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NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre

C-Span TV: Marijuana Legalization and California Ballot Initiative Prop. 19 To Be Debated and Discussed This Saturday; NORML Director Allen St. Pierre vs. Former DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson

October 8, 2010

Dear NORML Members and Supporters:

I’ve been invited back to C-Span to debate and discuss the topics of cannabis legalization, and specifically California’s upcoming vote on Prop. 19, a measure that if approved by the voters will effectively legalize cannabis in America’s most important state politically and economically.

Former Drug Enforcement Administration chief and Republican congressman from Arkansas Asa Hutchinson has stepped up to argue in favor of the status quo and continuing into a ninth decade of Cannabis Prohibition.

The live interview is scheduled to broadcast Saturday morning (10/9/10) on C-Span TV, 9:15am – 10:00am (eastern…sorry west coasters!).  Like most C-Span shows, the public is invited to ask questions or make short commentary.

To watch online, go to: http://www.c-span.org/Watch/C-SPAN.aspx

This C-Span interview is likely the result of the Wall Street Journal publishing an unprecedented jointly signed letter earlier this week by every previous DEA administrator predictably calling for the Obama administration to actively oppose politically viable cannabis legalization voter initiatives in places like California  (just the way they did).

Is the body politic (and the mainstream media that has so aptly aided and abetted these technocrats’ blatant disregard for democracy, science, compassion and common sense) really, really nervous about the cataclysmic blow that California voters are about to level on a self-evidently failed federal government public policy—another ‘war’ lost by government?

What do you think?

See you on the TV and kind regards,

-Allen St. Pierre
Executive Director
NORML
Washington, D.C.

**If you’re a CA resident, please make sure to vote for Prop. 19 on November 2nd…if you don’t live in CA and support ending Cannabis Prohibition, please donate now to: yeson19.com

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws invites you and your like-minded friends and family members to attend the organization’s 39th annual national conference in beautiful, cannabis-tolerant and hemp-friendly Portland, Oregon, Thursday, September 9 – Saturday, September 11.

The national NORML conference is America’s largest and oldest gathering of cannabis law reform activists.

With the call to legalize cannabis growing stronger and louder every year in America, this year’s apropos conference title and theme: Just Say Now!

The NORML 2010 conference is convening at the historic landmark The Governor Hotel in downtown Portland, right in the middle of the ‘free ride zone’ for the City’s famous and efficient transit system.

Like all previous NORML conferences, leading cannabis law reform activists, elected policymakers, lawyers, doctors, medical researchers, business leaders and educators will deliver speeches, papers and presentations regarding numerous aspects of cannabis.

You can review some of this year’s cutting edge conference topics here. Also, you can view past NORML conferences here.

Good News, Bad News Situation…
Bad news first… so popular are NORML’s national conferences that a single alert from NORML in March effectively sold out the entire large block of the host hotel’s discounted rooms.

The good news however is that steeply discounted hotel room rates have been negotiated for the overflow with a nearby, NORML-supportive hotel ($99/night as compared to $160/night at the host hotel).

Whether traveling from afar or from the greater Eugene-Portland-Seattle area, to make sure that you can attend this year’s Just Say Now! national conference, please register online. This year’s conference — based on how fast The Governor’s rooms sold out — looks to be another sell out, so please do not delay registering for the conference online or by calling toll-free @ 888-67-NORML.

Jack Herer Memorial Expo Hall And Conference Sponsorships Available
Vending tables and unique conference sponsorship packages are available. Check out the information online, call the toll-free number or email norml2010@norml.orgfor more details.

Previous NORML conferences have been sponsored by physicians, lawyers, accountants, cultivation experts, medical cannabis wellness centers and delivery services, insurance companies specializing in medical cannabis, cannabis education centers and ‘colleges’, medical delivery device makers, hemp and clothing retailers, as well as pro-reform organizations.

Learn, Love, Enjoy and Focus
Lastly, September 9-11 is a most propitious weekend to convene a NORML conference in Portland, a city with great nightlife (the Northwest Music Festival will be going on when we’re in town), a-m-a-z-i-n-g local microbrews and wines, wonderful eateries, arts & crafts and scenery.

