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Legalize 2012 Reply to the MPP/DPA/Sensible/SAFER alliance
http://the420times.com/2011/05/safer-colorado-responds-to-legalize-2012-campaign/
May 23, 2011
The MPP/DPA/Sensible/SAFER alliance has lost the trust of everyone
in Colorado by making a unilateral decision to file 8 ballot initiatives
without letting anyone in the state outside of their small group
read or comment on them.
Mason Tvert of SAFER sent Legalize 2012 a draft of one of the initiatives
on 5/12. He never indicated that he was on the verge of filing on
5/19.
Legalize 2012 invited the MPP/DPA/Sensible/SAFER alliance to participate,
in good faith, in a community policy debate on June 22 so that we
could try to find some common ground among all the groups that have
ideas for the 2012 ballot and bring unity and focus to the Colorado
cannabis movement.
Mason sent Legalize2012 a letter on May 16, 2011 that stated, "I
can't stop thinking about how exciting and impactful it would be
if we were able to join forces and move forward together. It would
be such a huge catalyst for the movement, and we could really make
things happen."
He gave no indication that they were on the verge of filing. Mason
gave no deadline for comments.
Mason sent Legalize2012 a list of people who had read their initiative
language prior to May 12 when we received it. The list was quite
lengthy, and when Legalize2012 complained, jokingly, that we were
the last ones in the state to see it, Mason wrote to Legalize2012
on May 17: "You made it relatively clear quite a long time
ago that you were not interested in working together and would be
working on your own initiative."
Legalize 2012 responded, "I am really getting tired of how
you are spreading misinformation about our campaign. We never said
we didn't want to work with you. You were one of the first people
I told about our Legalize2012 campaign last May 2010, -well before-
you ever said you were working on an initiative of your own. In
November 2010, you complained again that we never asked you to help
with our initiative, so I sent you a personal email on Nov. 5, 2010
that said, 'I am eternally sorry that my invitation to work with
us a few months ago wasn't more meaningful to you.' And I included
a more formal invitation to help on our campaign. For you to now
say that we made it 'clear' that we 'were not interested in working
with you' is a lie."
When Mason writes, "these folks have opted to dedicate their
time to attacking other reformers and fracturing this movement",
it is clear that he knows this is untrue. Members of the Legalize2012
coalition have been very busy down at the Capitol testifying against
several anti-marijuana bills during the legislative session, from
January to May 11. The Sensible/SAFER alliance barely helped at
all, aside from sending one or two emails on these bills the whole
session. Neither Mason Tvert nor Brian Vicente showed up down at
the Capitol to testify against any of these laws. In fact, Brian
Vicente told everyone who asked that he was "not working on
medical marijuana anymore."
So, instead of working together with the rest of the state, MPP/DPA/Sensible/SAFER
chose to file 8 ballot initiatives unilaterally without showing
them to anyone outside their small group. This shows extreme bad
faith on their part, and will make it very hard for anyone to trust
them on any level about anything ever again.
Read the full story here about how this is an intentional nationwide
strategy by MPP/DPA/Soros to divide and demoralize the grassroots
by spreading lies and misinformation:
"Can we win the war without the troops? An Analysis of the
Americans for Medical Rights Medical Marijuana Ballot Initiative
Strategies in the 1998 General Election"
http://www.levellers.org/inits98anal.htm
MORE MISINFORMATION FROM THE ABOVE ARTICLE
Legalize2012 never used the name "carpetbaggers".
Contact these people and ask them to stop spreading misinformation
about local reform groups:
Ethan Nadelmann <enadelmann@drugpolicy.org>
Brian Vicente <brian@sensiblecolorado.org>
Steve Fox <sfox@mpp.org>
Mason Tvert <mason@saferchoice.org>
Art Way <away@drugpolicy.org>
Sean McAllister <mclawoffice@comcast.net>
Rob Kampia <rob@mpp.org>
Rob Corry <robert.corry@comcast.net>
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