California: Support marijuana policy reform at the ballot box!

In addition to helping to choose the next president, California voters will have the opportunity to support marijuana policy reform this Election Day. Hopefully, you are registered to vote and are heading to the polls on November 4 to vote for reform.

Proposition 5

MPP urges a "yes" vote on Proposition 5, which would make several direct changes to the state's marijuana policy:

Downgrading possession of less than one ounce of marijuana from a misdemeanor to an infraction, saving 40,000 Californians from a criminal record each year;
Preventing nonviolent parolees from being imprisoned simply for failing a drug test; and
Allowing state-legal medical marijuana patients to participate in court-ordered drug treatment programs.

Prop. 5 also provides alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders by expanding access to drug treatment programs. If you are eligible to do so, we hope you'll vote YES on 5 — and learn more online here.

Candidate Guide

Besides voting for Prop. 5, we hope that you will be able to find out about where the candidates stand on marijuana issues before casting your vote.

MPP conducted a survey of all state legislative candidates. The survey, done in partnership with our allies at Americans for Safe Access, asked candidates five questions relating mostly to legislative proposals that were introduced last year. The candidates' responses and voting history information (for incumbents) are available on our Web site.

If a candidate you are interested in didn't respond to our survey, please contact him or her before November 4 to find out where he or she stands on medical marijuana. Due to term limits, more than a quarter of the state legislative seats are open this year. It's important that these newly-elected Assembly members and senators know that medical marijuana is an important issue supported by their constituents.

On the congressional front, only two seats are widely considered to be competitive:

District 4 (Northeast California): This district is currently represented by Rep. John Doolittle (R-Roseville), who is not seeking re-election. Both people running for this seat, Charlie Brown (D) and Tom McClintock (R), have expressed support for medical marijuana access.
District 11 (parts of Contra Costa and San Joaquin counties): This district is currently represented by Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton), who is in a tight race for re-election with Republican Dean Andal. Last year, McNerney opposed ending federal raids on medical marijuana patients and providers but has since changed his position. Republican Andal supports locking up patients.

Please use Project Vote Smart's handy Web site to obtain contact information for your candidates so that you can ask them about medical marijuana. Also, feel free to contact me at asmith@mpp.org for more information about Proposition 5 or the various candidates in California.

Thank you for supporting MPP and taking marijuana policy into account on Election Day. Please forward this message on to other Californians who are interested in supporting reform.