Weekdays 1pm, 4pm, and 10pm Pacific, on http://live.norml.org

This week on NORML SHOW LIVE we took a look at four states where activists are proposing multiple ballot initiatives to legalize… or “sensibly regulate”… marijuana for all adults, even healthy ones. We covered Oregon, California, Colorado, and Washington, click the Full Story link below to get the lineup of interviewees and videos.

Join us online for our live coverage this weekend at Seattle Hempfest.  We have interviews scheduled with Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, Councilman Nick Licata, City Attorney Pete Holmes, Washington Rep. Roger Goodman, Washington Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, and US Congressman Dennis Kucinich, plus all the activist luminaries and performing artists we can snag!  Check out our NORML Stage Schedule for more info.

OREGON

• Bob Wolfe from Oregon Marijuana Policy Initiative
• Jen Alexander from Oregon Cannabis Tax Act
• Leland Berger from Sensible Oregon

CALIFORNIA

• Dale Sky Jones from Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform
• Dr. Frank Lucido from Cannabis Law Institute

COLORADO

• Mason Tvert from Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol

WASHINGTON

• Alison Holcomb from New Approach Washington
• Douglas Hiatt from Sensible Washington

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Hemp Headlines

Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

1. Michelle Bachmann ignores medical marijuana states rights question on campaign trail
2. New York woman loses children over marijuana amount so low the prosecutor won’t charge her
3. Massachusetts company maps genetic code of cannabis
4. Oregon State Police denies any special treatment for star football players busted for 118MPH in hot-boxed car

Daily Toker Tunes

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• Groovin’ Thursday: Iration – “Turn Around”

Grassroots Activism

• Alison Holcomb from New Approach Washington
• Douglas Hiatt from Sensible Washington

Cannabis Community

• Vivian McPeak, Executive Director of Seattle Hempfest

"Preparing" for Seattle Hempfest involves more than just sunscreen, sensible shoes, and cash for vendors...

This weekend we prepare for Seattle Hempfest.  This 20th anniversary event will, for the first time, take place over three days at the Waterfront between Olympic Sculpture Park in the South and Centennial Park in the North (see hempfest.org).  It’s 1.6 miles, six stages, hundreds of vendors, and 150,000 or so attendees, all gathered to celebrate freedom, assemble peaceably, and petition our government for a redress of grievances; namely the prohibition of cannabis hemp.  We begin our live streaming of Hempfest on Friday at http://live.norml.org.

Legalization is no longer the forbidden topic (even if we’re playing it close to the vest and calling it “sensible regulation”) and this short week we are taking a closer look at the topic with the proponents of marijuana legalization in four Western states.  We’re calling it “Legalization Week” – it’s like “Shark Week”, but much mellower.

MONDAY:  Oregon Cannabis Tax Act’s Jen Alexander, Sensible Oregon‘s Leland Berger, and Oregon Marijuana Policy Initiative‘s Bob Wolfe on marijuana legalization and medical dispensaries in Oregon.

TUESDAY: Oaksterdam University‘s Dale Sky Jones on marijuana legalization in California and Oaksterdam’s expansion into Michigan.

WEDNESDAY:  SAFER‘s Mason Tvert on the Sensible Colorado marijuana legalization proposal.

THURSDAY:  ACLU of Washington Drug Policy Project‘s Alison Holcomb and Sensible Washington‘s Douglas Hiatt on marijuana legalization in Washington State; plus Vivian McPeak, Executive Director of Seattle Hempfest, with a preview of the weekend.

We may add more guests for Legalization Week, so watch this post for updates.  We’re also taking your live calls at 971-533-7111 in Hour Two to discuss the various proposals.

RIP Tim Garon (AP Photo)

I was stunned this morning as I scanned the marijuana news headlines.  Seattle-area musician Tim Garon had died following a lengthy battle with Hepatitis C, denied a liver transplant because of his status as a medical marijuana patient.

Stunned, not because of the shock that a transplant was cruelly denied because of some reefer madness justifications by hospitals that claim medical marijuana patients are nothing but drug addicts.

No, stunned because Tim Garon died on May 1, 2008.

I spoke with Tim’s friend and attorney, Douglas Hiatt, this evening by telephone.  ”I don’t know what kinda fuckin’ glitch happened in some AP computer, but I’ve been getting calls on this all day.”  Doug was audibly shaken by the whole experience.  ”It was almost three years ago that I sat there, not two feet from him, and held his hand while he died.  It’s something that kinda leaves its mark on a guy.”

Still, as mistakes go, perhaps there is a silver lining.  How many more people learned about this absurd and tragic cruelty today?  And it didn’t take another needless transplant death to generate the headline.  And in 2011, the story can be shared much more virally through Facebook and Twitter.

kboi2.com A musician who was denied a liver transplant because he used marijuana with medical approval under Washington state law to ease the symptoms of advanced hepatitis C died Thursday.

The death of Timothy Garon, 56, at Bailey-Boushay House, an intensive care nursing center was confirmed to The Associated Press by his lawyer, Douglas Hiatt, and Alisha Mark, a spokeswoman for Virginia Mason Medical Center, which operates Bailey-Boushay.

Dr. Brad Roter, the physician who authorized Garon to smoke pot to alleviate for nausea and abdominal pain and to stimulate his appetite, said he did not know it would be such a hurdle if Garon were to need a transplant.

