Tag: Cannabis

Posted on

Conference Call #5

Great call last week! Join us for the next call for updates and info. You’ll have an opportunity to share your ideas To add items to the agenda, email kris@mdmj.org before the call. The agenda will be posted the afternoon of the call.

Our fourth conference call will be held on Tuesday July 16th from 7:30PM – 8:30PM.
Dial-in number (US): (605) 313-5635
Access code: 659303#
International dial-in numbers: https://fccdl.in/i/kris387
Online meeting ID: kris387
Join the online meeting: https://join.freeconferencecall.com/kris387

Posted on

MDMJ Conference Call #4

Our last conference call was very productive and we are on track to legalizing cannabis in Maryland!

Join us for the next call for updates and info. You’ll have an opportunity to share your ideas.

Our fourth conference call will be held on Tuesday July 9th from 7:30PM – 8:30PM. Dial-in number (US): (605) 313-5635 Access code: 659303# International dial-in numbers: https://fccdl.in/i/kris387 Online meeting ID: kris387 Join the online meeting: https://join.freeconferencecall.com/kris387

AGENDA

Instructions – Upon joining the conference call, we will ask that you put your phone on mute to eliminate background noise so that the person speaking can be heard by everyone on the call and there are no interruptions.

Introductions – 10 second elevator speech. Name, organization, why you’re here.

Meeting location update.

Flyers for Baltimore meeting.

Fundraising.

Meeting with County Executive Marc Elrich.

Additions to talking points.

Hearing tomorrow; Marijuana Laws in America: Racial Justice and the Need for Reform.

Q&A/Suggestions/Feedback/Comments.

Posted on

MDMJ Planning Meeting #2


Join MDMJ for our 2nd planning meeting of 2019!

When: July 30th, 2019 from 7:00PM – 8:30PM

Where: We’ve CHANGED the meeting location due to the growing number of attendance! The meeting has been moved to Druid Hill Park, located in Baltimore, Maryland. Booking a pavilion is a first come, first serve deal, so we will do our best to snag the spot at the Columbus Pavilion on Mansion House Drive. Take a right at the fork in the road and the pavilion is directly on your right.

Feel free to bring your own refreshments, lawn chairs or blankets to sit on and umbrellas to block the sun. PLEASE SHARE THIS EVENT WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND IN YOUR GROUPS TO SPREAD THE WORD! It really helps.

Be on the look out for the cannabis flags! That’s where you’ll find us.

Agenda

7:00 – 7:15PM – Check-In and introductions.

7:15 – 7:25PM – Updates since last meeting.

7:25 – 7:35PM – Legislative Updates.

7:35 – 7:45PM – Lobby session efforts.

7:45 – 8:00PM – Go over talking points.

8:00 – 8:05PM – Conference call updates.

8:05 – 8:10PM – Recruiting efforts.

8:10 – 8:15PM – Ideas for next meeting location/agenda.

8:15 – 8:25PM – Questions, feedback, suggestions.

8:25 – 8:30PM – Closing.

RSVP ON FACEBOOK

The Monday Jive (June) Baltimore, MD 6/24/19 hosted by The Heady Coalition with Henni TheTrue Stoner and friends.
Posted on

MDMJ Conference Call

High friends!!!

The meeting we held in Bethesda last month was a huge success. Thanks to everyone who was able to attend. At the meeting we discussed organizing a lobby day in Annapolis. With a bit of research and a handful of phone calls, our plan is to hold several meetings, conference calls and training sessions up until January 8th 2020, when the new session begins. This gives us plenty of time to prepare, as well as to organize a letter writing campaign to send your delegates expressing why it is important to fully legalize. A spreadsheet has been generated with a list of every delegate in Maryland who did NOT co-sponsor any marijuana legalization legislation last session. Out of 141 Delegates throughout every district in the state, only 30 delegates have either sponsored or co-sponsored legalization bills. It is also very interesting to discover the handfuls of delegates who are part of the Marijuana Legalization Work Group but did not co-sponsor any cannabis legalization bills put through last session by delegates Moon and Luedtke. These are the people we plan to meet with. We must get them on board with our progressive agenda. Without co-sponsors, these bills will go nowhere and cannabis will continue to be illegal to those who need it.

