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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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US: Prison guards donate to keep pot illegal in California David Downs SF Gate Thursday 19 May 2016 Journalist Lee Fang, writing for The Intercept, reports on new campaign donation disclosures showing the state’s prison guards and police chiefs chipping in to keep pot illegal. The funds were organized by John Lovell, “a longtime Sacramento lobbyist for police chiefs and prison guard supervisors. Lovell’s Coalition for Responsible Drug Policies, a committee he created to defeat the pot initiative, raised $60,000 during the first three months of the year, according to a disclosure filed earlier this month. The funds came from groups representing law enforcement, including the California Police Chiefs Association, the Riverside Sheriffs’ Association, the Los Angeles Police Protective League’s Issues PAC, and the California Correctional Supervisor’s Organization. Other donors include the California Teamsters union and the California Hospital Association, as well as Sam Action, an anti-marijuana advocacy group co-founded by former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., and former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum. Fang notes that these groups and others like them stand to lose billions of dollars in funding obtained through ‘collars-for-dollars’ programs, federal anti-drug grants, and lost opportunities to seize cash and cars through asset forfeitures. In 2014, U.S. police seized more citizens’ property without a conviction, than all the country’s burglars stole. Marijuana is the number one drug arrest in America, and drug arrests are the number one type of arrest in the country. About 700,000 Americans will be arrested for pot each year, including about 20,000 Californians, down from recent highs of about 60,000. Marijuana arrests disproportionately impact young people of color, the ACLU reports. Around sixty percent of Americans support ending cannabis’ prohibition. A prison guards union spokesperson told Fang that prison supervisors oppose “a society that encourages pot use” and “are concerned about their children.” “If marijuana is not a dangerous drug, the federal government would have made a change, but the fact remains that it’s a federal crime,” CCSO lobbyist Paul Curry told Fang. Police and other groups that profit from cannabis prohibition have a long history of funding opposition to marijuana law reform, Fang has reported. Registered California voters will likely vote on the Adult Use of Marijuana Act this Nov. 8. The measure has the support of retired peace officers, as well as Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California Medical Association, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, and many others. http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2016/05/19/prison-guards-donate-to-keep-pot-illegal-in-california/
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