Five of the last eight people to get the major party nomination for president have been admitted pot smokers (Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Bush, & Obama)

Hey, Stashers, join me in giving a warm welcome to our new intern here at the Stash, Amanda.  She will be handling the “Politicians on Pot” series here at the Stash.  That’s where we take the constituent letters our congressmembers and senators send to cannabis consumers when we ask for their support of marijuana regulation, decriminalization, or medical use.

If you’d like to do your part to end prohibition, write three letters: one for both of your senators and one for your elected representative.  When they reply to you, send us that reply to stash@norml.org and we’ll post it on the Stash so everyone in the nation knows where your reps stand on marijuana issues.

And yes, Amanda is earning college credit while helping end marijuana prohibition.  You can, too!  Just send me an email with the subject “Intern Application” to learn how you can earn credit while devoting time to something you love.  (Warning: We do have a drug test… but the good news is, it’s multiple choice.)

(PhillyNORML: Chris Goldstein & Derek Rosenzweig) Philadelphia could save more than $3,000,000 annually by not taking pot smokers in for mugshots.

Minor marijuana possession arrests in Philadelphia are handled with mandatory custody; this is a different process than every other county in Pennsylvania costing the city millions of dollars. A disproportionate number of citizens (84%) arrested for marijuana possession in the city are black.

Research by PhillyNORML this year has uncovered these two disturbing trends that present serious challenges to the city. But in a sign of a pragmatic shift in attitudes, city officials have held an ongoing dialogue with reform advocates to proactively address these concerns.

In March of 2009 the Philadelphia chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws performed their annual observation of the Pennsylvania Uniform Crime Report data for the marijuana arrest numbers. At the same time, the city was beginning to face a heartbreaking economic plight that pitted police jobs against a lack of Public Safety Budget funds.

Data indicates that 4,716 adults were arrested in 2008 on the singular criminal misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession less than 30 grams. In Philadelphia such arrests are required to be custodial. For even a single cannabis joint this means an offender must be handcuffed, transported to a holding cell, photographed and perhaps make bail before release. In every other county in Pennsylvania there is no mandate for the custodial arrest of citizens found with small amounts of marijuana. Instead, summary violations are issued along with a date to appear in court.

PhillyNORML is a sterling example of how ordinary cannabis consumers can band together under the NORML banner and affect real change at the local level.  Reformers at the national level don’t have the on-the-ground knowledge of local politics like everyday citizens living in cities like Philadelphia.  Local reformers can better cultivate personal relationships with mayors, city councils, and all their staff, as well as integrate with groups as disparate as unions and libertarian groups, parents and police, and churches and universities.

If you’re sitting around wondering when they are going to legalize pot, you’re part of the problem.  YOU have to legalize pot.  You and your like-minded pot smokers, cannabis consumers, medical marijuana patients, and lovers of liberty, peaceably assembled to exercise your free speech and to petition your government for a redress of grievances… there’s nothing more American than being NORML.

I’m proud to announce the affiliation of two new college chapters in the NORML network.

Andrew Ball is the founder of a new chapter at the University of Texas San Antonio.

Donald Brooks is the founder of a new chapter at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania.

Welcome aboard!  And if you’re interested in starting a NORML Chapter at your college campus, send me an email with the subject College Chapter to stash@norml.org.

(The Snitch) Ignoring the advice of anti-pot City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, two Los Angeles City Council committees yesterday rejected a proposed ban on sales of medical marijuana.

Anti-pot zealots within L.A. city government had coordinated an 18-month assault on the dispensaries, with headline-grabbing pronouncements from media hogs Trutanich and Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley dominating coverage of the issue in recent weeks.

Both Trutanich and Cooley have been widely quoted in the press as claiming that most of the dispensaries are operating in violation of state law. Cooley’s recent declaration that “approximately zero” of the dispensaries were operating legally sent chills and outrage through the medical marijuana community, seeming to echo San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’ statement that there are “no such things” as legal dispensaries.

Council members on both committees wrestled with the idea of ignoring the opinion of the city’s top prosecutor. But after four hours of a contentious and heated hearing, council members had heard more than enough.

A crowd of about 400 people filled the main council chamber for the hearing, with the proceedings often becoming raucous. Most of the speakers were medical marijuana supporters, along with a sprinkling of community activists and conservatives who supported the ban.