Have you ever shared with your friends or family how cannabis has helped you? Well, we also need you to express your stories to the law makers that represent you. There is no wrong way to tell your story, but we will be holding training sessions so that everyone feels confident and prepared. If you’ve ever felt compelled to get more involved in your community, then now is the time! Legalization is upon us, and it is up to us to win the fight against prohibition.

Our first conference call will be held on Tuesday June 11th from 7:30PM – 8:30PM.

Dial-in number (US): (605) 313-5635
Access code: 659303#
International dial-in numbers: https://fccdl.in/i/kris387
Online meeting ID: kris387
Join the online meeting: https://join.freeconferencecall.com/kris387

Agenda

Instructions – Upon joining the conference call, we will ask that you put your phone on mute to eliminate background noise so that the person speaking can be heard by everyone on the call and there are no interruptions.

Introductions – Say who you are and what organization you’re with if applicable.

Updates on lobby day efforts – slight changes in dates and strategies.

Volunteer Opportunities – By clicking the link, it will direct you to our Google Forms volunteer sign up sheet. In addition to attending lobby day in Annapolis in January, if you are able to volunteer your time for prep and follow up assignments, we need you!

Questions and comments about volunteering opportunities

Recruiting

End of meeting; reminder for next weeks conference call.

If you are subscribed to MDMJ’s email list, you have been emailed the conference call invitation, so please check your inbox

Please RSVP for this event on Facebook

Posted on

MDMJ May Meeting

MDMJ is coming to a district near YOU! Since Maryland is such a huge state, we will be having meetings throughout the state at least once a month. So let us know where you’d like to see us come next!



Looking to become more involved in your community? Passionate about cannabis being legalized in Maryland? Then this meeting is for you! We realize that with Maryland being such a big state, we need to take the movement to YOU! MDMJ will be holding meetings throughout the state so that everyone who is passionate about this issue, has the opportunity to become an important member in this community organization. Our mission is to LEGALIZE, NORMALIZE, and fight for FREEDOM! Over the last month, several members of DCMJ, MDMJ, and VAMJ have been lobbying on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC for better protections for the consumers. For more information on how these meetings for new legislation went, check out MDMJ on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. We are so excited to see some new faces and learn what it is that matters most to you with cannabis legalization. This is a community effort so not only is being a voice encouraged, but it is NEEDED! Let’s take back our rights to grow our own cannabis!

When: Thursday, May 30th, 2019 from 7:00PM – 8:30PM



Where: 4844 Cordell Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland 20814

Image may contain: table, outdoor and indoor
Meet us on the patio!

Agenda

7:00PM – 7:05PM – Introduction; Tell Us Who You Are!

7:05PM – 7:30PM –
Exercise – Tell Us Why You’re Here

7:30PM – 7:50PM –
Update on AJ Dawson; Sentenced to 60 Days in Wicomico Jail

7:50PM – 8:10PM –
Congressional Seed In – What We Did, Why We Did It, And What We’re Going To Do Next

8:10PM – 8:25PM –
Home Cultivation Rights; Beating The Monopoly

8:25PM – 8:30PM – Closing Statements

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK!

50 ft. joint featured at the National Cannabis Festival 2019. Made by DCMJ member and local DC artist Cesar Maxit. Federal Legalization Now! Congress Pass The Joint!
Posted on

Congressional Seed-In

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, March 8, 2018		CONTACT:
ADAM EIDINGER (202)744-2671
Adam@DCMJ.org

“Congressional Seed-In” Announced for April 2, 2019

Citizens to Lawfully Give Viable Cannabis Seeds to Members of Congress to Demand Federal Legislation to Grow Cannabis At Home

No Current Legislation in Congress Explicitly Legalizes Home Cultivation as Corporate Lobby Grab Leaves Many Americans No Way Grow

WASHINGTON, DC – On Tuesday, April 2, 2019, cannabis reform advocates from DC Marijuana Justice (“DCMJ”), Maryland Marijuana Justice (“MDMJ”), and Virginia Marijuana Justice (“VAMJ”) will descend on Capitol Hill to lawfully give away cannabis seeds to members of Congress and their staff, 21 years of age and older. The action is to call for cannabis consumer-friendly legislation that permits adults to grow cannabis in the comfort and privacy of their homes & backyards.

