MPP, the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the U.S., works to remove criminal penalties for marijuana use, with an emphasis on protecting seriously ill medical marijuana patients from arrest and jail. Founded in 1995, MPP has 29,000 members, 100,000 e-mail subscribers, 38 staffers, and an annual budget of about $6 million.
When MPP was founded in 1995, medical marijuana was illegal in every state and favorable legislation had not been introduced in Congress in a decade. Since then, the federal penalties for marijuana cultivation have been changed to provide for the early release of hundreds of prisoners; medical marijuana bills have been introduced in seven consecutive Congresses, medical marijuana is now legal in 13 states; and much more.