from Criminal Justice Policy Foundation

< esterling@igc.apc.org>

The House Crime Bill, H.R. 4092 has a provision for the

death penalty for large scale drug offenders, including

marijuana sellers, importers and growers. 60,000 kilos

over any number of years, or 60,000 plants, gets the

death penalty. All you need is the testimony of

the informant -- the government does not have to

produce the plants or bales in court.

Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC) is offering an amendment to

strike the death penalty for drug offenses from the bill.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) is offering an amendment to

strike the death penalty for marijuana offenses.

Write to your member of Congress that you support

these amendments.

Write to Members of the House Rules committee to tell

them that these amendments should be considered in

the debate on the crime bill.

Write to those members to tell them you appreciate

what they are doing.

The Frank amendment, by the way, was the result of

NORML's lobbying efforts.

Action is needed in the next week.

House Rules meets on April 11 or 12.

The House debate begins on April 12.

This is an important thing that can be done NOW.

We can win this. A win is good. If Congress hears

from us, we can begin to lay the groundwork for

bigger reforms.

Eric Sterling

Criminal Justice Policy foundation

1899 L St., NW

Suite 500

Washington DC 20036

tel 202-835-9075

fax 202-833-8561

esterling@igc.apc.org

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