The case has highlighted a new ethical consideration for those allocating organs for transplant, especially in the dozen states that have medical marijuana laws: When dying patients need a transplant, should it be held against them if they’ve used pot with a doctor’s blessing?

He had been in the hospice for two months and previously was rejected for a transplant at Swedish Medical Center for the same reason he later got from the university hospital.

Swedish said he would be considered if he avoided pot for six months and the university hospital offered to reconsider if he enrolled in a 60-day drug treatment program, but doctors said his liver disease was too advanced for him to last that long. The university hospital committee agreed to reconsider anyway, then denied him again.

RIP Tim Garon.  Your death did not need to happen.  Your death is an indictment of the cruel legacy of Harry J. Anslinger and every reefer mad prohibitionist who ever demonized the herb, the only remedy that brought you relief in your last months.  I personally will not rest until no person ever need to choose between healing cannabis and life-saving trasnplant.

And the Legalization train rolls on.  It is clear and evident that we are not going away and we will legalize marijuana somewhere very, very soon.

seattletimes.com The organization Sensible Washington filed an initiative Wednesday that would remove all state criminal and civil penalties for the possession use and sale of marijuana in any quantity. But one of the effort’s organizers, Philip Dawdy, said the group would likely be happy to drop it if the Legislature passes a bill introduced this week that would make pot available in state liquor stores.

Sensible Washington tried to get a similar initiative on the ballot last year, but fell about 50,000 signatures short. That proposal was criticized for not including a state regulatory system overseeing the marijuana industry; advocates insisted that the state’s single-subject rule for initiatives barred them from removing legal penalties and regulating the drug in the same measure.

This time, the initiative includes language directing the Legislature to develop such regulations, including possibly taxing marijuana sales.

On Tuesday, state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle, filed a bill that would allow the sale of marijuana to people 21 and over through state liquor stores. The Liquor Control Board would issue licenses to commercial growers, and revenue from sales taxes and license fees – possibly hundreds of millions of dollars a year, according to supporters – could help pay for health care and substance-abuse treatment.

Two defense attorneys in Washington state are refusing to fully participate in a marijuana-growing case in protest of a judge’s ruling that they cannot present a medical marijuana defense. The case involves 58 year-old William Kurtz who was arrested in March after the Thurston County Narcotics Force found 42 marijuana plants in his home. Kurtz said outside of the court on Tuesday that he did grow the marijuana, but he did not sell any of it.

Read more here:
Lawyers Protest Judges Denial of Medical Marijuana Defense

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Hemp Headlines

1. New Jersey begins enrolling patients and doctors in fledgling medical marijuana program
2. Douglas Hiatt, Washington attorney, fighting to get medical defense for patient in state court
3. Study shows regular marijuana use protects adolescent brains from damages of binge drinking

Daily Toker Tunes

Brought to you by Grateful Dread Public Radio at http://gdreadradio.net, a 24-hour community service Internet radio station proud to carry NORML SHOW LIVE

This Month in NORML with Executive Director Allen St. Pierre

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Speaker’s Corner

• Latino Officers Association endorses Prop 19

Cannabis Science with Dr. Mitch Earleywine

SEATTLE (AP) – An initiative to legalize marijuana for adults in Washington state will not qualify for the fall ballot, an organizer said Thursday.

Seattle medical marijuana attorney Douglas Hiatt told The Associated Press that the effort fell about 40,000 to 50,000 signatures short of the 241,000 that must be turned in by Friday. Hiatt said his group, Sensible Washington, will try again next year.

Fundraising efforts proved futile, and the campaign couldn’t afford to hire professional signature gatherers.

The Service Employees International Union, a big player in state liberal politics, expressed an interest in hiring enough gatherers to ensure its place on the ballot – both because the union believed it to be good policy and because research showed it could significantly boost progressive turnout in November, Local 775 Vice President Adam Glickman said.

But the union ultimately stayed on the sidelines because the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington declined to support the measure. The ACLU argued that it was irresponsible to remove criminal penalties for marijuana without also creating a state regulatory system, but initiative backers said there was no way to legalize marijuana and create a regulatory system without violating state law saying that initiatives can only cover one subject.

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Hemp Headlines

1. US/Mexico raids net 2,200 arrests, one sheriff charged with corruption
2. Shut down Canadian dispensary advising patients to buy medicine in the streets
3. Guam Senator introduces Bill 420 to legalize medical marijuana

Daily Toker Tunes

• Electric Tuesday: Symphony of Science = “The Case for Mars”

California Marijuana Report with Eric Brenner

• Interview with Stephanie Landa from the Landa Prison Outreach Program

Cannabis Conversations

• Douglas Hiatt at Aspen Legal Seminar on the need to fully legalize to protect patients

Inventory Searches
Cal Williams, Colby, KS
Download audio file (Aspen 2010 – Cal Williams.mp3)
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Federal Habeas
Marvin Miller, Alexandria, VA
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Evidence: Identifying and Preparing Evidentiary Issues
Thomas M. Loeb, Farmington Hills, MI
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Medical Marijuana Legal Issues in New Mexico, Michigan, Oregon and Washington
Steven G. Farber, Santa Fe, NM
Matt Abel, Detroit, MI
Leland Berger, Portland, OR
Doug Hiatt, Seattle, WA
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Questions and Answers for Panel
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