Thank you for contacting me with your views on marijuana. I appreciate your comments, and I welcome this opportunity to update you on the status of this legislation.

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), marijuana remains the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. While marijuana use is generally unhealthy and has negative social repercussions, it also serves as a gateway drug to more dangerous substance abuse. For these reasons, I remain concerned by the prevalence of drug abuse in our culture and the harmful consequences that are the result of this behavior.

As a career law enforcement officer, I saw firsthand the devastating effects that illicit drug use can have on both individuals and communities. While a member of the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office, I initiated the Drug Abuse Resistance Effort (DARE) program to make children aware of the dangers posed by drug use. I made fighting drugs a top priority within the department and I will continue to do so in the United States Congress.

As you know, Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts introduced legislation regarding marijuana use, H.R. 2835, on June 6, 2009. This legislation would limit the penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana. Specifically, it would prohibit federal penalties for the possession of marijuana for personal use or for any not-for-profit transfer of marijuana. Possession of more than 100 grams of marijuana, or the transfer of more than 1 gram, would remain illegal. Shortly after its introduction, H.R. 2835 was referred to the House Judiciary Committee and House Energy and Commerce Committee. While I am not a member of either committee, be assured I will keep your views in mind should this legislation come before the House for consideration.

Thanks again for taking the time to share your views with me. If you would like to learn more about my positions on issues important to you or receive regular updates on developments in Congress, please visit my Online Office at www.ellsworth.house.gov and sign up for my e-Newsletter.

Sincerely,
Brad Ellsworth

Thank you for contacting me about the Act to Remove Federal Penalties for the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults. As you know, this bill would prohibit any imposition of penalties for the possession of marijuana for personal use or for the not-for-profit transfer between adults of marijuana for personal use and deems personal possession as 100 grams or less of the substance.

This bill would effectively legalize marijuana at the federal level. We all know the painful consequences of drug abuse on our society. For that reason alone I will not support such a measure and I will vote against it should it reach the House floor.

I do take your views into consideration as I decide how to vote in the House. Please feel free to express those views; even if we may occasionally disagree, it is important to me to know your thoughts. Do be aware that because of mail security measures for Congress, your letters can be delayed for up to two weeks. If you wish to offer an immediate comment or suggestion, you can e-mail my office at by going directly to my website at www.fallin.house.gov. While you are there, feel free to sign up for my regular e-newsletter.

Rep. Mary Fallin

(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.

(World Politics Review) For roughly four decades, a clear foreign policy rule set has existed between the United States and Latin America, centering largely on the question of counternarcotics. Starting with Richard Nixon’s “war on drugs,” an explicit quid pro quo came into existence: U.S. foreign aid (both civilian and military) in exchange for aggressive Latin American efforts to curb both the production and trafficking of illegal narcotics (primarily marijuana and cocaine).

By virtually all accounts, that logistics-focused strategy has proven to be a massive failure. America’s focus on interdiction and prohibition has not stemmed domestic drug abuse. Instead, all indications are that preventative education — on a generational scale — has proven far more effective, meaning that demand reduction has trumped supply curtailment as a means of reducing overall prevalence.

Meanwhile, across Latin America, there’s been widespread movement toward decriminalization. Why? Because the benefits of remaining on America’s “good side” on this hot-button issue have been overwhelmed by the negative externalities of overcrowded prisons, rampant drug-related violence, police corruption, and growing organized criminal networks.

The author points to four main reasons why countries like Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Uruguay are decriminalizing personal drug possession:

1. The rise of a Latin American middle class feeling economic independence from United States aid;
2. The increase in foreign aid to Latin America from Asia and Latinos sending money back home from the US;
3. The increase of Latin American trade to China and the European Union that decreases American economic influence; and
4. The rise of drug cartels, terrorism, and violence that led Latin American countries to directly confront the issue.