Speaking of scenery and local color, September 11-12, Oregon’s largest pro-cannabis public event, Hempstalk, is also happening at a nearby state park on a large lawn, surrounded by 100-foot tall evergreens, at the confluence of two mighty northwest rivers, creating a lovely setting for a large pro-cannabis festival and celebration (featuring speakers, music, vendors, food and crafts). Our out-of-town guests may want to stay an extra day to attend Hempstalk.

Worried about the cost of renting a car, getting around Portland, parking and gas prices? Don’t be as this is one US city where a car is absolutely not necessary — from the airport to hotel to around town events — Portland’s transit system removes much of these concerns and costs.

Whether as a not-to-be-missed yearly cannabis law reform activity, a professional junket or part of one’s annual vacation to see amazing places, with really kindfolks, please register ASAP for NORML’s 39th annual conference in Portland, Oregon this September.

Kind regards,

Allen St. Pierre
Executive Director
NORML / NORML Foundation
Washington, D.C.

Washington, DC: “Money can grow on trees.”  That is the message of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Foundation (NORML) in a 15-second digital ad scheduled to debut in New York City’s Times Square next week.  The advertisement, produced and paid for by NORML’s educational arm, The NORML Foundation, will air on the CBS Super Screen through May 31, 2010.

NORML's "Money Tree" Ad in Times Square should appear on Monday or Tuesday. We're trying to have it play at... wait for it... twenty after the hour.

“Regulating the adult use of marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol could raise over $30 billion annually in new tax revenue, while saving an additional $15 billion per year in law enforcement costs,” NORML Foundation Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said.  “This tax season, why not ask your elected politicians why the federal government continues to spends billions of tax dollars enforcing this failed and archaic public policy.”

Fifty-three percent of Americans now support legalizing marijuana, according to the results of a December 2009 Angus Reid survey of over 1,000 adults nationwide.

The NORML Foundation’s ‘Money Tree’ ad will appear eighteen times per day on the CBS’s digital billboard, located on 42^nd Street.  Approximately 1.5 million people walk by the billboard each day.

In January, CBS and the NORML Foundation entered into a contractual agreement to air the NORML Foundation ad, beginning on February 1, 2010.  However, representatives from CBS and Neutron Media abruptly pulled the ad prior to its scheduled airdate, stating that its content did not comply with the network’s outdoor advertising standards.

Last month, representatives from the political advocacy organization Change.org organized an online petition targeting CBS Broadcasting and demanding the network to reverse their decision.  Nearly 10,000 people signed and sent the petition.

CBS formally changed their position shortly after receiving the petitions.

“NORML would publicly like to thank Change.org for taking on this important political and First Amendment issue,” St. Pierre said.  “We would also like to thank the thousands of concerned citizens who contacted CBS on NORML’s behalf.  Without your participation, this important NORML ad campaign would not have been possible.

“Finally, NORML would also like to extend its appreciation to the CBS Corporation for responding to the will of its viewers, and acknowledging that marijuana law reform is a topic deserving of such a prominent public forum.   Over 20 million Americans have been arrested for marijuana violations since 1965. It is time to end 70-plus years of federal marijuana prohibition with a policy of legalization, taxation, regulation and education.”

The ‘Money Tree’ is anticipated to be the first of two planned ad buys.  The second advertisement is scheduled to debut in Times Square on April 20, 2010 – in conjunction with the informal marijuana celebratory holiday ‘4/20.’

Founded in 1970, NORML is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots organization advocating on behalf of marijuana law reform.  The NORML Foundation was founded in 1997 to support public education, research, stake holder organizing and impact litigation.  In 2009, NORML Foundation launched the first-ever nationwide television ad campaign calling for the regulation of marijuana by adults.

For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500, or at: director@norml.org.  The NORML Foundation ad is also available online from NORML’s youtube channel at: http://www.youtube.com/user/natlnorml?blend=4&ob=4.

With great regret and chagrin to report, CBS has rejected a contract deal with NORML to place a pro-cannabis law reform advertisement on the biggest electronic billboard in Times Square (The CBS ‘Super Screen’ at 42nd St) claiming that the advertisement is too political. NORML had a contract for the 15 second spot below on the giant billboard (and a second one featuring President Obama and New York City’s high cannabis arrest rate with its shocking racial disparity in enforcement).

