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This year let's celebrate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday by planning, building and committing ourselves, "to bring into being a real order of justice." Almost always, through out history, the creative dedicated, nonviolent minority with closely held principles have made the world a better place. Those who care about principles, not parties or personalities are America's true patriots, defenders of the American dream of self government, free of big government tyranny and oppression.

"When evil men (and women) plot, good men (and women) plan. When evil men (and women) burn and bomb, good men (and women) must build and bind. When evil men (and women) shout ugly words of hatred, good men (and women) commit themselves to the glories of love. Where evil men (and women) would seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo, good men (and women) must seek to bring into being a real order of justice."
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Blame the drug war for the disastrous shooting in Arizona recently! Jared Loughner was self medicating with cannabis but an arrest got him off his medication. It is overkill and morally bankrupt to arrest nonviolent people for making a safer health choice, cannabis or marijuana, compared to other medicinal/social drugs. The history of drug use before drug prohibition shows that "crime" was not connected to drug use when addicts could buy all of the heroin, morphine, cocaine and anything else they wanted cheaply and legally at the corner pharmacy.

The drug war is a persecution of tortured children! Dr. Shavelson's research found that heroine addicts are in some chronic physical pain or they suffer from post traumatic stress caused by child abuse or rape. His book, called Hooked, is about his experiences with addicts. Read the Hooked - NPR interview. The people believe in self-government and self-medication.

Why let murderers and other violent predators roam free, while we police nonviolent adult social, medicinal and religious drug use? The overwhelming scientific consensus is that black market violence, adulterated drugs, and the spread of HIV are all exacerbated by prohibitionist policies.

Regulation, science based education and treating abuse as a medical problem is a better drug policy that increases public safety and harm reduction plus frees up billions in wasted funds to use incarcerating the violent and sexual predators or the morally bankrupt who sell drugs to children or drive intoxicated.

"Coercion by government, the main fear of our founding fathers, is now its most common attribute," rages Philip K. Howard in "The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America."

Violent, hate filled, morally bankrupt, authoritarian warmongers are a different species than us, mere human beings. They use fear and propaganda to make us more accepting of their waste of our precious lives and resources. They are the opposite of true patriots; who believe in the American dream of self government and value public safety first! "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." - MLK .During the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King called our government “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” True then—and even more so right now!

We can become a more affluent, secure, and compassionate society by downsizing state and federal government! The Downsize DC Foundation is a great tool for educating and speaking truth to power.

"Make the injustice visible." Coached Ghandi.

From Injustice Everywhere courtesy of fellow reformer Larry Talley, a disturbing video of a no-knock raid performed by the Weber-Morgan Narcotics Strike Force in Utah and an associated article describing how the raid didn't conform to standard planning practices and may prompt the family of a man who was shot to death during that raid to file
suit. If you decide to watch the graphic video of the shooting, check out how much time the man was given to comply with commands, the distance between him and the heavily armed and armored officers, and does it appear as though he's advancing or stationary. Keep in mind that the police and prosecutors have all ruled this raid and shooting as justified.

Since the Media Awareness Project was started as an email list over a decade and a half ago a major goal has been to empower folks who write letters to the editor in support of drug policy reform. It is with great pleasure that we announce today that Robert Sharpe is our Letter Writer of the Year for 2010. Robert had 176 letters and three OPEDs published during the year, bringing the total letters published that we know of to 2, 414. He writes to newspapers all over the world from his home. Robert writes as a volunteer for Common Sense for Drug Policy. His published letters often have versions of the title "Policy Analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C."

The Aggies are learning about the successful decriminalization in Portugal..

Medical Marijuana Supporters Look to Conservatives! Four of the top ten states for health care are medical marijuana states; 7 of the top 15 have medical marijuana programs. Of the 17 worst states in the nation for health care, only one is a medical marijuana state. Coincidence? We don't think so.

The Sentencing Project is pleased to share with you a soon-to-be-released special report from The American Prospect magazine on “Mass Incarceration in America.” "The issue includes essays from journalists and criminal justice experts who review the policies that have contributed to the nation’s high rate of incarceration and the subsequent impact on youth and low-income communities of color in particular. It also details promising initiatives that seek to change incarceration trends and aid at-risk populations with social services support in order to prevent crime. "

The wasted resources and the destruction of lives and families will continue as usual unless we change to a regulated, community-based policy using science-based education and treatment for abusers, a safer drug policy for the user and society.

Jury pool in marijuana case stages ‘mutiny’! We are rebels with just cause, when we exercise our right to nullify bad laws like those brave jurors who refused to convict during the Fugitive Slave Act and until FDR said the Volstead Act was licked! Jury nullification is a constitutional power tool we the people pack.

The debate around failed marijuana prohibition and the larger drug war arrived in a big way in 2010. Here are some of the most significant stories of the year.

Are you aware of this interesting fact about that nutmeg you sprinkled on your eggnog recently?

"The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict. He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people. Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal." - MLK

The only real wealth is well being and happiness. We, the nonviolent members of the pro-better-world society, far out number the violent evil doers. Get tough on violent crime! Take away violent offenders' and sexual predators' ability to reproduce. Aggressive behavior can be bred out of us as it has been done in dogs. We shall overcome the violent and inherit the earth. We shall create Peace on Earth!

Track your Senators' and Representative's votes by e-mail

Changing who's in charge will not affect much. The real cause of this huge quagmire of failed policy is the beast, big government, that money hungry beast, Uncle Sam! Ma Freedom tells it like it is! The beauty of it is when we focus on down-sizing our government we regain our roots of self-government and secure the blessings of liberty for future generations and ourselves.

Compiled and written by Colleen McCool