Marijuana Policy Project

MPP video on its $10,000 Nevada challenge

The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is a national organization that was founded in 1995 to lobby for reduced penalities on marijuana cultivation, sales and use. It was founded by Rob Kampia and Chuck Thomas and as of 2010, had 29,000 members, 36 staffers and an annual budget of $6 million. The organizaton's board of directors is chaired by Peter Lewis. Along with NORML, it is one of the country's top two marijuana legalization lobbying organizations.

According to MPP's website, the group:

• "...run[s] ballot initiative campaigns to allow seriously ill patients to use medical marijuana with their doctors’ recommendations"
• "...lobby[s] for legislation and sponsor[s] ballot initiatives to replace marijuana prohibition with a sensible system of regulation."
• "...garner[s] widespread media coverage of the need to change marijuana policies."
• "...build[s] coalitions of supportive individuals and organizations to advocate on behalf of marijuana policy reform."

2012 agenda

• Nevada Marijuana Initiative (2012)

2009 agenda

MPP said that its strategic agenda for 2009 includes:

• Passing medical marijuana bills in Minnesota, New Hampshire, and New York.
• Passing medical marijuana dispensary legislation in Rhode Island.
• Building support for medical marijuana legislation in Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, and Massachusetts. MPP reports that it has hired lobbyists in Illinois and Massachusetts, and is starting to organize in Delaware and Iowa, with an eye to passing medical marijuana bills in those states in 2010 and 2011.
• Passing marijuana taxation and regulation legislation in California. See California Marijuana Legalization Initiative (2010).
• Collecting signatures for a statewide medical marijuana initiative in Arizona. See Arizona Medical Marijuana Question, 2010.
• Passing marijuana decriminalization legislation in Vermont.
• Influencing "the Obama administration to roll back the federal war on medical marijuana".

Kampia

Rob Kampia, the founder and long-time director of MPP, was suspended from his position in January 2010 for three months related to sexual harassment charges.

See also

Voting on Marijuana
Ballot Measures
By state
By year
Not on ballot
Local Local marijuana Local marijuana tax

• Marijuana activist gets $30k from national group
• National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
• Marijuana ballot measures
• Drug Policy Alliance Network

Interviews

• Interview with Steve Fox (11/20/09), Marijuana Policy Project

External links

• Official website of the Marijuana Policy Project
• 2009 strategic plan of MPP