High Times breaks the story tonight here.

This of course makes no sense to have CBS reject a non-profit organization like NORML’s pro-cannabis law reform advertisement, when, during the Super Bowl on Sunday–the most watched TV event annually in the United States–CBS is scheduled to air a controversial anti-abortion television advertisement produced by the socially conservative non-profit group Focus on the Family (who, like apparently CBS, is anti-cannabis). Last year, CBS rejected an advertisement from the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org claiming it was too political as well.

"If you inhaled in New York City, today you might be Barry the Drug Criminal"

The hypocrisy and double standard here is appalling. NORML and MoveOn.org ads are deemed ‘political’ and can’t be purchased and broadcast by CBS, but Focus on the Family can roll a political hand grenade in the form of an anti-abortion TV ad into American households on no less than Super Bowl Sunday for the full and desired effect of creating public discussion.

Worse, beyond the fact that CBS censors political speech, the company has no apparent problems making money off the general public’s strong interest in ‘marijuana’ as the network has established Marijuana Nation, an eye-ball sucking, archive-rich, comprehensive and well done webpage relating to cannabis found on the Internet (Ironically, CBS’ site competes with NORML and High Times’ general content for readers…).

There are numerous reasons why cannabis prohibition has lasted over 72-years, and when huge, mainstream media outlets (who control bill boards, radio and TV, etc…) pick and choose what organization’s free speech they support and those they don’t–recognizing that absent a vibrant and informed public discussion about needed public policy changes, like ending cannabis prohibition, those needed public policy changes take so much longer than they would organically absent the filter of mainstream, corporate-leaning mega media outlets.

Personally, I can only wonder what public discourse, with now even more corporate influence, is going to look like in America post the SCOTUS decision two weeks ago in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission.

[Russ adds: Read more on the refusal of mainstream media to give the same voice to marijuana law reform as they do profit-making marijuana-themed movies and TV at NBC, CBS, ABC, & FOX happy to profit from marijuana, as long as nobody talks about legalizing it.]

Visit http://norml.org/women for the NORML Women's Alliance

Washington, DC: The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), the nation’s oldest and most well respected grassroots marijuana law reform organization, today announced the launch of the NORML Women’s Alliance.

The NORML Women’s Alliance is a nonpartisan coalition of prominent, educated, successful, geographically diverse, high-profile professional women who believe that cannabis prohibition is a self-destructive and hypocritical policy that undermines the American family, sends a mixed and false message to our young people, and destroys the cherished principles of personal liberty and local self-government.

Says NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre: “The prominent role of women in the effort to end marijuana prohibition is pivotal, necessary, and long overdue. According to recent national opinion polls by Gallup and others, the dramatic rise in the public’s support of marijuana law reform is being driven primarily by an increase in support among America’s women. The NORML Women’s Alliance will bring a contemporary approach to the public policy debate, and will proudly represent the interests of modern, mainstream women who believe that the negative consequences of marijuana prohibition far outweigh any repercussions from marijuana consumption itself.”

Charter members of the NORML Women’s Alliance include: NORML Foundation chair and film producer Ann Druyan, attorney and political activist Jessica Corry, editor Shelby Sadler, best-selling author Barbara Ehrenreich, Beverly Hills NORML director Cheryl Shuman, NORML Foundation board member Jeralyn Merritt, Esq., cannabis activist and author Mikki Norris, Cannabis Action Network and Berkeley Patients Group founder Debby Goldsberry, NORML board member and director of Oregon NORML Madeline Martinez, law professor Marjorie Russell, and former ACLU president Nadine Strossen. This founding group of women also includes medical physicians, researchers, business leaders, editors, publishers, mothers, grandmothers, and great grandmothers.

