Marijuana Policy Project

Save the Date: May 9, 2005 -- Marijuana Policy Project's 10th Anniversary Gala in Los Angeles

Honoring Tommy Chong, Honorary Chair Montel Williams

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- Today the Marijuana Policy Project announced the date for its 10th Anniversary Fundraising Gala in Los Angeles on May 9, 2005 at the Sheraton Delfina Hotel in Santa Monica. The event will be celebrating MPP?s victories over the past 10 years and commemorating the progress of the entire marijuana policy reform movement. Talk show host Montel Williams is serving as the honorary chair of the event, and actor Tommy Chong will be present to receive the Courage Under Fire Award.

MPP is the largest organization focused solely on ending marijuana prohibition in the U.S. MPP led the successful campaigns that enacted medical marijuana laws in Montana and Vermont in 2004. The Montana initiative won with a massive 62%-38% margin, actually outpolling President Bush by three points in this "red state." MPP is gearing up for new efforts in Congress to protect patients, and is also leading a campaign to establish a system of marijuana regulation in the state of Nevada.

MPP has also won important court victories in recent months, joining with the ACLU and other organizations to overturn a federal law that sought to ban all marijuana policy reform advertising on public transit systems. In Nevada, MPP successfully sued to prevent state officials from using an unfair, last-minute rule change to keep its marijuana regulation initiative off the 2006 ballot.

Over the years, MPP representatives have appeared on such national television programs as CNN Headline News, The Today Show, The Montel Williams Show, PBS News Hour, and many others.

Members of the 10th Anniversary Gala Host Committee include: John Perry Barlow, Bart Coleman, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, Candra Docherty, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Henry Eshelman, Joseph Finneran, Mike Gray, U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, Adam Katz, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, Nora Maccoby, Richard Marks, Matthew Marshall, Terrence McNally, U.S. Rep. George Miller, Michelle Phillips, Paul Provenza, Tom Robbins, Aaron Russo, Kipp Stroden, and Dr. Andrew Weil.

With more than 17,000 members and 150,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP works to minimize the harm associated with marijuana -- both the consumption of marijuana and the laws that are intended to prohibit such use. MPP believes that the greatest harm associated with marijuana is imprisonment. For more information, see http://www.MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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