AMSTERDAM, Nov 5 (Reuters) – The Dutch are among the lowest users of marijuana or cannabis in Europe despite the Netherlands’ well-known tolerance of the drug, according to a regional study published on Thursday. Among adults in the Netherlands, 5.4 percent used cannabis, compared with the European average of 6.8 percent, according to an annual report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, using latest available figures.

A higher percentage of adults in Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic and France took cannabis last year, the EU agency said, with the highest being Italy at 14.6 percent. Usage in Italy used to be among the lowest at below 10 percent a decade ago.

The policy on soft drugs in the Netherlands, one of the most liberal in Europe, allows for the sale of marijuana at “coffee shops”, which the Dutch have allowed to operate for decades, and possession of less than 5 grams (0.18 oz).

The full report is available here.  Some interesting stats of note:

• While 41% or 102 million Americans have tried cannabis in their lifetime, only 22% or 74 million Europeans have.  Interestingly, there are about the same number of Europeans as Americans who will use cannabis this year (about 22 million) and this month (12 million), but of course that represents a lower percentage of population since America has 304 million and Europe has 491 million.
• While cannabis represents 49.8% of all drug law arrests in America, it represents between 55% and 85% of all drug offenses in the majority of European countries.
• While 25% of American 15-16-year-olds have tried cannabis in the past year, only 15% of European 15-16-year-olds have.  The same percentage of 15-16-year-olds in the Netherlands used cannabis in the past year as in the USA, 25%.
• The greatest decrease among European countries in the prevalence of cannabis use among young adults aged 15-34 has occurred in the United Kingdom since 2003, where past year use has dropped by a third.  Incidentally, 2003 was the year the UK downgraded cannabis to a Class C offense, essentially decriminalizing it.

(Summit Daily) BRECKENRIDGE — Breckenridge residents voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana and paraphernalia Tuesday under town law. In early returns, some 72 percent of voters approved the measure.

The vote means that, effective Jan. 1, people 21 and up in Breckenridge will be able to legally possess one ounce or less of the drug.

Possession remains illegal under state law, but Breckenridge Police Chief Rick Holman said his department will “still have the ability to exercise discretion.”

The decriminalization won’t change laws prohibiting smoking in public, use by minors or driving under the influence.

Voters in Breckenridge, Colorado are deciding whether to decriminalize personal possession of up to one ounce of marijuana by adults. The editorial board of the local Summit Daily News has already come out in favor of this Measure 2F:

(Summit Daily News) …Breckenridge residents this Election Day will decide whether possessing less than an ounce of the intoxicating weed should be decriminalized.

…While police blotters and courts are filled with an extraordinary amount of problems directly related to alcohol abuse, it’s rare to ever find pot at the bottom of things like domestic abuse, bar fights, car crashes and the like.

…What the Breckenridge code change would do is one thing: decriminalize less than an ounce for adults. It will not make it more available to minors, won’t make it legal to smoke it on the street, won’t get you out of trouble if you’re stoned behind the wheel. What it says is that if you, as an adult, choose to possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use, you won’t be busted for it. It’s still a much more stringent law than those that apply to alcohol — a substance you can own as much as you want of and consume in public.One last item remains, though: As the recent pot busts at Arapahoe Basin show, consumption of marijuana can have a greater potential “footprint” than, say, drinking a beer. No one wants to have to walk with their children through a parking lot full of cars emitting clouds of pot smoke, and we’re behind the Summit County Sheriff for cracking down on these folks. Eventually, it seems these small possession busts will be a thing of the past state-wide, which makes us conclude some kind of “nuisance pot smoke” ordinance needs to take their place — roughly analogous to public intoxication statutes. Sure, smoke your weed, but don’t blow it in our faces.

Ah yes, decriminalize the marijuana possession, but make the public use of marijuana an arrestable offense.  If it’s in your baggie, it’s OK, but if it’s in your pipe, it is not.  If I may paraphrase the late Johnny Cochran, “If the joint’s not lit, you must acquit!”

