The 2010 mid-term elections are just 5 days away, so there is no better time to share this important message: No adult should be punished for choosing something safer than alcohol. We produced this powerful 30-second video to inspire you and everyone you share it with.  It’s time to give adults the legal option to use a substance that is safer than alcohol – marijuana!  Use this video to inspire your friends, family members, and co-workers to support efforts to tax and regulate marijuana similar…

Unless you've been living under a rock, you're probably aware of Proposition 19, the ballot measure Californians will vote on next week that would make marijuana legal for all adults and deliver an unprecedented blow to our nation's wasteful, ineffective, and destructive prohibition on a plant less harmful than alcohol. But you may not have heard that voters in a handful of other states will have opportunities to advance saner marijuana laws on Election Day, as well. Two states, Arizona and South…

On Sunday, masked gunmen executed 13 people in a drug rehabilitation center in Tijuana, Mexico, just across the border from San Diego. Authorities now think these grisly murders may have been in retaliation for the massive marijuana bust that occurred there last week. Whether the victims were actually involved in the seizure of 134 tons of marijuana destined for the U.S. is unknown, but in the end it makes no difference. It is clear that the tactics of marijuana prohibition are ineffective at producing…

Over the past month or so, there has been a mini-boomlet in coverage about the potential impact of marijuana initiatives on young voter turnout. Most notably, an article in the Wall Street Journal appeared earlier this month with the headline, “Democrats Look to Cultivate Pot Vote in 2012.” With this as background, it was interesting to see this blog post by the polling firm PPP yesterday prior to today’s release of a survey on Proposition 19 in California, the initiative to tax and regulate marijuana…

Today's just-announced $1 million donation from philanthropist George Soros should help keep the Yes on 19 TV ad running through Election Day, as well as provide a tremendous boost to crucial get-out-the-vote efforts. From Soros's op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal: Like many parents and grandparents, I am worried about young people getting into trouble with marijuana and other drugs. The best solution, however, is honest and effective drug education. One survey after another indicates that teenagers…

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is generally thought of as a progressive, blindsided New Yorkers yesterday, when he publicly came out against medical marijuana legislation. Cuomo, who has admitted using marijuana recreationally in the past, said “the dangers on medical marijuana outweigh the benefits,” and compared legalizing proven medicine to legalizing prostitution. This is an incredibly disappointing move by AG Cuomo, who is out of touch with the medical community, and with the vast…

This TV ad hits California airwaves tomorrow -- just in time for the Prop 19 campaign's final stretch. Learn how to reach out to voters here, find out other ways to help the campaign here, and read up on the latest polls here and here. Only 8 more days until the election!

On Thursday of last week, I represented the Marijuana Policy Project in a historic press conference in Los Angeles, joining fellow panelists Melissa Etheridge, Danny Glover, Hal Sparks, former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, and LEAP representative Steve Downing to endorse California’s Proposition 19, the measure to tax and regulate marijuana for adult use.  This was the first time world-renowned celebrities have spoken out in favor of Proposition 19, decrying the failed policy of prohibition. Melissa…

A new study released today shows conclusively that in California’s largest cities African-Americans are arrested for marijuana possession at much higher rates that whites. In the 25 cities profiled, African-Americans were arrested at four to 12 times the rate of whites, despite much higher use rates among whites. This horrifying disparity is one reason Proposition 19 has earned the support of civil rights groups, including the California NAACP and the League of United Latin American Citizens of California.…