MAY 1 UPDATE

Update from the Colorado Hemp Initiative Project May 1, 1998

CTCA Signature Gathering

Colorado Citizens for Compassionate Cannabis is currently in the process of collecting funding to print and circulate the Compassionate Therapeutic Cannabis Act for placement on the 1998 general election ballot in November. Our signature deadline is July 31, 1998. We need to collect 55,000 valid signatures of Colo. registered voters. Since we are an all-volunteer organization, getting this amendment on the ballot will be a challenge, but we can do it with enough support. If you can make a contribution, send it to:

Colorado Citizens for Compassionate Cannabis P.O. Box 729 Nederland, CO 80466 What you can do to help:
1) Make a campaign donation, solicit donations for others, or organize a fund-raiser for the campaign effort.
2) Send us your name, address, and phone number so we can enter it into our database and contact you when petitions are ready.
3) Register to vote and encourage your friends to do so.
4) Attend the hearing on May 12 in Denver with regard to DEA's use of herbicides to eradicate cannabis (see below.)
5) Copy and redistribute this announcement.

Click here to read the initiative and see past press releases.

Voice Mail Our old voice mail number (303-784-5632) was recently disconnected when the company that hosted the voice mail (Voice Pro/Land Systems) went out of business and left town. No amount of cajoling to US Menace (USWest) could convince them to give us the phone number. It's a shame, because we had that phone number for over six years, it's on all our literature and all over cyberspace. As soon as we get another voice mail box, we'll let you know. In the meantime, Kathleen Chippi and Dave Almquist of the Boulder Hemp Company have graciously offered to let us use their phone number. So the temporary vmail home of the Colorado Hemp Initiative Project is (303) 938-0195.

May 12, 1998 - 3pm - Denver Protest against the DEA's Herbicide Eradication of Cannais

The Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing a "Draft Supplement to the Environmental Impact Statements for Cannabis Eradication in the Contiguous United States and Hawaii" (DSEIS). The DSEIS is an update to the 1985 and 1986 Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) on cannabis eradication. In the DSEIS, the DEA seeks to add triclopyr as an herbicide replacement for paraquat (which has been discovered to be toxic to humans since it was approved in 1985) and add amine formulations of 2,4-D to its list of approved chemical herbicides. The DEA will continue the use of glyphosate (Roundup). The DEA also seeks to implement a new technology, called "aerial directed treatment of herbicides" from helicopters, which it claims to be safer than "broadcast aerial treatment". The DEA would also like to allow the use of certain chemical dyes as markers in combination with aerial application.

Protest against DEA's Use of Chemical Herbicides to Eradicate Cannabis
May 12, 1998
3:00 pm
Renaissance Denver Hotel
3801 Quebec Street, Denver, Colorado
(Directions: Near old Stapleton airport. Take I-70 East from 1-25, exit on Quebec St., turn right on Quebec, bear right across Smith Road, turn right into hotel parking lot.)

4:00pm to 8:00pm: Public comments on the DSEIS will be accepted by the DEA and USDA in the Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel

It's important to get a good showing of people at the protest and the public comment hearing. With the passage of HJR 1042 last week (see below) and the visit to Denver of former drug czar Bill Bennett, the prohibitionists may think they have the upper hand in the debate for the moment. Let's show them the other side of the issue. Pass the word and bring lots of friends, protest signs, and your comments on the DEA's plan.

For more information and how to submit written comments, see the ACTION ALERT

May 12 - 13 : Muddy Hole Days George Washington wrote in his diary entry for May 12-13, 1765, "Sowed Hemp at Muddy hole by Swamp." This is a timeless spring ritual that still continues today by muddy holes all over the U.S. Perhaps that's why 98% of the cannabis the DEA eradicates is wild hemp ("ditchweed"). See http://www.levellers.org/erad1act.htm

WIPP Alert - May 12 - 13 Just to keep all the activists busy at once ...
This information comes from Tom Marshall <tmarshall@igc.apc.org> of the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center:

The first dry run of radioactive waste from the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons facility south of Boulder to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in southern New Mexico is planned for May 11-13. On the 11th a truck will leave Idaho filled with sand. The truck will leave Rocky Flats on the 13th headed for WIPP. During this period a truck running completely empty will travel from Los Alamos National Lab to WIPP.