The prohibitionists are at their wits’ end. 56% of the voters in California are saying they want legalization. The state’s own taxation board is saying legalization would bring in $1.4 billion in revenue to the state. Medical marijuana is becoming acceptable in more and more states across the country.

To fight back, the California Police Chiefs Association (motto: We know more about medicine than doctors!) have been encouraging local authorities to bring the hammer down on the medical marijuana dispensary system. NORML’s Paul Armentano details a meeting of California cops and the subsequent announcement by the Los Angeles County DA that this “abuse” will be shut down.

According to the cops, 49 out of fifty medical marijuana patients are faking it.

So I’m going to focus on this new position paper from the CPCA, where the cops tell you how terrible a predicament we are in because of medical marijuana in California.  However, unlike the Kalifornia Kops, I will provide hyperlinks and citations to unbiased, double-blind, peer-reviewed scientific research and the government’s own statistics.

It has become clear, despite the claims of use by critically ill people that only about 2% of those using crude Marijuana for medicine are critically ill. The vast majority of those using crude Marijuana as medicine are young and are using the substance to be under the influence of THC and have no critical medical condition.

2%, why that sounds like a statistic!  Or is it just a wild-ass guess?  Since they don’t provide citations, I have to assume they are referring to Dale Gieringer’s and Dr. Tod Mikuriya’s work documenting the conditions suffered by 2,480 California patients surveyed, which showed:

• 4.6% = Nausea / Appetite Loss (AIDS, hepatitis, cancer chemotherapy, etc.)
• 9.2% = Spasms / Convulsions (brain injury, epilepsy, paralysis, multiple sclerosis, Tourette’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, etc.)
• 7.2% = Migraines / Neuralgias  (migraine, neuropathy, amputation “phantom pain”, etc.)
• 17.5% = Arthritis (fibromyalgia, lupus, etc.)
• 14.8% = Spinal / Skeletal (scoliosis, spinal stenosis, crushed vertebrae, degenerative disc disease, etc.)
• 2.3% = Traumatic injury (sprain, whiplash, carpal tunnel, etc.)
• 2.7% = Gastro-intestinal disorders (GERD, ulcers, Crohn’s disease, etc.)
• 1.2% = Other inflammatory diseases (endometriosis, pruritis, etc.)
• 26.6% = Mood disorders (PTSD, depression, anxiety, ADD, OCD, etc.)
• 2.9% = Insomnia
• 5.5% = Substitution (alcoholism, heroin dependence, etc.)
• 1.0% = Glaucoma and eye diseases
• 2.1% = Asthma
• 2.5% = Miscellaneous (PMS, chronic fatigue, Lyme disease, etc.)

We can debate how “critical” of a medical condition things like migraine headaches and carpal tunnel syndrome are, but to assert that 49 out of fifty Californians using medical marijuana are only doing so just to be “under the influence” is ludicrous.

The use of Marijuana for medicinal purposes parallels the use of experimentation with opiates for that purpose. Therefore, examining the development of the use of opiates makes a worthwhile comparison.

Well, aside from the fact that an overdose of opiates can kill you and marijuana can’t, opiates are highly addictive and marijuana isn’t, opiates are injected and marijuana isn’t, you can get a prescription for opiates but not for marijuana, and the development of each as medicine takes place in two different centuries, then yes, heroin and pot are exactly alike.

Statistical data indicating the medical conditions identified as the necessity for a Marijuana recommendation would suggest that Marijuana is being abused by people who have no serous [sic] medical condition and simply like to be intoxicated on Marijuana.

Because in a cops’ mind, chronic pain and psychological disorders aren’t very “serous”.

Marijuana is being abused by doctors who recklessly recommend use as their primary medical business.

“Reckless” means “marked by defiant disregard for danger or consequences”.  Since the patient cannot overdose, where is the danger?  The only “defiant disregard” happening is the doctors believing they have more medical expertise than cops.