The NORML Women’s Alliance holds the following positions:

1. The NORML Women’s Alliance believes that the fiscal priorities of marijuana prohibition are wasting billions of dollars on a failed policy.
2. The NORML Women’s Alliance believes that marijuana prohibition violates states’ rights, and improperly expands the reach of government into the families and personal lives of otherwise law-abiding citizens.
3. The NORML Women’s Alliance advocates for an open, honest conversation about marijuana with America’s youth that is void of all propaganda and misleading information.
4. The NORML Women’s Alliance endorses the science-based evidence regarding the therapeutic applications of medical marijuana as well as the continuation of research into the subject.
5. The NORML Women’s Alliance strongly opposes the sexual exploitation and objectification of women in pot-culture and business marketing.

“A marijuana policy that fosters children selling marijuana en mass must immediately change, and be replaced by one that effectively stops children from trafficking in marijuana,” says Sabrina Fendrick, coordinator of the NORML Women’s Alliance. “The NORML Women’s Alliance seeks to replace a failed, tax coffer-draining and child endangering 73-year old cannabis prohibition with functional, tax-producing and youth-friendly cannabis policies consisting of legal and social controls that are not at all dissimilar to our existing, commonsensible and ever-evolving alcohol policies.”

Further information about the NORML Women’s Alliance is available online at: http://www.norml.org/women.

For more information about the NORML Women’s Alliance, please contact NORML’s executive director Allen St. Pierre or Sabrina Fendrick at 202-483-5500, or by emailing womensalliance@norml.org.

In the short run, NORML favors the elimination of all criminal and/or civil penalties prohibiting the possession of cannabis for personal use, regardless of whether one is using it for medical purposes or for personal pleasure. Further, NORML opposes sanctions that presently prohibit the not-for-profit transfer of small amounts of cannabis between adults. This policy, called “decriminalization”, was the recommendation of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse in their groundbreaking 1972 report, Marijuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding. Versions of cannabis decriminalization have now been adopted in 13 states.

Cannabis consumers are ordinary Americans who work hard, raise families, pay taxes and contribute in a positive way to their communities. We are not criminals. Just as millions of Americans enjoy a beer or a glass of wine at the end of the day, we enjoy sharing a joint (or, for that matter, a vapor bag) when we relax in the evening. Of the nearly 900,000 marijuana arrests in America each year, about 90% are for possession of small amounts for personal use. Continuing with this Draconian policy makes no sense. That is why three out of four Americans now support decriminalizing the personal possession and use of cannabis.

NORML’s ultimate political goal is the establishment of a legally regulated market where consumers can obtain their cannabis in a safe and secure environment. This policy is generally called “legalization”. As our country discovered when we experimented with alcohol prohibition, it is only by providing a legally regulated market that we can significantly reduce the crime, corruption and violence associated with a criminal black market.

NORML supports the imposition of state and/or federal age and quality controls governing the commercial production, sale, and use of cannabis to assure public safety and to advise the consumer of the strength of the variety of cannabis being purchased.

And, importantly, we support the imposition of a reasonable tax on commercial cannabis sales that could raise substantial revenue for the various states, to be used for drug education and other programs to encourage responsible use and to discourage abuse. But as we work toward these goals, it is crucial that we underscore the importance of permitting consumers the option to grow their own cannabis.

Alcohol consumers possess the legal right to create their own home brew, free from government interference. Although the vast majority of alcohol drinkers never utilizes this freedom, and prefers the convenience of purchasing alcohol at a retail outlet, that option remains available to those who wish to use it. We believe that similar regulations should govern the non-retail production of cannabis.

The cultivation of cannabis for personal use is the single most important element of the NORML legalization proposal. Allowing for the legal, personal cultivation of cannabis provides consumers with the option to grow their own product should commercially available sources offer cannabis that fails to meet the consumers’ needs because it is excessively expensive, too heavily taxed, or of inferior quality. The mere threat of consumers exercising this option should be sufficient to assure that the legal market for cannabis will be responsive to the needs of consumers, and will not be exploitive.

So when any organization or any state or federal legislator proposes legalizing cannabis, either for medical use or for personal pleasure, but forbids the consumer from growing their own cannabis, those of us who lobby on this issue must insist on amendments to permit personal cultivation.

Otherwise we, cannabis law reformers, trade away our only leverage to keep the big corporations and the government honest and responsive to cannabis consumers.