08/19/2022
[Help elect District Attorneys that would decriminalize Massachusetts]
Dear friends,
As you know, Decriminalize Massachusetts made some great progress in 2022 on helping move the decriminalization bill H.2119 forward in the Massachusetts State House. The legislative session is now over, and we will continue the work on this bill in the next session starting in January 2023.
Between now and then, however, we can still do a lot on the decriminalization front.
So, I am sending this message with an ask for your help and some of your hard-earned dollars 🙂
Decriminalization can take multiple forms. Certainly the most effective and durable one is to pass legislation that removes the penalties for possession of substances for personal use. But, even before such legislation, our elected officials have the power to decriminalize entire regions.
For example, if District Attorneys decided to stop prosecuting possession and focus resources on harm-reduction and support, they can in effect decriminalize their districts. Clearly, if a DA makes the announcement that his or her office will not prosecute possession (a victimless crime), the police would stop arresting people for possession, as they would know ahead of time that their work will not be followed on by prosecutors. For the police to be arresting people in the context of this knowledge would constitute a very significant -- and visible -- misuse of police funds.
Therefore, it is so important to elect District Attorneys that are in favor of decriminalization.
One such DA candidate is Rahsaan Hall.
Rahsaan is a former ACLU attorney who is currently campaigning for the DA position of the Plymouth District. If elected on November 8, Rahsaan will end prosecution of possession in his entire district.
So, with this message, I would like to ask you to help in two ways - first, by giving a generous contribution to Rahsaan's campaign, and second, by adding yourselves as a volunteer to Rahsaan's campaign.
How to donate and why:
Please use this link for your donation: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/2022hall4da_lakov
On the why - even though you may not be a resident of the Plymouth district, through your donation, you will do a very good deed of helping decriminalize that district. Less people will be thrown in jail, decriminalization there will show that it works and it leads to better social outcomes than the War on Drugs, more positive press will be created, and subsequent districts will have an easier time decriminalizing (as well as legislation will have an easier time passing in the future).
How to volunteer for Rahsaan's campaign:
To sign up as a volunteer, simply visit Rahsaan's DA campaign site www.hall4da.com and click Volunteer.
As a volunteer, you'll be able to join other volunteers (like myself) in making phone calls, canvassing, talking with potential voters, and in general, getting out the vote as much as possible for Rahsaan.
Rahsaan is campaigning against the incumbent (Tim Cruz) who has been DA in the Plymouth District for 21 years so far, and has a very strong name recognition. As such, Rahsaan needs all the support in order to win - lets put our dollars and time to work and help him get elected.
Thank you so much for reading this and for your support.
Cheers,
Peter
P.S. For full disclosure - I am very excited to have the chance to work on electing a DA who will decriminalize his district, and so I am helping the campaign by both donating, and by volunteering. And I hope to be able to help even more by convincing a number of you to do likewise 🙂
Chip in for Rahsaan now.
![[Help elect District Attorneys that would decriminalize Massachusetts]Dear friends,As you know, Decriminalize Massachuse...](https://img3.ngos1.com/216/556/170743132165561.jpg)