Marijuana supporters argued that dispensaries should be regulated, not banned, with a reduction in the number of shops and a crackdown on operations that become a public nuisance.

You cannot stuff this genie back into the bottle, Mr. City Attorney and Mr. District Attorney.  The people of Los Angeles like their clean, reliable, diverse selections of cannabis and aren’t going to go back to hiding in shadows and purchasing on a black market.  The economy has grown accustomed to the sales taxes and foot traffic the dispensaries generate.  Technically legal or not, the dispensaries exist, the people are using them, and they are in many cases improving the neighborhoods where they reside.  Instead of tilting at windmills because they don’t personally like cannabis and its users, the city and county should work with medical marijuana activists to come up with sensible regulations that everyone can live with.

MADISON (AP) — Legalizing medical marijuana will ease the cancer patients’ pain and help others who are suffering, supporters of legalization argued Monday.

Two Democratic state lawmakers, advocates and those fighting chronic diseases said at a news conference there is momentum nationwide to decriminalize the use of marijuana for medical reasons.

They pointed to Gov. Jim Doyle’s comments last month in support of legalizing medical marijuana for people who have a doctor’s prescription. Also, the American Medical Association called last week for a federal review of marijuana’s status as a controlled substance to make it easier to do research that could lead to development of marijuana-based medicines.

Everyone knows someone who would benefit if the law were changed, said Jacki Rickert, founder of “Is My Medicine Legal Yet?” She suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and reflexive sympathetic dystrophy, bone and joint diseases that limit movement and lead to painful muscle spasms. Marijuana eases the pain, she said.

Under the measure co-sponsored by state Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, and state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Waunakee, a person would need a prescription from a doctor to receive marijuana, which could either be grown at home or obtained through a licensed nonprofit dispensary. The bill is up for a hearing Dec. 15.

Ah, my first piece of press where a lawmaker points to the American Medical Association’s reversal on “smoked cannabis”.  It’s going to be fun posting more of these as the year winds down.

I got to meet Jacki in Madison this year.  She is a tenacious woman and her bill needs to be passed this year.  Already one prominent medical marijuana activist has passed away waiting for this legislation; this is not an issue that needs more study or delays.  To get involved, contact Madison NORML and Is My Medicine Legal Yet?

Medical Marijuana Hearings Scheduled in PA

Philadelphia- Pennsylvanians for Medical Marijuana (PA4MMJ) is pleased to announce that the PA House of Representatives Health and Human Services Committee will have hearings on HB 1393, The Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act.

PA4MMJ and Rep. Mark Cohen at the candlight vigil for medical marijuana in front of Philadelphia's Independence Hall

On April 29, 2009 Rep. Mark B. Cohen, the Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, introduced the bill to legalize medical marijuana with Chris Goldstein of PA4MMJ. HB1393, is solid legislation that would allow registered patients to grow six plants or purchase cannabis through Compassion Centers. A provision in the bill allows these medical cannabis sales to be taxed.

Representative Cohen has taken on the issue with courage, drive and a real understanding of patients needs.  At a press conference at the bill’s introduction Cohen said, “It’s time to create a new, honest image for marijuana. One as a form of treatment that when prescribed by responsible doctors could help thousands of patients across this commonwealth.”

Three newspaper Editorial Boards endorsed the bill immediately after it was introduced: The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Pocono Record and the Daily Review of Towanda.

The topic of medical marijuana has been well covered this year by local media. Rep. Cohen and spokespeople from PA4MMJ have appeared in television programs on the radio and in newspaper articles covering the issue.

The December 2^nd hearings will feature PA patients who have the tremendous courage to tell their legislators about their personal experiences finding benefits from cannabis therapy. Medical professionals and other experts have contacted PA4MMJ and expressed their commitment to testifying at every stage of the legislation.

Volunteer advocates Derek Rosenzweig, Ed Pane and Chris Goldstein have been interacting with legislators including Representative Frank Oliver who chairs the twenty-six-member HHS committee. Overall reaction to the bill by elected officials has been positive and filled with curiosity.

PA4MMJ hosts a website that includes a detailed look at the legislation, medical marijuana information and action points for volunteers. The group is actively seeking those patients and professionals who wish to testify.