Marijuana is being abused by special interest groups who want to promote legal drug use in the US.

Who?  NORML (reform marijuana laws), ASA (safe access to marijuana), MPP (marijuana policy)?  You might have an argument with Drug Policy Alliance or LEAP, both of which champion drug legalization beyond marijuana, but by far the majority of special interest groups favoring “legal drug use” are focused on marijuana only.

The claim that Marijuana is not addictive is false and dangerous.

Right, which is why none of us say that.  We do say that marijuana is less addictive than other drugs, as does the Institute of Medicine, which finds 9% of marijuana users developing dependence, compared to 15% for alcohol and 32% for tobacco.  We also noted just this month a study in the  Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence that characterized the withdrawal effects from cannabis are “mild”, “short-lived”, and “subtle”.

Medical science is now identifying the value of canabanoids [sic] in viable medication. This research is moving forward and clinical trials are underway in the US under FDA processes. Additionally these medications are coming to market in Canada and England. The pharmaceutical industry has and will continue to develop  viable uses and delivery systems that do not include the use of crude Marijuana in smoked form.

So, then, marijuana is medicinal… but only if a pharmaceutical company is packaging it in a way that isn’t smoked.  Also, got to love the repeated use of the term “crude marijuana”.  Ew, it’s crude!  Yucky!  Say, fellas, is marijuana still crude if it is vaporized?

Marijuana as a smoked product has never proven to be medically beneficial and, in fact, is much more likely to harm one’s health.

So, then, the federal government is purposefully allowing Elvy Musikka, Irv Rosenfeld, and two other Americans to harm their health with smoked federal government-grown and rolled medical marijuana?  And all these medical organizations are endorsing something that’s not medically beneficial?  And these 17,000 peer-reviewed studies on cannabinoids and endocannabinoids are not proof?

The thought that a group of individuals would want to advocate for decriminalization of a substance that the state of California has deemed to be carcinogenic is alarming.

California EPA declared constituents of marijuana smoke to contain carcinogens, which again leaves me asking about vaporization, edibles, and tinctures, which eliminate all smoke.  Furthermore, California EPA didn’t assess whether marijuana smoking causes cancer, just that there were carcinogens in smoke.  Subtle difference, but it is like noting that water contains two flammable gases – hydrogen and oxygen – and then printing explosion warnings on bottled water.

When you try to prove marijuana smoking causes cancer, though, you find just the opposite.  Tashkin’s research showed no association between even long-term, heavy cannabis smoking and lung cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.  Other research shows an inverse association – that is, less risk – for marijuana smoking and head and neck and oral cancers.

The fact is that drug use among young people has declined and great success has and is being achieved in protecting our society from addictive substances.

Not really.  While youth use of illicit drugs is down, youth use of prescription drugs is up.  Funny how when youth use is up, the prohibitionists cry that we need to fight the drug war harder and when it is down they claim we need to fight the drug war harder.  Studies, however, show that how hard you fight the drug war has no bearing on youth use rates.  or we could note that youth in the Netherlands have half the drug use rates as we do in the States.

Making illicit drugs legal will clearly fuel new levels of violence, addiction and crime.

You mean like when we made illicit alcohol legal and levels of violence and crime plummeted?

It is important to note that society is having a very difficult time dealing with our two legal drugs; alcohol and tobacco. Alcohol use has been documented that about 65% of the population are regular users and it is attributable to 100,000 deaths per year. Tobacco use has been documented that about 35% of the population are regular users and is attributable to 400,000 deaths per year.

Pick a consumption level - you tell me what "regular" use is.

And 1%-10% of our society are regular users of cannabis (depending on how you want to define “regular”) and it is attributable to 0 deaths per year.  Also, I’d note that we’re, in fact, not having a “very difficult time” dealing with alcohol and tobacco – drunk driving is down 9.8% from 2007 to 2008 and tobacco use is at its lowest rate ever.

