But, why is that we have never seen any of these real worlders making the safer choice by using marijuana instead of alcohol? MPP does not encourage anyone to use any substance (legal or otherwise), but we certainly know which substance is safer: Marijuana.

Is it MTV policy to never show marijuana use? If that is the case, I feel duped, because in the real world people use marijuana all the time. In fact, more than 100 million Americans have used marijuana, and more than 15 million use it at least monthly.

The organization SAFER (Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation) is asking the public to sign their petition calling on MTV to stop driving its cast members to drink and “start getting real.” We encourage you to do the same.

The race to become the 15^th state to pass an effective medical marijuana law got a little tighter yesterday when the New York State Senate Health Committee passed S. 4041-B, the Senate’s medical marijuana bill. The bill got out of the Health Committee on a bipartisan 12 to 6 vote and now heads to the Senate Codes Committee.

The New York State Assembly passed medical marijuana legislation in 2007 and 2008, but the issue has never gotten a Senate floor vote. For the first time last year, a Senate medical marijuana bill passed the Senate Health Committee, but progress stalled because of the Senate leadership struggle, which lasted until just before the legislature recessed. Will 2010 be the year New York lawmakers listen to the will of the people and finally pass a law to protect its states sick and dying patients from arrest or jail?

The latest tragic victim of marijuana prohibition is Robert W. Batsch, a 55-year-old husband and father.

Hours after he and his wife were charged with felony child endangerment yesterday for allegedly growing marijuana in their family’s home, Batsch shot himself in the chest with a .22 caliber rifle.

If found guilty, Batsch—and his wife—each faced one to five years in prison.

To find out how you can help MPP put a stop to horrific stories like these, please click here.

A story out of New Mexico yesterday sheds light on the dilemma facing many veterans who could benefit from medical marijuana and rely solely on the Department of Veterans Affairs for their health care.

Taking guidance from the DEA, the VA does not allow its doctors to recommend medical marijuana. Those who do will face civil and criminal penalties, in addition to the loss of their license. (Veterans can still try to obtain a recommendation from an outside physician.)

This policy is unchanged in states where medical marijuana is legal, such as New Mexico, where the most common affliction of those enrolled in the state’s medical marijuana program is post-traumatic stress disorder—something experienced by one in five returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a 2008 study.

As readers of this blog are well aware, there’s been a great deal of research and patient testimony showing medical marijuana to be effective at relieving the effects of PTSD.

But rather than help veterans access such safe and effective treatment, the VA’s current policy, according to one veteran, has forced many sufferers of PTSD to rely on more addictive prescription drugs, or self-medication with alcohol and other dangerous substances.

Is this really how we want to treat the veterans of our armed services?

It’s no secret that younger people are typically more in favor of changing our country’s failed marijuana laws than older people, but marijuana use among seniors is on the rise.

According to surveys from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration use among people 50 and older who report using marijuana in the prior year went up from 1.9 percent in 2002 to 2.9 percent in 2008. Marijuana use among 55- to 59-year-olds has more than tripled during that same time period (1.6 percent in 2002 to 5.1 percent in 2008).

Among the group of seniors who now use marijuana is 67 year old Perry Parks, a retired Army pilot who suffers from crippling pain from degenerative disc disease and arthritis. He has tried all sorts of prescription drugs, but found little success. However, he found relief two years ago after using something he tried in college, marijuana. He says by using marijuana he realized he “could get by without the narcotics,” referring to prescription painkillers. Parks says he is now “essentially pain free."

Will the nation’s 78 million baby boomers stand up against the status quo one last time and lead the effort to end this country’s failed war on marijuana? We sure hope so.