CALIFORNIA

The Californians for Compassionate Use campaign (CCU) to bring its medical marijuana initiative to the ballot is getting into high gear. To help out or just to sign, contact CCU, (310) 314-4049.

Mandatory Minimums: There has been an impressive amount of press coverage in the state's media on Drug War issues recently, particularly mandatory minimum sentences. The state House of Representatives, led by House Speaker Charles Flaherty and Majority Whip Emanuel Serra have led the charge for reform by convening hearings and attaching language to Governor Weld's prison construction bill to allow judges to bypass the state's mandatory minimums. Unfortunately, however, the bill, H5660, is not retroactive, and the Senate companion bill, S2077, doesn't tackle mandatory minimums at all. Please call or write your state Representative, state Senator, and the Governor, and tell them the sentencing reforms in H5660 should be made retroactive.

Medical Marijuana: Dealing a setback to reformers, Gov. Weld refused to sign H2170, the Joe Hutchins Medical Marijuana Necessity Defense bill, and sent it back to the legislature requesting changes that would essentially make the bill meaningless. This is a surprise, given that it was Weld who pardoned medical marijuana patient Joe Hutchins in the first place, and because he has signed medical marijuana legislation in the past. Please contact Governor Weld and ask him to sign the bill as is, and please contact your state Representative and Senator and ask them to try to pass the bill unchanged, over the Governor's expected veto.

You can write any state Rep or Senator at The State House, Boston, MA, 02133. You can call your Rep and Senator (or find out who they are) by calling (617) 722-2000 (House) or 722-1276 (Senate).

Governor Weld
Executive Office
State House, Rm. 360
Boston, MA 02133
(617) 727-3600 (voice)
727-9725 (fax)

The Massachusetts chapter of Families Against Mandatory Minimums will be meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 23, from 6-8pm, in Revere. For more information, call FAMM Massachusetts coordinator Marie Russo at (617) 289-7042, or FAMM New England coordinator Nancy Brown, at (603) 436-7861. For more infommation on state legislative action, contact the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition at (617) 944-CANN.

State Senator John Moseley has pre-filed Senate Bill 573 for the 1996 session of the Missouri General Assembly, to establish a medical necessity defense for certain marijuana users.
You can write your Senator (or Representative);

Senate (or House)
Post Office, State Capitol Bldg.
Jefferson City, MO 65101
(573) 751-4806 (Senate)
(573) 751-3659 (House)

Forfeiture: On December 11, the New Jersey Senate Law and Public Safety Committee held the first of two hearings on state law enforcement's use and abuse of forfeited cash and property. The first hearing was ordered by committee chairman Louis F. Kosco (R-Bergen) after reports in the Bergen Record of questionable purchases being charged to the forfeiture account by county prosecutors.

The second hearing is supposed to take place in early 1996. If you wish to be placed on a list of people to be notified when the hearing is scheduled, send a letter of fax to:

Anne M. Stefane
Senate Law and Public Safety Committee
CN 068, Trenton, NJ 08625-0068
fax: (609) 292-6510

Notification will be made by telephone, so be sure to include your phone number in the correspondence.

If you can't make the hearing but would like to make your views on asset forfeiture known to the committee, you can send your comments to Ms. Stefane at the above address. For more information, contact;

John Paff
Forfeiture Endangers American Rights
P.O. Box 5424
Somerset, NJ 08875-5424
(908) 873-1251
E-mail: [email protected]

Needle exchange: Gov. Whitman has said she is "adamantly opposed" to needle exchange programs, even though her AIDS Council is strongly in favor. Please write or call Whitman and tell her she's wrong about needle exchange and that she should support it. Write to;

The Honorable Christine Todd Whitman
125 West State St., CN-001
Trenton, NJ 08625
(609) 292-6000 (voice)
(609) 292-3454 (fax)

Oregon Cannabis Tax Act Initiative '97
P.O. Box 86741
Portland, OR 97286
(503) 229-0428
E-mail: [email protected]