FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Justin Strekal
justin@thebowlpac.org
PAC Formed To Defeat Marijuana Prohibitionists In Congress
BOWL PAC will organize candidates and organizations to legalize cannabis and expunge previous convictions
Washington, DC: Today, organizers launched the Better Organizing to Win Legalization Political Action Committee, BOWL PAC.
Led by Justin Strekal, a veteran of both cannabis reform lobbying efforts and electoral campaigns around the country, BOWL PAC will work to unify aligned congressional candidates and organizations that typically have not focused on marijuana reform efforts.
“It is time to take the gloves off when it comes to addressing the minority of members of Congress who are standing in the way of common-sense efforts to end the senseless and cruel policy of marijuana criminalization,” said BOWL PAC founder Justin Strekal. “In the era of unprecedented coordinated efforts to address the issues of our time, from voting rights to healthcare to climate change, marijuana prohibition intersects nearly every aspect of public policy. A supermajority of Americans support legalization and they deserve a PAC who works for them.”
BOWL PAC and its sister organization, Better Organizing to Win Legalization, will both organize coordinated campaigns with allied groups across the political spectrum to highlight the connected impacts of the criminalization of cannabis.
In its first “Joint Action,” BOWL PAC, along with numerous other groups call on President Biden to fulfill his campaign promise of providing relief to those with prior cannabis convictions to the extent he has the ability to do so with the Presidential Pardon.
A recent poll by The Economist/YouGov found that only 16% of Americans think that President Biden will make good on his pledge to decriminalize marijuana, with 58% believing he will make only a little or no progress.
“If President Biden issues pardons to those with federal cannabis convictions, his actions would set a new gold standard for state and local governments to similarly take action to address violations assessed by their jurisdictions,” said Strekal.
BOWL PAC is co-founded by veteran digital strategist Craig Johnson, Principal/co-founder of Unfiltered.Media, which advises a variety of campaigns and organizations ranging from Americans for Tax Fairness to Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“I have long seen the cannabis reform movement leave power on the table when it comes to harnessing the ability to use digital organizing tools to advance public policy reforms at the federal level. Working with allies and leveraging cutting edge practices in digital communications, BOWL PAC will fill that void,” said BOWL PAC co-founder Craig Johnson.
More information can be found at thebowlpac.org/
For media inquiries, contact Justin Strekal at justin@thebowlpac.org
Strekal’s Bio:
Justin’s wide-ranging policy reform expertise includes issues such as marijuana, campaign finance, tax, and wage fairness. In addition to launching BOWL PAC, he is also a Partner at Useful Strategies and Unfilted.Media. For five years, Justin was the federal lobbyist for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), the nation’s largest and longest-running marijuana consumer advocacy group. Prior to joining NORML, Justin served as a legislative aide in the Virginia State Senate, where he drafted the first marijuana reform legislation introduced in the chamber, a precursor to the Commonwealth legalizing marijuana in 2021. In addition to his policy reform efforts, Justin has more than a decade of electoral campaign experience managing federal, state, and local races in 13 different states across the country.
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BOWL PAC works to unify the public, interest groups, and policymakers behind a comprehensive approach to marijuana legalization and justice for those who have been harmed under its criminalization.
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