“As full legalization & descheduling of cannabis approaches cannabis consumers & medical patients must be able to travel throughout the United States without fear of arrest, detainment, or harassment,” says Dawn Lee-Carty, Founder of Speak Life, a mom and founder of Speak Life, an organization dedicated to educating parents and legislators on the benefits of cannabis. Ms. Lee-Carty came to advocate the use of CBD, a non-psychoactive chemical compound found in cannabis, and THC after pharmaceuticals failed to adequately treat her epileptic 11 year old daughter. Due to the federal prohibitions on cannabis, Ms. Lee-Carty cannot travel with her daughters medicine.

After voters in the District of Columbia approved Initiative 71 in November 2014 and Congress approved the law in February 2015, all adults aged 21 years of age or older can legally grow & possess small amounts cannabis in the District of Columbia. With the annual spring planting taking place after the last frost in late April, the “Congressional Seed-In” aims to help members of Congress and their staff lawfully start their cannabis gardens in the District of Columbia. Outdoor cannabis requires cannabis to be grown in cycle with the seasons, so a timely spring planting is integral to the success of the crop. However, not every American is afforded the right to grow their own cannabis. Instead many Americans are forced to buy their cannabis from dispensaries, which costs as much as 10 times more than home grown cannabis.

“The only legislation we see in the 116th Congress moving is backed by lobbyists to deal with business interests,” says Adam Eidinger, Proposer of Initiative 71 . “We’re going up to the Hill to encourage members of Congress and their staff that they represent more cannabis consumers than cannabis businesses. We want to legally grow cannabis as a basic right and this is frankly more important to me than access to banks or tax reform for huge marijuana businesses,” adds Edinger.

WHO: Members of DCMJ, MDMJ and VAMJ, expert growers, and cannabis reform activists
WHAT: “Congressional Seed-In” – A Seed Giveaway for members of Congress and their staff
WHEN: April 2, 2019, 11:00 am until 4:20 pm – Ending Rally Near Capitol Steps on East side
WHERE: All Congressional Offices in Washington, DC
WHY: Citizens demand meaningful legislation that fully ends prohibition cannabis cultivation for every adult and allows the movement of cannabis between all States.

“I don’t want cannabis grown using nuclear or coal power. I want it grown using natural sunlight. The current system of using costly warehouses to grow cannabis plants under synthetic light using synthetic chemicals is bad for consumers and bad for the environment. There is a better way,” says Ms. Lee-Carty, who currently grows using LED technology, but would prefer to grow her daughter’s cannabis outdoors..

“The age of utilizing expensive warehouses to grow cannabis is a relic of prohibition and DCMJ & MDMJ believe that cannabis should return to the fields from which it was formerly grown,” says MDMJ co-founder Kris Furnish. “Congress and state leaders have been standing in the way of cannabis consumer friendly reform, while poll after poll show that the American public fully supports the full legalization of cannabis, including home grow.

ABOUT DCMJ
Since its founding in 2013, DCMJ has lead the nation in creative and high-profile cannabis reform activism. After introducing and passing ballot initiative 71, which legalized the possession and cultivation of cannabis in the District of Columbia, DCMJ organized two large seed giveaways that provided all adults the means to grow cannabis for themselves. Since then DCMJ has deployed giant 51’ inflatable joints outside the White House, the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Times Square in New York City, the 2016 Presidential Debates, and Boston’s Freedom Rally, as well as distributing over 10,000 joints of District of Columbia home grown cannabis at the Inauguration of President Donald Trump to most recently, attempting to distribute 1,227 joints at the congressional “Joint Session” in 2017, where U.S. Capitol Police unlawfully arrested seven DCMJ activists. All charges were dropped the following day. The “Congressional Seed-In” is DCMJ’s fourth annual “Reschedule 4/20,” day of action to highlight the need for meaningful cannabis reform legislation in the United States. In 2018 and 2019, aligned organizations MDMJ & VAMJ were formed to advocate for cannabis reform in Maryland and Virginia.

###

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK!

Posted on

MDMJ Monthly Meeting #5

After everyone has cured themselves of election fever by casting their votes on November 6th, it’s time to shift the focus back to why we started this organization: CANNABIS REFORM! Join MDMJ for our fifth meeting being held at Roadie Joe’s Bar and Grill on November 13th from 6:00 P.M. to 7:30 P.M. to recap election results, and discuss AJ’s second court date on November 14th. Please RSVP to this event on Facebook.

