FROM: Rob Kampia, executive director, Marijuana Policy Project The Marijuana Policy Project is forwarding you the message below on behalf of DownsizeDC.org.
New legislation currently making its way through the House of Representatives poses a grave threat. If passed, H.R. 1528 will force Americans to inform on their friends, family members, or neighbors within 24 hours of acquiring any knowledge about their involvement in drug-related activity, including marijuana.
Please visit http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=28 to stop this bill in its tracks.
As is often the case with new federal violations of civil liberties, this bill is constructed to appear as though it is designed to protect children from drugs, but its implications are far more sinister:
* Observe one student passing a joint to another, and you could fall under this law. You would be required to report the incident to authorities within 24 hours or risk prosecution and a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison.
* If a neighbor under 21 mentions buying some marijuana for a party, you would be required to report him or her to the government or risk jail time yourself.
* If your brothers or sisters have children and mention to you that they and their spouses sometimes smoke marijuana in their bedroom after their kids are asleep, you would be required to immediately inform on them or face prison time.
You can see what a threatening new environment this proposed legislation would create for everyone. It would erect barriers of paranoia between friends, family members, and neighbors and is rife with potential for police abuse, extortion, and the creation of false informants.
DownsizeDC.org is mounting a campaign to defeat this bill. Visit http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=28 to learn more and then take action by sending a message to Congress telling them what you think of this bill. Please send a message now, while we can still stop this terrible legislation.
Thank you.
P.S. H.R. 1528 is supposedly designed to protect children -- but the bill is actually anti-family. It expands mandatory minimum sentencing and increases the ways those minimum sentences could kick in. It's absolutely draconian.
Passage of this bill would be a setback. It's almost always harder to repeal a bad law than it is to stop it from passing in the first place. Please visit http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=28 to act now.