The $8 billion collected in tax revenues from the sale of alcohol does little to offset the nearly $200 billion in social costs attributed to its use.

So, then, you’re OK with collecting $0 in tax revenues from the sale of cannabis doing nothing to offset any imaginary social costs of cannabis use?  And since cannabis is less addictive than alcohol and tobacco, and since cannabis use doesn’t cause a productivity-killing hangover at work the next day like alcohol, and since cannabis-using drivers are far safer than alcohol-using drivers, and since cannabis smokers don’t get long-term expensive-care diseases such as cancer or COPD like tobacco smokers do, these imaginary social costs (if any) would be far far less than alcohol and tobacco, and you’re cool with that?

It’s not as if nobody is smoking pot now and suddenly under legalization we’ll have a flood of pot-related costs.  If there are pot-related costs, we’re paying them now and getting zero tax revenues in return.

Young adults are particularly vulnerable to addiction. Relaxed attitudes toward drug use place them at greater risk of addiction.

You know, like those kids in the Netherlands who have half the drug use rates, even though marijuana and mushrooms are tolerated.  And again, we see no correlation between the harshness or laxness of drug laws and people’s desire to use.

Criminals who deal in illicit drugs will not turn to legal endeavors if illicit drugs are legalized. The claim that drug legalization will eliminate crime associated with drug trafficking is just not true.

But people who make money buying and selling marijuana will no longer be committing a crime!  What incentive do they have for drug turf wars, slayings of rivals, and ancillary crimes when their business is legal and they can take disputes to court instead of settling them by gunfire?  Do these Kalifornia Kops really believe that with no weed to traffic, pot smugglers will become rapists, murderers, thieves, and arsonists instead?  Do they really believe we didn’t see an end to bootlegger gangs after the 21st Amendment?

Much as we see in the use of other controlled substances, people who become addicted to Marijuana and cannot afford to maintain their addiction will turn to crime in order to supply themselves with their drug of choice.

Sometimes they make me laugh so hard I can barely type.  Please, show me the marijuana “addict” who jonesed so hard for Purple Kush he was forced to rob a convenience store for a fix.  Then explain to me how the post-prohibition $50-$100 ounce of weed will lead him to robbery more than the current $420 ounce prohibited weed does now.

If drugs were legalized, the United States would see significant increases in the number of drug users, the number of drug addicts and the number of people dying from drug-related causes.

That didn’t happen in Portugal.  They legalized personal possession of just about all drugs and saw overdoses drop and HIV cases plummet while drug use rates remained the same or decreased slightly.

Marijuana is a powerful and dangerous psychoactive substance. Society and our children do not need another dangerous substance in their lives.

News flash – marijuana is already in our lives.  Again, the Kalifornia Kops pretend like if we legalize, marijuana will suddenly appear.

Simply stated the use of Marijuana is not and never will be good for the success, education, and well-being of our society.

Unless you’re winning eight gold medals in Beijing.

When a person examines the two known abused drugs in our society, alcohol and tobacco, from a Public Health standpoint, those two substances would be recommended today to be banned.

Actually, banning alcohol was recommended back in 1918 and we all know how well that turned out.  But this is a common trick for the prohibitionists, to point out how awful alcohol and tobacco are and ask, “Do we really need a third awful substance to abuse?”  The key is to flip it on them; “If we have two terrible substances that people abuse, why do we prevent them from choosing instead a third, much safer choice in cannabis?”  Studies show people that are forced into marijuana abstinence increase their alcohol intake.  Dr. Tod Mikuriya found many alcoholics who were able to stay off the bottle through cannabis use.  If people had three legal choices – alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis – and use of the booze and cigs declined in favor of smoking pot, wouldn’t that be a good thing?

Show 004: Three special episodes live from NORML National Conference!