There will be a meeting to determine action on WIPP:
Wed., May 6, 1998
7:00 pm
Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center
1520 Euclid Ave., Boulder
(303) 444-6981

I invite everyone who receives this message to attend that meeting. WIPP is
real. DOE plans to open it soon, we should not let this mock shipment go
unnoticed. If we play it right this mock shipment could be to our benefit.

Also, there is mock WIPP accident and response on I-25 by Mile High stadium
on May 6. A number of the people who have been working on this issue will
be in D.C. at that time, so we do not have anything planned around this
event. However, if people have time and energy this is another opportunity.

STOP WIPP, STOP NUCLEAR DUMPING, STOP RADIOACTIVE WASTE TRANSPORTATION

-- Tom Marshall <tmarshall@igc.apc.org>

House Joint Resolution 98-1042 This anti-marijuana resolution was passed in the Colorado legislature in record time. HJR 1042 is a non-binding resolution that condemns the ballot initiatives being circulated with regard to medical cannabis. HJR 1042 was introduced in the House on April 16, passed the full House on April 27 by a 51 to 12 vote and passed the full Senate on April 28 by a 29 to 3 vote. (The Senators voting against the resolution were Dorothy Rupert of Boulder, Gloria Tanner of Denver, and Bill Thiebaut of Pueblo.)
The resolution can be viewed online at:
http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/sess1998/hres98/hjr1042.htm

HJR 1042 is replete with lies and misinformation, such as:
- marijuana harms "the brain, heart, lungs, and immune system and that it impairs learning, memory, perception, judgment, and the ability to operate a motor vehicle"
- Marijuana is a gateway drug.
- "The legalization of marijuana would decrease the perception of risk associated with the abuse of drugs, especially in the eyes of our youth"
- "The proportion of drug possession arrests attributable to juveniles has increased by three hundred twentyseven percent in Colorado between the years 1991 and 1996."

The resolution came as a surprise to Colorado cannabis advocates since it was introduced so late in the legislative process and flew through the Senate and the House in record time. Former Drug Czar Bill Bennett even came to Denver to celebrate its passage with an anti-medical marijuana rally at the state capitol.

It's a shame the public didn't know about the resolution in time to contact our elected officials. However, we suggest you write a letter to them and send it to all the Colo. newspapers, which I am sure are waiting for a response from the other side of the issue.

Letters should be 200-250 words. Include your address & phone number for verification.
For letter writing help, see the Media Awareness Project:
<http://www.mapinc.org>

                         Front Range Newspapers
letters@denverpost.com                        Denver Post, Denver
letters@denver-rmn.com                       Rocky Mt. News, Denver
denver-editorial@westword.com         Westword, Denver
marshallj@boulderpublishing.com        Daily Camera, Boulder
talbot@bcn.boulder.co.us                     Colorado Daily, Boulder
bweditor@tesser.com                           Boulder Weekly, Boulder
news@boulderplanet.com                    Boulder Planet, Boulder
mtn-ear@indra.com                             Mountain Ear, Nederland
mountain-messenger@juno.com           Mountain Messanger, Idaho Springs
editor@fortnet.org                               Coloradan, Ft. Collins
comments@chieftain.com                    The Chieftan, Pueblo
gtnews@usa.net                                   Gazette Telegraph, Colo. Springs

             Western Slope Newspapers
jderdman@csn.net              Chronicle and Pilot, Crested Butte
75542.120@compuserve.com      Ten Mile Times, Frisco
njohnson@glenwoodpost.com     Glenwood Post, Glenwood Springs
randydci@dci-press.com        Delta County Independent, Montrose
timesj@rmii.com               Telluride Journal, Telluride

Email list ready to cut-and-paste into Blind Carbon Copy field:

letters@denverpost.com, letters@denver-rmn.com,
denver-editorial@westword.com, marshallj@boulderpublishing.com,
talbot@bcn.boulder.co.us, bweditor@tesser.com,
news@boulderplanet.com, mtn-ear@indra.com, mountain-
messenger@juno.com, editor@fortnet.org, comments@chieftain.com,
gtnews@usa.net, jderdman@csn.net, 75542.120@compuserve.com,
njohnson@glenwoodpost.com, randydci@dci-press.com,
timesj@rmii.com, cohip@levellers.org

Please send copies of your letter to cohip@levellers.org