May 12, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Colombia: Politics: Congress: Medical Marijuana: Marijuana: Join Together: Sam Farr attended the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) reception, a nonsmoking affair featuring soft jazz, fine desserts, and advocates dressed in suits and ties. "We decided from the outset, no scrungie beards. No ponytails. We'd be mainstream and professional. We'd try to look like Republicans as much as we could,"
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May 12, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Colombia: Politics: Congress: Medical Marijuana: Marijuana: Join Together: Sam Farr attended the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) reception, a nonsmoking affair featuring soft jazz, fine desserts, and advocates dressed in suits and ties. "We decided from the outset, no scrungie beards. No ponytails. We'd be mainstream and professional. We'd try to look like Republicans as much as we could,"
Sam Farr attended the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) reception, a nonsmoking affair featuring soft jazz, fine desserts, and advocates dressed in suits and ties. "We decided from the outset, no scrungie beards. No ponytails. We'd be mainstream and professional. We'd try to look like Republicans as much as we could,"
Sam Farr attended the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) reception, a nonsmoking affair featuring soft jazz, fine desserts, and advocates dressed in suits and ties. "We decided from the outset, no scrungie beards. No ponytails. We'd be mainstream and professional. We'd try to look like Republicans as much as we could,"
Marijuana Advocates Play Washington Game
5/12/2005
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Marijuana lobbying in Washington, D.C., is far from the counterculture, as well-heeled advocates mix with members of Congress just like supporters of other issues, the San Francisco Chronicle reported May 5.
A recent Capitol Hill soiree hosted by the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) was a nonsmoking affair featuring soft jazz, fine desserts, and advocates dressed in suits and ties chatting with supporters like Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Sam Farr (D-Calif.), and Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.).
"We decided from the outset, no scrungie beards. No ponytails. We'd be mainstream and professional. We'd try to look like Republicans as much as we could," said MPP Executive Director Rob Kampia. "I don't mind having short hair if it can help change the world.''
MPP, which donated $50,000 to Congressional supporters last year, wants to be taken as seriously in Washington as are the lobbyists for the alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceutical firms. That's hard when staffers for members of Congress have been known to introduce MPP lobbyists as "the potheads."
"The puns and jokes deter members of Congress from embracing the issue," said Eric Sterling, an MPP founder and currently president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation. "They are genuinely afraid of the issue. MPP from day one has been very professional in its presentation. There is an insistence at not having people come in tie-dye shirts, and there won't be pot smoking. It's a serious issue that deserves to be taken seriously.''
But Rep. Frank admits that MPP has a tough task in convincing lawmakers that marijuana should be treated more like a medical or social issue than a criminal one. "Intellectually, it's very easy," Frank said. "Politically, it's hard."
"We've come a long way,'' Kampia said. "But we're not blind to the fact that the members of Congress who have to get elected every few years are reluctant to work with an organization with the 'm-word' in the title."
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Story Source: Join Together
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Colombia; Politics; Congress; Medical Marijuana; Marijuana
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