sweetpea
01-13-2004, 10:55 PM
:hee:
NORML Launches First Ever "Smoke The Vote" Voter Registration Drive
Get Out The Vote Campaign Seeks To Register Tens Of Thousands Of Marijuana
Law Reformers By 2004 Election
Washington, DC: NORML has partnered with the citizen-action group
Working Assets to register tens of thousands of marijuana law reformers to
vote in the 2004 election. The campaign, known as "Smoke the Vote,"
allows citizens to register to vote quickly and easily via NORML's website
at http://www.norml.org . "Smoke the Vote" is the largest "get out the
vote" campaign ever undertaken by NORML and seeks to help transform the
millions of Americans who smoke marijuana responsibly into a powerful,
visible political constituency.
"Currently, millions of marijuana smokers are unregistered to vote
and, as such, remain politically inactive in state and federal affairs,"
NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup said. "As a result, too many
elected officials feel little or no political pressure from their
constituents to support marijuana law reform - despite the fact that
national polls show that 80 percent of Americans support legalizing
medicinal marijuana, and that 72 percent support decriminalizing marijuana
for personal use. NORML intends to address this political disconnect by
specifically targeting responsible adult marijuana smokers, as well as
non-smokers sympathetic to marijuana law reform, to register to vote and
become politically involved in the 2004 election - arguably the first
national election in recent memory in which marijuana policy promises to
be a visible and highly publicized campaign issue."
Of the nine candidates seeking the Democratic Presidential nomination,
five - Retired Army General Wesley Clark, US Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), US
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), former Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun, and
the Rev. Al Sharpton - have publicly vowed to end the Bush
Administration's policy of federally targeting and prosecuting medicinal
marijuana patients in states that have legalized its use.
In addition, Kucinich and Moseley Braun have also endorsed
decriminalizing the personal use of pot by adults. Speaking today at the
New Hampshire College Convention, Braun told attendees that she believes
marijuana possession should be a fine-only, non-criminal offense, while a
recent position paper posted on the "Kucinich for President" website
states that he supports the establishment of national guidelines to
regulate pot like alcohol.
"The 2004 Presidential election promises to have profound effects on
marijuana law reform," Stroup said. "That is why it's critical that
marijuana law reformers register to vote and make their voices heard this
fall."
Since launching the "Smoke the Vote" campaign in mid-November, several
thousand citizens have successfully registered to vote through NORML's
online service.
For more information, please website at http://www.norml.org
NORML Launches First Ever "Smoke The Vote" Voter Registration Drive
Get Out The Vote Campaign Seeks To Register Tens Of Thousands Of Marijuana
Law Reformers By 2004 Election
Washington, DC: NORML has partnered with the citizen-action group
Working Assets to register tens of thousands of marijuana law reformers to
vote in the 2004 election. The campaign, known as "Smoke the Vote,"
allows citizens to register to vote quickly and easily via NORML's website
at http://www.norml.org . "Smoke the Vote" is the largest "get out the
vote" campaign ever undertaken by NORML and seeks to help transform the
millions of Americans who smoke marijuana responsibly into a powerful,
visible political constituency.
"Currently, millions of marijuana smokers are unregistered to vote
and, as such, remain politically inactive in state and federal affairs,"
NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup said. "As a result, too many
elected officials feel little or no political pressure from their
constituents to support marijuana law reform - despite the fact that
national polls show that 80 percent of Americans support legalizing
medicinal marijuana, and that 72 percent support decriminalizing marijuana
for personal use. NORML intends to address this political disconnect by
specifically targeting responsible adult marijuana smokers, as well as
non-smokers sympathetic to marijuana law reform, to register to vote and
become politically involved in the 2004 election - arguably the first
national election in recent memory in which marijuana policy promises to
be a visible and highly publicized campaign issue."
Of the nine candidates seeking the Democratic Presidential nomination,
five - Retired Army General Wesley Clark, US Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), US
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), former Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun, and
the Rev. Al Sharpton - have publicly vowed to end the Bush
Administration's policy of federally targeting and prosecuting medicinal
marijuana patients in states that have legalized its use.
In addition, Kucinich and Moseley Braun have also endorsed
decriminalizing the personal use of pot by adults. Speaking today at the
New Hampshire College Convention, Braun told attendees that she believes
marijuana possession should be a fine-only, non-criminal offense, while a
recent position paper posted on the "Kucinich for President" website
states that he supports the establishment of national guidelines to
regulate pot like alcohol.
"The 2004 Presidential election promises to have profound effects on
marijuana law reform," Stroup said. "That is why it's critical that
marijuana law reformers register to vote and make their voices heard this
fall."
Since launching the "Smoke the Vote" campaign in mid-November, several
thousand citizens have successfully registered to vote through NORML's
online service.
For more information, please website at http://www.norml.org