By Dale Jones, Chairwoman of the Board, Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform
In 2010, thanks to you, we built the most powerful coalition ever assembled to tax, regulate, and legalize cannabis in California.
While we fell just short of victory in 2010, we changed the terms of the debate and brought our issue into the mainstream. Now, with recent victories in Colorado and Washington, the momentum is on our side — and we’ll have some exciting announcements in the coming weeks about our next steps here in California.
In the meantime, I wanted to share something with you that is very important to our cause — and ask for your help, right now.
As we speak, the U.S. Department of Justice is threatening Matt Davies — a loving, 34-year old father of two from Stockton, CA with no criminal record — with 10+ years in federal prison for providing the medical marijuana that patients suffering from AIDS, cancer, and other serious health conditions need and are entitled to under a state law, overwhelmingly approved by California voters in 1996.
It’s outrageous, and we must urge the Justice Department to drop the charges.
Matt’s small business was permitted and complied with all state laws and regulations.
In fact, his business paid the cities of Stockton and Sacramento, the State of California, and the federal government more than $300,000 in taxes, and created dozens of good jobs.
Shouldn’t the federal government, as President Obama put it, “have bigger fish to fry” with its limited resources?
Please join me in urging U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to stick by his office’s own directive that thinly-stretched federal law enforcement resources should not be used to prosecute individuals who comply with existing state marijuana laws.
More than 11,000 people have already signed onto the letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. This is a great start, but the “Keep Matt Free” team’s work to keep Matt out of prison and with his family is far from over.
Matt needs us to keep up the fight and build even more grassroots support, until the Justice Department drops this entire prosecution, once and for all.
Will you help us reach 20,000 signers by this Friday? Click here to add your name today.