AGENDA

6:00 – 6:05 – Check-in & Introduction (including group exercise)
6:05 – 6:25 – Overview of election results
6:25 – 6:40 – Discuss October 2nd overdose action and Rachelramone’s civil suit against Andy Harris. (Discuss email sent out 10/24)
6:40-7:00 – AJ’s upcoming court date
7:00- 7:15 – Brainstorm dates and ideas for demonstrations against Andy Harris. (If Harris wins the election)
7:00- 7:15 – Seek co-sponsorship and support from Jesse Colvin for H.R. 6152. (If Colvin wins the election)
7:15-7:25 – Cannactivity!
7:25-7:30 – Closing

See you guys there! 

Posted on

Apology Letter To Rep. Andy Harris

Dear Congressman Andy Harris,

After you and your staff rudely slammed your office doors on DC Marijuana Justice (“DCMJ”), Maryland Marijuana Justice (“MDMJ”) and myself, I believed that I should write a letter of apology to you and some of those affected by our recent visit to your congressional office in Washington, DC. on October 2, 2018.

I’m sorry to hear you might have hurt your wrist slamming the door on me. I’m a 46-years-old, 90 lb, handicapped, Christian, single mother that has a lifelong reputation for being a non-violent, peaceful advocate. For you to think I’m a threat to you or your office is inconceivable and ironic. It was never my intention to make you feel intimidated.

I’m sorry that formal requests, to schedule an appointment with your office have been denied for years. You told me at the town hall meeting in Salisbury, MD on August 10th that you would talk to me “offline.” I believed you, and I’m sorry I did. I thought you’d want me to enter your office and have an honest discussion. At no time did I imagine that I wouldn’t be welcome in a congressional office and now, thanks to you, I cannot visit offices unless I get an appointment. I now know it’s impossible.

I’m sorry for your soul Congressman, I pray for it daily. You fail to have the decency and ability to listen to those whose lives you affect with your staunch opposition to cannabis. Your continued prohibitionist position on common-sense drug reform hurts the poor, sick, elderly, abused, students, and our valiant veterans in states where cannabis is already legal, Have you forgotten the Hippocratic Oath? You can improve the lives of medical patients immediately if you’d only evolve on this issue.

I’m sorry that you receive money from “Big Pharma,” As a doctor, you refuse to look at the overwhelming evidence that cannabis is a healing plant. You pretend to play both sides by expressing feigned interest in research to delay legalization when research already exists. You should listen to the people, like myself, that the plant has helped. The plant is not dangerous, rather it’s the antiquated laws you continue to support that makes it dangerous.

I’m sorry for my friends at DCMJ and MDMJ because you called us “violent protesters” on your congressional website. I know none of us ever are violent. The only violence endured came from you and your staff in the form a slammed door without any explanation.

I’m sorry that so many of our friends have died in the opiate crisis waiting for cannabis to become legal and accepted by doctors like yourself. I’m sorry that you won’t help disadvantaged communities by ending the racist war on drugs. I’m sorry my friends have gone to jail for a plant. The courts are still overflowing with cases of simple marijuana possession and consumption.

I’m sorry for the women of the United States. In this moment of #MeToo and after Dr. Ford’s recent testimony, that a member of Congress assumes that an assertive woman is the same as being physically aggressive or violent. It’s true, I’m a confident and assertive woman and I won’t apologize for that. I’m sorry you fear me so very much you resorted to calling the U.S. Capitol Police.

I’m sorry that, like many women after being assaulted by a man, you attempted to put all of the blame on me and not hold yourself accountable for your actions. To defame my friends and me is typical of the toxic masculinity that you and many members of Congress exude. However, don’t forget I still have two years to file an assault claim against you. It might take me that long to decide if I should put myself through that process, again. Hopefully, by then the Equal Rights Amendment will be ratified by the final state needed for the full passage and I will be equally protected under the law.

You should apologize, Congressman. Not just for slamming the doors on us but for all of the pain and suffering at your hands. Are you sorry for your part in the opiate epidemic caused by your hostility toward cannabis reform that could otherwise save lives? I doubt that.

Finally, I’m sorry you may not want to hear from the people like myself but you will on election day. I’m not the only strong-minded woman in the cannabis community. and we will not be silenced.

Sincerely,

RachelRamone Donlan

Ms. Donlan can be reached at Rachel@DCMJ.org or on Twitter @RachelRamone