NORML’s new talk radio program, NORML SHOW LIVE, will be streaming for three days at the 2009 NORML National Conference, “Yes We Cannabis”, live from the Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Francisco. These special three-hour episodes will be available at live.norml.org at the following special times and archived for download later just fifteen minutes after broadcast:

1. Thursday, September 24
   11:00am – 2:00pm Pacific Time
2. Friday, September 25
   11:00am – 2:00pm Pacific Time
3. Saturday, September 26
   3:00pm – 6:00pm Pacific Time

The show will be hosted by “Radical” Russ Belville, but with very limited commercial interruption and the occasional narration.  After the shows broadcast remotely in the difficult wireless environment of Portland’s Kelley Point Park and the noisy backstage of the Boston Freedom Rally, Russ is excited to present an indoor event that will take its audio directly from the conference PA system.

Thursday’s show will begin with a presentation by Dr Brooks J Kelly, Ph.D, Chief science officer for Genovations Laboratory, Cannabis Therapeutics, and then will feature panels on Individual Patients, Caregivers, and Small Patient Collectives in California and other medical marijuana states, including:

Patient and Caregiver rights under 215/SB420

• Possession: current caselaw and statutory law
• Cultivation: current caselaw and statutory law
• Transportation: current caselaw and statutory law
• Obtaining Cannabis: where and how to get it
• Patients Not Authorized to:
  distribute to other patients
  distribute “excess” to clubs
  engage in conduct harmful to others

Cannabis Patient rights (or lack thereof):

• No right to protection from employment discrimination
• No protection from Feds or other states
• Student loans
• Section 8 housing
• Small collectives: formation, cultivating, obtaining of medicine, money considerations
• Interaction with Law Enforcement

Your panelists will include Dr. David Bearman, Chris Conrad, Omar Figueroa, Esq., Zenia Gilg, Esq., Dr. Frank Lucido, and your moderator is William Panzer, Esq.

Friday’s show will begin with a panel on Pot Politics 2009 and Beyond.  A record number of state legislatures debated marijuana law reform in 2009; a nationwide panel of experts discusses our progress.  Our moderator is Keith Stroup, Esq., NORML, speaking on Federal Legislation, and also includes:

• Chris Goldstein, Director, Penn. For Medical Marijuana
• Rob Kampia, Executive Director, Marijuana Policy Project
• Dan Linn, Executive Director, Illinois NORML
• Madeline Martinez, Director, Oregon NORML, member of NORML’s board of directors
• Jesse Stout, former Director of RIPAC
• Ken Wolski, RN, Director, Coalition for Medical Marijuana NJ

We follow with a luncheon with travel author and NORML advisory board member Rick Steves presenting the ACLU DVD: ‘Marijuana: Its Time for a Conversation’, and close by asking “Has support for legalization reached a critical mass/tipping point?”  According to national polls, public support for legalizing marijuana has never been higher. Why now? And how do we mobilize this public support into political change? Leaders in the drug law reform movement discuss these trends, and what they portend for future reform efforts.  Our moderator is Dave Fratello, Coast Campaign Group, and the panel includes:

• Dale Gieringer, Ph.D, Director, CA NORML; member of NORML’s board of directors
• Rich Lee, Proprietor of ‘Oaksterdam University’ and Campaigner for ‘The Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010′
• Harry Levine, Ph.D, Queens College

Saturday’s closing show will feature a look at Marijuana Legalization As a Local, State, Federal Revenue Stream. In today’s sagging economy national, state and local leaders are looking for alternative streams of revenue. They should look no further than to America’s #1 cash crop: cannabis.  Our moderator is Dale Gieringer, Ph.D, Director, CA NORML, and the panelists include:

• Jon Gettman, Ph.D
• Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland City Council
• Mark Kleiman, Ph.D, UCLA

We follow with a panel on Cannabis and Athleticism. Some of the nation’s top athletes discuss why today’s pros are turning to cannabis — and away from alcohol and painkillers — off the field, and question why pro sports leagues are continuing to sanction those who do.  Our moderator is Steve Bloom, Author, Pot Culture; editor, celebstoner.com and the panelists include:

