Lou Dog, from Suburban Noize recording group the Kottonmouth Kings, has been named the new assistant director for the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

“I am proud of the appointment and I am prepared to continue lending my energy and resources towards the advancement of the cause,” commented Lou Dog.

The Kottonmouth Kings have been on the frontlines fighting for the legalization of marijuana for over a decade. The group has been acknowledged for their never-ending commitment to spreading awareness and understanding about the plant, marijuana.

The group had previously helped organize a demonstration at the U.S. Federal Building, alongside other pro-cannabis organizations, to protest the federal prosecution of pot users under the federal Controlled Substances Act. The event attracted national media attention and challenged the Bush Administration’s “War on Drugs”.

You can hear Lou on the Oct 26 edition of the Stash as he was on the panel with Tommy Chong and B Real at the Cypress Hill Smokeout.

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(B) If you had asked him two weeks ago, Zach Brown would have said he didn’t think marijuana legalization would happen in his lifetime.

Things have quickly changed. Brown, the president of the University of Maryland, College Park chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, now is optimistic the country will see significant change in perhaps two decades.

“It seems up until this point, we’ve been working against the wind in a way, pushing our goals to hard opposition,” Brown said. “But there’s now a rapid growth of support. The winds have changed, and we’re riding with them now.”

It’s an exciting time for marijuana advocates, and Brown, a 19-year-old sophomore and Eagle Scout, feels even more motivated to push his cause.

I wonder if there are Boy Scout merit badges for joint rolling?    Seriously, though, what a great opening to this article in Baltimore’s alt-weekly, the B.  Good work, Zach, and all you NORML Terps, and thanks for showing that even Eagle Scouts think marijuana prohibition is wrong.

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(KOIN 6) PORTLAND, Ore. – A café set to open next week in northeast Portland will be serving up more than your morning latte.

Café Rumpspankers (yep, that’s the name) will open next week serving coffee and sampling different types of marijuana for Oregon Medical Marijuana Cardholders to try.

Per state law, only members of Oregon’s Medical Marijuana Program are allowed in.

The Oregon chapter of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) will run the café which will open November 13th on Northeast Dekum.

The café will be the first of its kind in Oregon and will be similar to those found in Europe.

Flock to the website of KOIN (ABC affiliate) in Portland, my minions, for they have an online poll asking whether you support this “type of business.”  It’s barely a “Yes” at this point – 50.4% when I first voted!

Whoa.  I just tweeted it before I wrote this post and now it’s up to 54.6%.  Correlation ain’t causation; maybe they just aired it on the news and more people clicked in.  Or maybe, just maybe, I have the power to sway online polls in 140 characters or less!  Bwaa-ha-ha-ha!

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While most Portlanders are all too familiar with cafés of the coffee-serving variety, there’s a new café coming to town worth noting.

It’s Oregon’s first cannabis café (a concept common elsewhere around the globe) and it will be run by Oregon NORML

It’s scheduled to open Friday, Nov. 13, naturally at 4:20pm.

Sadly, only members both of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program and NORML can partake in the experience (the café is legal under the guidelines of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act), but maybe they’re accepting applications for servers. Snacks and items from sellers like Stoned Made will be available, along with a full range of pot to sample. The café will be a resource for the medical marijuana community, and Oregon NORML also hopes to provide seminars and classes there.

Friday, Nov. 13, 4:20pm. Rumpspankers, 700 NE Dekum St, Portland. For the Grand Opening, the entry fee will be $25, which covers the first month of membership and an all-day entry pass.

This new cannabusiness operates under two premises from the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act.  One, cardholders are allowed to freely exchange marijuana with each other for “no consideration” – that is, no buying, selling, trading, favors, gifts, or exchanges.  Its the reason you’ve never heard of much federal interference with Oregon’s medical marijuana program: there’s no commerce involved.  (Isn’t interesting how dangerous marijuana is to the authorities when people are making money off of it, but when it’s exchanged freely by over 25,000 cardholders, there’s not enough danger to the public for the feds to be interested?

Two, patients are allowed to medicate so long as they are not “in public view”.  A private club for a membership-based organization in a building with its windows covered by drapes is out of public view.  Oregon NORML will be strictly carding all entrants o the café to verify cardholder status.