PA4MMJ hosted a series of medical marijuana information seminars over the summer and held a candlelight vigil was held in front of Independence Hall on July 11^th. Awareness and fundraising events are planned throughout the winter. Please visit www.pa4mmj.org to get involved today!

OK, maybe it’s not an overt lie, just a failure to update their website in lieu of last week’s reversal by the American Medical Association of their position on medical marijuana:

(DEA) Exposing the Myth of Smoked Medical Marijuana

Q. Does marijuana have any medical value?

…The American Medical Association recommends that marijuana remain a Schedule I controlled substance.

In case the DEA didn’t read it:

“short term controlled trials indicate that smoked cannabis reduces neuropathic pain, improves appetite and caloric intake especially in patients with reduced muscle mass, and may relieve spasticity and pain in patients with multiple sclerosis.” Furthermore, the report urges that “the Schedule I status of marijuana be reviewed with the goal of facilitating clinical research and development of cannabinoid-based medicines, and alternate delivery methods.”

Our friends at LEAP have an action alert for Attorney General Holder to direct the DEA to clean up the FAQ sheet. Go there now!

After the groundbreaking announcement on Tuesday about the Pennsylvania HHS deciding that medical marijuana “has merit” we’re now given inside information about the opportunity present in PA and how best to capitalize on it. Tuesday’s announcement can be found here.

Thanks to Dev Meyers who announced the PA HHS decision on Examiner.com we’re now given these details:

Hi – It’s Dev Meyers -Cannabis Revolution Examiner.com – I am the one who telephoned Stanley Mitchel at Oliver’s office. I had telephoned Mark Cohen. who sponsored the bill. I have been speaking with him every couple weeks. You can look through the articles on my site. Cohen told me now that PA HB1393 has moved into the hearing phase it is an important step forward. Everyone needs to testify. Stanley wants to hear more from groups. So it is important to channel your testimony if you have one through a group. PAMMJ or Medical Movement and so forth.

I will try to get more details about the hearings but everyone should go and let them know there is support for this – the perception is that there is not enough support to pass the bill in Pennsylvania. The politicians think that Pennsylvanians are too conservative to vote for the bill. [sounds like a challenge to me! lol] Everyone of them has told me that. Also the doctors are afraid to go on record because of their employers – for example mine wouldn’t go on the record because he is employed by UPMC. So the problem is that everyone is afraid to speak up.

It is really important to support this hearing because these politicians – Cohen, Mitchel, all of them down the line have been absolutely flabbergasted to find their phones ringing off the hook on this issue. Cohen’s right hand advisor had tried to steer him away from sponsoring the bill. Now the two of them joke – “Why didn’t we do this 10 years ago.” Cohen told me he never expected this much interest or activity when he introduced the bill in April.

If you want to visit Cannabis Revolution Examiner you can see a list of my recent articles and the text of this weeks AMA ruling.

So everybody in PA, this is YOUR opportunity!!

And to clarify the names used in the article – Stanley Mitchel is Rep. Frank Oliver’s Chief Legal Counsel.  Rep. Oliver is the Chairman of Health and Human Services. And Rep. Mark Cohen introduced HB1393.

I’m excited to announce the official certification of our newest NORML chapter, Beverly Hills NORML 90210. You can check out the beginnings of their website still in development at http://norml90210.org.

NORML 90210 is headed by Cheryl Shuman, a fascinating woman I first met at the Aspen Legal Seminar.  She has been working in the entertainment field in LA for over two decades and has amassed a list of celebrity contacts and friends who we hope can be motivated to speak out for the cause.  She’s a strong successful woman who perfectly embodies that “stiletto stoner” image that has captured the public imagination this summer.  She’s dealt with media public relations on a professional and personal level in the most stressful of circumstances and will be a natural for presenting NORML’s message.

Cheryl is assisted by Jacek Lentz, an attorney in Los Angeles whom I’ve also met at NORML conferences.  Jacek is an emigrant from Poland who is fiercely dedicated to protecting and expanding freedom here in America.

With the natural brand image of Beverly Hills that suggests wealth, celebrity, and the finest things in life, I look forward to Cheryl and Beverly Hills NORML 90210 showing California and the nation that cannabis is not only becoming mainstream, but it is a symbol of fame, fortune, and success as well.