• Toby Grear, MMA fighter,
• Sean Neumann, Documentary Filmmaker; former ESPN producer
• Mark Stepnoski, Former All-Star NFL football player, NORML Advisory Board
• Rob Van Dam, Professional wrestler

Our three-part special show concludes with a talk from Rick Steves, TV host/best-selling travel author, NORML Advisory Board

Please join us for unparalleled access to the heart of marijuana law reform, nine total hours of content from the best and brightest minds in the movement, all absolutely free for you on the internet, courtesy of the donations of stakeholder cannabis consumers and liberty lovers all across this country who donate to and volunteer with NORML.  Mark us as a favorite on BlogTalkRadio and post us on your Twitter and Facebook with the tag #NORML.

Boston: 30,000 smoke pot, celebrate decrim

9/20/2009 -  Chris Goldstein

An estimated 30,000 people were crowded onto the Boston Common at the peak moment of the 20th annual Boston Freedom Rally on September 19th 2009.

That moment was 4:20PM ET.

The thousands celebrated freely under a landmark victory for cannabis prohibition reform. In 2008 Massachusetts decriminalized marijuana possession of less than 1/4 ounce by adults with a Ballot Initiative, Proposition 2. That means you can only get a NON-criminal ticket with a $100 fine for a pot violation. The decrim effort was won because of the hard work of the very same folks who organize the rally:  MASSCANN/NORML.

A Parks Services officer (who strangely had a thick eastern European accent) agreed that 30,000 seemed a likely estimate of the peak attendance.

A police officer, who did not wish to be named, said the department does not officially release crowd estimates for any event. But Boston Police confirmed that there were 3 arrests for distribution and over 100 citations issued for marijuana possession.

Keith Saunders, MASSCANN’s president, told me that over 50,000 people had probably walked through the grounds over the course of the day and encountered the message of marijuana legalization.

Overall, the police were civil although I saw numerous random searches and heard stories of many more. At past events there have been more than 150 arrests for pot possession… but not on Saturday. Without fear of arrest the crowd was polite and almost everyone I saw was openly enjoying marijuana.

An impressive line-up of bands and speakers appeared on two stages. Styles P, a big time reform supporter showed up and did a surprise set thanks to High Times Magazine. Because of some juggling to accommodate the last minute act, the countdown to 4:20 got squeezed. A sea of people were gathering before the main stage and filling in the large hill.

Steve Bloom of CelebStoner corralled the final 60 seconds  holding a clock up on stage and pointing as the hands came together. Looking out from the stage you could see huge clouds of smoke rise up from the crowd. There were dozens of spontaneous circles formed in a surreal organic collage of people. They cheered from across the rolling hills as giant 6-foot long joints were passed around.

Everyone smoked. There really was a quite visible haze over the entire crowd at 4:20. The sweet and fragrant odors of a wide variety of plant strains and hash drifted by, offering this interesting quilt of cannabis.

The crowd was extremely well behaved. There cannot be a finer exhibition of the positive effects of human cannabis smoking than large crowds of people doing it together. Without alcohol available at the event there were no fights, pushing or shoving. But with free cannabis consumption there was dancing, conversation and a genuinely happy atmosphere.

Personally, this was the most wonderful day for prohibition reform I have witnessed. The event itself; all of the people I met for the first time and friends to spend time with made this trip heartening, empowering and just plain fun! The locals really did treat me very well too.

Our country deserves this freedom that Massachusetts already enjoys.

I have seen Victory for Cannabis in Boston. It is sweet and green. It needs to be nationwide.

The first two pics were from my cellphone, this last one is from Derek at PhillyNORML. I’ll have some more blogging about the bands, speakers, backstage and social events from the Boston Freedom Rally tomorrow. Then its off to San Francisco for the NORML conference as I continue my Green September.