We discussed the café with Madeline Martinez, director of Oregon NORML, on the last NORML SHOW LIVE.  She tells us, “It’s exciting because there are so many of our most vulnerable patients who have no real social outlets.  They can’t really go to concerts or clubs because they can’t medicate and nobody can really enjoy themselves if they are forced to sit in pain.  At our café patients can relax and meet others, learn about the program, sample different strains of medicine to find what might work best for them, they can get some snacks and drinks and even purchase some great stuff from Urb Age and Stoned Made and others that helps support the community.”

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Advocates of reforming marijuana laws will convene in Columbia Nov. 7, according to a news release from organizers Dan Viets and Sean Randall.

The conference of Missouri NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) seeks to educate attendees about the negative effects of marijuana prohibition and to increase public awareness and support of medical marijuana legislation in Missouri, the news release said.

Rep. Kate Meniners of Kansas City will introduce The Missouri Medical Marijuana Bill in the upcoming legislative session, the release said. If approved, it would protect patients from criminal arrest and prosecution who use medical marijuana with recommendations of their physician, the news release said.

Presentations throughout the day will address a variety of topics, including community organizing, firsthand stories of people using marijuana for medical purposes. Paul Armentano, deputy director of national NORML, will be the keynote speaker. He will speak about the safety and effectiveness of medical marijuana in comparison to other prescription and over-the-counter medications at 6 p.m.

The conference takes place at the Ellis Library Auditorium on the University of Missouri campus. It is free and open to the public. For more information, including a schedule, go to www.joplin-norml.org.

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We’re happy to announce the formation of another international chapter in Spain, known as NORML España! Carlos M. Cardenas is the founder, and he’s already gotten his NORML chapter involved in ExpoCannabis in Spain this weekend.

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America's longest serving non-violent marijuana offender, Robert Platshorn, a.k.a. The Black Tuna, served 29 years in prison for marijuana smuggling

We’re back in studio this Saturday for our special Halloweed show! Our guest is ROBERT PLATSHORN, a.k.a. “The Black Tuna”. We’ll be discussing his life as America’s longest-imprisoned (30 years) non-violent marijuana offender, once referred to by President Carter’s attorney general as one of the “slickest, most sophisticated pot smugglers of the 70’s.” Read all about it in Platshorn’s book, “The Black Tuna Diaries”.

The original High Times cover of the Black Tuna story in 1981

We’re also broadcasting from the site of NORML’s West Coast Media HQ Halloweed party, with guests such as Oregon NORML’s Madeline Martinez and UrbAge Designs‘ Scott Gordon. Plus your calls about the scariest marijuana moments in your life. It’s live talk radio from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

The show runs from 6pm-8pm Pacific Time (9-11pm Eastern) streaming live at http://live.norml.org.  You can call in with your questions and comments at 347-994-1810.  Archived episodes of NORML SHOW LIVE are available for download from our site or by subscribing through iTunes.

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Well, folks, I just got the email from Tam at Marijuana Music Awards that she will not be able to continue providing the Daily Toker Tunes on the Stash.  It’s understandable, she’s very busy like me and she’s already given us so much great music.  Thanks a ton, Tam, for helping to make this podcast rock.

But that means I have a need for a new music editor.  Want to help?  Here’s what the job entails:

• Volunteerism.  I can’t pay you for finding and posting tunes for us.  However I can get you cool NORML stuff and VIP backstage access to all major events I attend.  We may even be able to find a way to make the effort pay real money (”NORML Music Awards”, anyone?).
• Web Searching.  We can’t play any tunes that are licensed by ASCAP or BMI (i.e., popular chart tunes like Cypress Hill or John Mayer, for example), we can only play “podsafe music” (i.e. unsigned independent artists usually found on Myspace or elsewhere).  I have links to popular podsafe music sites; the trick is finding the weed-friendly tunes.
• Musical Taste.  For every decent pro-pot song I find, I find ten more that are recorded poorly, played badly, written strangely, or just plain suck.  You’ll need not only the taste to pick the good songs, but also a wide enough taste to enjoy everything from country to rap to metal to jazz.
• Writing.  You’ll have access to the Stash to post the short introductions, album covers / photos, download links, and audio players for the Daily Toker Tunes.
• Uploading.  You’ll also have access to the Stash’s web folder to upload and rename the tunes you post.

So is this something you’d enjoy taking on as one small way to help end marijuana prohibition?  Send me an email at stash@norml.org with the subject Music Editor and let’s talk.

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I’m happy to announce the newest NORML College Chapter to be formed at the University of Hew Hampshire.  UNH NORML’s contact is Nick Murray and you can reach him at npmurray@gmail.com if you’re interested in getting involved with the chapter.

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