Students to Rally with Yes We Cannabis Fire Truck to Sound Alarm For Prop 19

Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), announced plans yesterday to mobilize student voters in support of Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010. SSDP, the nation’s largest student drug policy group with over 150 chapters nationwide, will rally an army of student canvassers at its regional conference to be held at San Francisco State University October 16-17. Many events have been scheduled between now and the election on campuses up and down the state. With a massive fire truck touring California, the students will ‘Sound the Alarm to Vote Yes on Prop 19.’ (See schedule below.) Indymedia is invited to tour with the Yes We Cannabis Fire Truck.

“Young voters are the primary victims of the drug war and logically the largest group of supporters of Prop 19,” says Aaron Houston, SSDP’s Executive Director. “We plan to register thousands of students in the next 10 days and help many first time voters develop plans for Election Day. Meshing good old fashioned one-on-one on college campuses with mobile alert technology sums up our strategy to turnout young voters,” adds Houston.

SSDP already planned a massive canvass in Northern California months ago, but last week the group received a surprise $75,000 dollar donation from David Bronner, President of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps and another $25,000 from Capitol Hemp Clothing and Accessories. “We are ramping up our outreach to even more students thanks to the surprise support,” says Houston.

Dr. Bronner’s is providing the company’s promotional fire truck to ‘sound the alarm’ on college campuses across California before November’s election. A California based company, Dr. Bronner’s buys 20 tons of hemp oil for their soaps from Canada each year. For ten years the Bronner family has financially supported bringing back non-drug industrial hemp farming in the US as an environmentally sustainable crop that can be made into a wide variety of products including food, cosmetics, clothing, building materials and much more. Traditionally Dr. Bronner’s has publicly supported ‘hemp only’ advocates; however Mr. Bronner is now publicly calling for the end of cannabis prohibition entirely in light of the bloody conflict being fueled in neighboring Mexico and the enormous waste of California taxpayer and police resources in the current budget crisis.

Mr. Bronner stated: “I’m calling up businesses like ours that I know are socially and environmentally conscious with a simple message, “Just Say Now, now is the time to step up support.” Prop 19 will free up police for fighting real crimes and stop renegade cannabis cultivation by gangs that are destroying our national parks. Cannabis prohibition, not the herb itself, has been ruining productive and upstanding citizens’ lives with courts and jails for decades.”

The Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, is a California ballot proposition which will be on the November 2, 2010 California statewide ballot. It legalizes various marijuana-related activities, allows local governments to regulate these activities, permits local governments to impose and collect marijuana-related fees and taxes, and authorizes various criminal and civil penalties. In March 2010 it qualified to be on the November statewide ballot. It requires a simple majority in order to pass. Yes on 19 is
the official advocacy group for the initiative. SSDP is the lead student organization working with the Yes on 19 campaign.

The following is a tentative schedule for the Yes We Cannabis Fire Truck Tour and is subject to change. email adam [at] mintwood.com

10/7/2010 San Diego State University 5500 Campanile Drive San Diego
10/8/2010 University of California, San Diego 9500 Gilman Dr. La Jolla
10/10/2010 University of California, Los Angeles 405 Hilgard Ave. Los Angeles
10/11/2010 University of Southern California 1540 Alcazar Street Los Angeles
10/12/2010 California State University, Northridge 18111 Nordhoff Street Northridge
10/13/2010 Pitzer College 1050 North Mills Avenue Claremont
10/14/2010 San Bernardino Valley College 701 Mount Vernon Ave San Bernardino
10/15-17/2010 San Francisco SSDP Mobilization Tour Various Locations San Francisco
10/18/2010 Sacramento State University 6000 J Street Sacramento
10/19/2010 Golden Gate University 536 Mission Street San Francisco
10/20/2010 University of California, Hastings 200 McAllister St. San Francisco
10/21/2010 San Francisco State University 1600 Holloway Avenue San Francisco
10/22/2010 Mills College 5000 MacArthur Blvd Oakland
10/23/2010 University of California, Berkeley 2198 University Avenue Berkeley
10/24/2010 California State University, East Bay 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd Hayward
10/25/2010 San Jose State University One Washington Square San Jose
10/26/2010 University of California, Santa Cruz 1156 High Street Santa Cruz
10/27/2010 University of California, Merced 5200 Lake Road Merced
10/28/2010 College of the Sequoias 915 South Mooney Boulevard Visalia
10/29/2010 Azusa Pacific University 901 East Alosta Avenue Azusa
10/30/2010 Santa Ana College 1530 West 17th Street Santa Ana