Congress to impose 5 years in prison for passing a joint - take action

[Guest guest]

Congress to impose 5 years in prison for passing a

joint - take action

 

 

FROM: Steve Fox, MPP director of government

relations

 

DATE: Thursday, April 14, 2005

 

SUBJECT: Urge your U.S. representative and two U.S.

senators to oppose

harsh new mandatory minimum sentences

 

=============================================================

 

Your immediate help is needed to defeat harsh new

mandatory minimum

sentences for nonviolent drug offenses.

 

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee will soon consider

a bill that

would create draconian mandatory minimum sentences for

a variety of

nonviolent drug offenses, including marijuana. If this

bill becomes

law, anyone convicted in federal court of the crime of

" enticing "

someone " who has previously been enrolled in a drug

treatment

program "

to " possess " marijuana will receive a five-year

mandatory minimum

sentence.

 

That's right: Passing a joint to someone who used to

be in drug

treatment will land you in federal prison for a

minimum of five years.

 

Please visit http://www.mpp.org/MM to e-mail your U.S.

representative

and two U.S. senators today. It only takes a minute to

send one of our

pre-written e-mails urging them to stop this bill in

its tracks.

 

In addition to the shocking joint-passing provision

described above,

the bill would also create a 10-year mandatory minimum

sentence for a

first-time conviction of distributing a small amount

of marijuana to a

person under 18 years of age ... and a 10-year

sentence for a second

offense of distributing marijuana to a person under

21. By comparison,

the average time served by convicted rapists in this

country is about

seven years.

 

MPP does not condone the distribution of marijuana to

minors, nor do

we advocate the use of marijuana by people recovering

from substance

abuse problems. But we do believe that judges should

have the

discretion to determine whether or not offenders in

these

circumstances deserve to be imprisoned for sentences

as long as five

or 10 years. If these mandatory minimum sentences are

enacted, judges'

hands will be tied.

 

This bill has traction because it also contains a

section that serves

as the House Republican leadership's response to a

recent U.S. Supreme

Court ruling that made the Federal Sentencing

Guidelines advisory,

rather than mandatory.* The Republican leadership is

highly motivated

to pass this bill -- and with it, the harsh new

penalties related to

marijuana.

 

The " Defending America's Most Vulnerable: Safe Access

to Drug

Treatment and Child Protection Act of 2005 " (H.R.

1528) was introduced

by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James

Sensenbrenner (R-WI) on

April 6, and it has already passed out of the House

Judiciary

Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland

Security.

 

The bill will now be debated and voted on by the full

House Judiciary

Committee and -- if the committee passes the bill --

the full House

will then vote on it.

 

Please visit http://www.mpp.org/MM to e-mail to your

members of

Congress today. Thank you.

 

* Visit http://www.mpp.org/booker for more information

about the

recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on mandatory

minimums.

 

======================================================================

 

The Marijuana Policy Project hopes that each of the

153,000

rs on our national e-mail list will make at

least one

financial donation to MPP's work in 2005. Please visit

http://www.mpp.org/donate2087 to donate now.

 

MPP will be able to tackle all of the projects in its

2005 strategic

plan -- http://www.mpp.org/2005plan -- if you and

other allies are

generous enough to fund our work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

--- Rick Stevens <ecology1st2004 wrote:

> Congress to impose 5 years in prison for passing a

> joint - take action

 

Ummm... and this has *what* exactly to do with

vegetarianism or even the concerns of most

vegetarians? I can tolerate the posts on

environmental and animal rights issues, even though

they are not directly related to this list (and I

generally go elsewhere for current news on those

topics), but this seems very off-topic.

 

Gigawabamin,

Kel

Snowbank's Gift PN, CD, GN, AGN, CDX, PUD, JSC, JSCX, BA, IA, 7xAA, CGC, TDI;

" Kip "

Black Water's Thin Ice PN, CD, GN, AGN, JSCX, BA, IA, 8xAA, CGC, TDI, TD,

PAWDcert., P1, CL1-H, CL1-F, SAR K-9; " Ice "

Aragorn vom Moorweg CGC, TDI, BA, PN, CL1-H, CL1-S, CL1-F, SAR K-9; " Aro "