Federal Court to Hear Arguments April 28 in Challenge to Government Censorship of Marijuana Law Reform Ads on DC Metro

The Official Press Release | Joseph White's Press Statement
Download the Banned Ad | Our Complaint | Court Date Set: April 28

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Anjuli Verma, ACLU DPLP, (203) 787-4188
April 19, 2004 or Cell, (434) 825-9208
Emily Whitfield, ACLU Nat’l, (212) 549-2566
Bruce Mirken, Marijuana Policy Project, (415) 668-6403

WASHINGTON – At 9:30 a.m. next Wednesday, April 28 the nation's major drug policy reform groups will present oral arguments before Judge Paul L. Friedman in two consolidated lawsuits filed against the United States government and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) for censoring the speech of those critical of the government's "War on Drugs."

With more than $85 million at stake, WMATA rejected in February an advertisement submitted by the ACLU, Change the Climate, the Drug Policy Alliance, and the Marijuana Policy Project that promotes the reform of our nation’s marijuana laws. The groups are challenging Section 177 of the 2004 federal spending bill, which directs Congress to deny federal funds to local transit authorities that display advertisements promoting "the legalization or medical use of any substance listed in Schedule I…of the Controlled Substances Act."

The lawsuits, filed on February 18, ask the court to declare the law unconstitutional because it coerces local transit authorities into censoring pure political speech protected by the First Amendment. The lawsuits name Norman Y. Mineta, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, and Richard White, the CEO of WMATA, respectively, as defendants.

The rejected advertisement, previous press releases, the plaintiff's complaint, the United States government's opposition brief, and the plaintiff's reply brief can be found online at: www.aclu.org/drugpolicy, www.changetheclimate.org, www.drugpolicy.org, and www.mpp.org.

» Read The Official Press Release.
» Read Joseph White's Press Statement.
» Download the ad. (Print-Ready)
» Our Complaint.
» Support Change the Climate.