In the shadow of California's historic budget crisis, MPP is airing a TV ad calling for an end to marijuana prohibition in the state. The 30-second spot features a marijuana consumer who - along with millions of others in in the state - wants to pay taxes to help bridge California's massive budget gap. Nadene Herndon, 58, declares that "instead of being treated like criminals for using a substance safer than alcohol, [marijuana consumers] want to pay our fair share." The ad will be running on cable…

Five months after breakfast cereal maker Kellogg's axed Michael Phelps as an endorser after a photo of him appearing to smoke out of a bong surfaced, Subway has released its first ad featuring the Olympic champion. Not only does Subway's ad demonstrate an understanding that Americans care way more about Phelps' amazing accomplishments than they do about his very ordinary controversy, but it actually articulates that sentiment: "You can always be yourself at Subway." Kellogg's apparently found it…

ProCon.org, whose goal is to "promote critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship" by presenting information on controversial issues "in a straightforward, nonpartisan, primarily pro-con format," did an interesting experiment recently. They filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Food and Drug Administration seeking information on reported deaths due to marijuana and 17 FDA-approved prescription drugs. Five of those drugs were chosen because they are widely used and well known,…

Okay, let me say right up front that a) I know that headline is provocative, and b) neither I nor anyone can answer the question with any certainty given what we know and don't know so far about Michael Jackson's death. But the question needs to be asked. It needs to be asked because suspicions that prescription painkillers may have been involved in Jackson's death are strong enough that the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has been brought into the investigation. And we know that he had a…

An FDA panel just recommended reducing the maximum dose of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. Taken by millions of Americans every day as either a stand-alone medication or as an ingredient in various over-the-counter cold remedies, acetaminophen is the leading cause of liver failure in the U.S., resulting in hundreds of deaths by overdose every year. And they say marijuana is too dangerous to be medicine?

MPP's Assistant Director of Communications is interviewed by WUSA-TV 9 in Washington, DC, about the removal of a legal provision that prevented the District of Columbia from enacting any marijuana reform legislation. Also discussed was the case of Jonathan Magbie, a medical marijuana patient who died in the DC jail due to lack of medical treatment while serving a sentence for marijuana possession. 06/29/2009

Steve Fox, MPP’s new director of state campaigns (who was also MPP’s federal lobbyist from 2002-2005), sends in the following dispatch: While riding the Metro’s Red Line yesterday, I spotted former drug czar John Walters entering the train. When he ended up standing right beside me, I realized I couldn’t pass up the chance for a conversation. I know it sounds like a fruitless endeavor, but I’m an eternal optimist and thought, “Maybe if we have a casual lunch together, he’ll come to see the folly…

From time to time we get some flack for pointing out that as a "recreational" substance, marijuana is safer than alcohol. Anyone who doubts that claim might want to look at this new study from The Lancet, one of the world's top medical journals. Researchers reviewed information on deaths in three major Russian cities from 1990 to 2001 and questioned family members about the decedents' alcohol use, reporting the astonishing finding that "in several recent years, alcohol was a cause of more than half…

MPP's Neal Levine talks with Dana Gentry about the increasing support for taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol and the rewards of such a system. He also discusses the plans for a ballot initiative to be voted on in 2012. Mr. Levine is the Director of the Marijuana Policy Project of Nevada. 06/11/2009

Today the New Hampshire Legislature approved a medical marijuana bill custom tailored to addresses the governor's concerns in hopes of avoiding a veto that would leave the state’s medical marijuana patients vulnerable to arrest, even if they have their doctor’s recommendation. Gov. John Lynch told lawmakers that he would veto the bill in its original form, which passed both chambers last month, if eight specific concerns of his were not addressed. A special legislative committee spent the past month…