OVERVIEW and CALL to ACTION:
On Tuesday, March 5, 2019 at 2:00 PM, the House Health and Human Services Policy (HHSP) Committee will hold a committee hearing on HF 717, a bill proposing the creation of a task force to develop recommendations for the legislature on the full legalization of Cannabis in Minnesota.
The problem with HF 717 is that having 22 people on this proposed task force and not a single person representing Cannabis consumers, no one who has been criminalized by prohibition, no civil liberties experts, and no legalization experts, just cops, bureaucrats, politicians and vested interests, is absolutely unacceptable.
The people who are most affected by prohibition and full legalization need to be involved in the problem solving process. If there’s going to be a task force formed, the majority of members should be grassroots Cannabis consumers and well-informed, well-versed legalization advocates, not people who are indifferent or opposed to legalization.
We’re calling on legalization supporters to show up, and to call and email the chief author, Representative Carlos Mariani, and all of the members of this committee to tell them to either (1) vote against the bill as is, or (2) urge them to amend the bill to include a balance of Cannabis legalization advocates.
CALL and EMAIL SCRIPTS:
Use both the call script and the email script to lobby Rep. Mariani and HHSP committee members (and see their contact information further below):
CALL SCRIPT:
Dear Representative __________,
I’m contacting you to discuss HF 717, and asking you to oppose it.
Having 22 people on this proposed task force and not a single person representing Cannabis consumers, no one who has been criminalized by prohibition, no civil liberties experts, and no legalization experts, just cops, bureaucrats, politicians and vested interests, is unacceptable.
The people who are most affected by prohibition and full legalization need to be involved in the problem solving process. If there’s going to be a task force formed, the majority of members should be grassroots Cannabis consumers and well-informed, well-versed legalization advocates. The task force is unnecessary and unjust if it doesn’t include us.
Please either (1) vote against the bill as is, or (2) urge them to amend the bill to include a balance of Cannabis legalization advocates.
Thanks for your consideration. Please contact me to let me know if we can count on your support.
(Leave your phone # and email address.)
EMAIL SCRIPT:
Dear Representative __________,
I’m contacting you to discuss HF 717, and asking you to oppose it.
Having 22 people on this proposed task force and not a single person representing Cannabis consumers, no one who has been criminalized by prohibition, no civil liberties experts, and no legalization experts, just cops, bureaucrats, politicians and vested interests, is unacceptable.
The people who are most affected by prohibition and full legalization need to be involved in the problem solving process. If there’s going to be a task force formed, the majority of members should be grassroots Cannabis consumers and well-informed, well-versed legalization advocates. The task force is unnecessary and unjust if it doesn’t include us.
Please either (1) vote against the bill as is, or (2) urge them to amend the bill to include a balance of Cannabis legalization advocates.
We don’t need a task force to study prohibition and legalization because the Minnesota Campaign for Full Legalization has already done the research and written an excellent and comprehensive proposal for how to end prohibition, establish an adult personal use Cannabis industry, establish home growing rights for personal use, and erase the records of the thousands of Minnesotans who have been criminalized by Cannabis prohibition every year. Grassroots legalization advocates have written an exemplar bill called the Full Legalization Act that is ready to be introduced now. It’s also known as the people’s bill. You can read it here:
Thanks for your consideration. Please contact me to let me know if we can count on your support!
(Leave your phone # and email address.)
