just say now

By Josh Bennett

 

Hempfest took place Wednesday, and several students let their voices be heard about marijuana legalization.

 

Students lined up to sign the petition for Just Say Now, a campaign against marijuana prohibition. The campaign's purpose is to show the "higher-ups" that there are a lot of voices that support marijuana legalization and to educate people on the benefits of legalization. The message was spread in large part by Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a student group dedicated to fighting the war on drugs.

 

"If you ever heard of the D.A.R.E program, they always promoted ‘Just Say No' back in the '80s. Well, we're promoting Just Say Now, which is to legalize marijuana now," said Samir Suthar, a junior in theater studies and member of SSDP.

 

Just Say Now is SSDP's way to put a foot down on marijuana prohibition, said Nicole Murphy, a senior in history and vender coordinator for Hempfest.

 

"This prohibition is ridiculous, Read more »

By: Eric Sterling, Firedoglake

 

Commenting on the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health on 2009 data, Office of National Drug Control Policy director Gil Kerlikowske said,

 

I can absolutely not rule out this constant discussion of so-called medical marijuana, marijuana legalization and the downplaying of marijuana harms that is prevalent in the media,

 

which according to Businessweek/Bloomberg is the cause of an increase in marijuana use among teens aged 12 to 17. Read more »

By. Ryan Grim, Huffington Post

 

More than 850,000 people were arrested for marijuana violations in 2009 -- the second biggest haul in American history, according to the annual Uniform Crime Report released by the FBI Wednesday. Despite the increased enforcement, however, marijuana use rose in the past year, according to the National Survey On Drug Use and Health released Thursday by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

 

"The findings are disappointing, but not surprising," said National Drug Control Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske, the nation's so-called "drug czar." Indeed, there is little surprising in the notion that drug use is remaining roughly steady in spite of the War on Drugs, but Kerlikowske did encounter one unexpected question at Thursday's press conference. Read more »

By. Steve Elliot, Toke of the Town

 

First, there was Facebook's censorship of marijuana leaves in legalization ads on its social network. Then came Google's decision to accept and run nearly identical ads. Now, an announcement from social news site Reddit's corporate owner, Conde Nast, to Just Say Now that it will not run any display advertising relating to marijuana legalization has resulted in an near-insurrection among the site's users -- and administrators, who said they were "blindsided" by the move.

 

That decision, unlike Facebook's, pertains not just to images of marijuana leaves, but to any ads supporting legalization of marijuana, according to the "corporate offices" of Reddit's parent company, Conde Nast. Read more »

By. Chris Good, The Atlantic

 

Facebook may think it's "inappropriate" to run ads depicting marijuana leaves, but apparently Google doesn't.

 

Marijuana activists were stymied by Facebook this week when the social networking site, which had already been running ads from the group Just Say Now, told the organization that it would no longer run them because they contained images of a marijuana leaves.

 

Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes explained to Just Say Now, which was launched this month by liberal blogger Jane Hamsher in conjunction with Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, that "the image of a pot leaf is classified with all smoking products and therefore is not acceptable under our policies," in an e-mail obtained by The Huffington Post. Read more »

by Neil Katz

 

It's not clear what Facebook was smoking, but the world's largest social networking site has snubbed out an effort by pro-marijuana advocates to run ads on the site which promote the legalization of marijuana.

 

That's according to the Huffington Post's Ryan Grim.

 

The issue is particularly relevant to medical marijuana supporters. Three of the four ballot initiatives the organization "Just Say Now," hopes to influence, increase access to the drug for medical purposes. Read more »

By. Danita Craft, Examiner.com

 

On Tuesday, August 3rd, the Just Say Now coalition launched its national campaign to end the prohibition of marijuana. In 2010, the coalition will be supporting ballot initiatives for marijuana decriminalization In Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, and South Dakota. The Just Say Now coalition also has plans to support other states in the future.

 

Unlike many legalization support groups of earlier decades, Just Say Now has strong appeal across significant demographic lines. Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Tea Party members, and voters from a variety of backgrounds are showing increased support for the legalization of marijuana. Read more »