I am proud to announce the creation of the NORML North American Chapter Map in Google Maps. The map will locate all the State, Regional, Local (subchapters) and College NORML Chapters in the US and Canada. Click the icon for a chapter and you’ll be linked to their website. As I continue updating the database, more information will be added to the map, such as meeting times and locations, public events, and email contacts, as well as each chapter’s logo.

View the NORML Chapters Map at http://tr.im/NORMLmap.

If you use Google Earth, you may open the NORML.kml file, which will link to the database and retrieve the latest updates. You can save that link to your “My Places” and it will always show an up-to-date map when you open Google Earth.

View Larger Map

It used to be that if you went to Google and typed in “medical marijuana info”, you’d get our NORML page on medical use as the top hit.  Now it seems the Department of Justice has hijacked that ranking for this page that questions medical marijuana:

California Medical Marijuana Information

* The assertion that all medical marijuana is headed for seriously ill patients is misleading. Statistics from the California Branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) shows that a survey of Californians reports the top three reported uses of medicinal marijuana:

40% Chronic Pain
22% AIDS-Related
15% Mood Disorders
(23% All other categories)

Because, after all, people with chronic pain and HIV/AIDS aren’t “seriously ill”.  DOJ knows that because of all that medical expertise they picked up in law school.

* In California there is no state regulation or standard of the cultivation and/or distribution medical marijuana. California leaves the establishment of any guidelines to local jurisdictions, which can widely vary. For example, Marin County allows up to six mature plants, and/or a half-pound dried marijuana. It’s neighbor, Sonoma County permits possession of three pounds of marijuana, and allows cultivation up to 99 plants, and physicians may recommend more for “exceptional patients.”

So, then, if a state did come up with uniform state regulation and standards for the cultivation and distribution of medical marijuana, like New Mexico has, Rhode Island is attempting, and New Jersey may implement, DOJ is fine with that?

* Local and state law enforcement counterparts cannot distinguish between illegal marijuana grows and grows that qualify as medical exemptions. Many self-designated medical marijuana growers are, in fact, growing marijuana for illegal, “recreational” use.

So if local and state police can’t determine which grows are medically legitimate, the solution is for the feds to come in and bust all of them?

* Elected law enforcement officials, i.e. Sheriffs and District Attorneys in California have been targeted by the “marijuana lobby.” Political action by groups such as NORML have endorsed and supported candidates favorable to medical marijuana. NORML tracks local elections and takes credit for the defeats of anti-marijuana candidates. Last year the DEA arrested a major marijuana trafficker in Humboldt County who was an undeclared candidate for sheriff.

How exactly is it that NORML can endorse and support a sheriff’s candidate who is undeclared?  Gee, a little non-profit tries to affect elections for local offices by supporting pro-medical marijuana candidates and opposing anti-medical marijuana candidates.  Meanwhile, the DOJ uses its massive budget and manpower to fund millions of dollars worth of anti-marijuana ads, sack legit medical marijuana businesses without charging anyone with a crime, and sends its federal officials to directly lobby against favorable state and local marijuana initiatives.  No wonder Goliath is a little touchy; David’s kicking his ass!

* The DEA and its local and state counterparts routinely report that large-scale drug traffickers hide behind and invoke Proposition 215, even when there is no evidence of any medical claim. In fact, many large-scale marijuana cultivators and traffickers escape state prosecution because of bogus medical marijuana claims. Prosecutors are reluctant to charge these individuals because of the state of confusion that exists in California. Therefore, high-level traffickers posing as “care givers” are able to sell illegal drugs with impunity.

I guess that explains the Charles Lynch case.  And Eddy Lepp.  And Dr. Mollie Fry.  And the rest of California NORML’s eleven-page list of “reluctant prosecutions”.

* The California NORML website lists federal defendants for the largest indoor marijuana cultivation operation in the U.S., which occurred in Northern California, as “green prisoners.” While unscrupulously claiming to be “medical marijuana” defendants, in fact these two individuals were dangerous, armed fugitives believed to be responsible for drug-related murders and other violence.

I’d look that up to rebut it, but DOJ won’t tell me the names of the “two individuals” and a Google search for “green prisoners site:canorml.org” didn’t yield anything useful.  However, I wouldn’t be surprised if large-scale medical marijuana growers were armed, since they could be robbery targets, and “believed to be responsible” sounds like a lack of any conviction in court.

* DEA’s San Francisco Field Division coordinates the statewide Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program (DCE/SP). The number of plants eradicated and assets seized represent the largest totals in California history.

But since 2007, they won’t tell you that well over 97% of what they are seizing is feral hemp, an unsmokable ditchweed, and that the assets seized include all the cash and equipment from dispensary raids where nobody was ever even arrested or charged with a crime.

But the politicians ain’t a-listenin’.

The latest evidence that The People¹ are way ahead of the politicians on this one comes from our friends at “the Google”.  Google Trends is a feature that allows you to map the prevalence on a search request on the internet through Google.  In human terms, it tells you what people are looking for².

When we plug in the search term “legalize marijuana”, and limit it to the United States, we get a chart that looks like this:

What we’re seeing here is 2004-2006.  This chart shows the searches relative to a baseline average, which is 1.0 on this chart.  Every year, searches for “legalize marijuana” spike in the spring (around 4/20, I’ll bet) and winter, which is usually election time.  

When the chart hits 2.0, that’s twice as many searches as average.  Around election time, it spikes to triple in 2006 and five-times the average searches in 2004 and 2005.  But when the chart dips to 0.0, searches for “legalize marijuana” are far worse than average, right around summer time. 

However, when we take a look at the last two years, something interesting has happened.  In 2007, interest in “legalize marijuana” stayed relatively constant, with a slight spike in spring and winter.  In 2008 the trend continues but shows spikes in the middle of summer – the primary season – and a huge increase in interest around this presidential election without the drop to 0.0 we saw in 2004.

As I read the explanation for the math behind this (and recognizing I’m no Danica McKellar, either), it seems that if “all numbers are relative to total traffic”, and the total traffic on the internet is rising a thousand times every five years, then if “legalize marijuana” is staying at or above the relative average of 1.0, then interest in the topic has been rising steadily since late 2006!  No 0.0’s in nine straight quarters!

Also, the steady line of this graph shows me that “legalize marijuana” is becoming more mainstream, as it is not just spiking when there’s a 4/20 or an election that might show spikes due to us dedicated activists.

This comports well with what we see from public opinion polls.  The 2007 Zogby Opinion Poll on the question of “eliminat[ing] federal penalties for the personal use of marijuana by adults and allow states to adopt their own policies on marijuana?” found that The People are evenly split on ending cannabis prohibition at 49% in favor, 48% opposed, with majorities in the east and west in favor.  Support of The People for this question, phrased one way or another, has risen steadily over twenty years.

We also find that the public support for medicinal use of marijuana is strong at between 70% and 80% in favor of ending criminal penalties on people using cannabis as medicine with a doctor’s supervision.

We’ve told you how President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team was “Open for Questions” at Change.gov.  We shared the joy of learning that after 978,868 votes on 10,302 questions from 20,468 people, the #1 question asked by The People was:

“Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?”

We also shared the contempt for The People when the transition team issued the curt eleven-word reply to a very complex and reasonable question:

“President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana.”

Now in the second round of “Open for Questions” is on and in the “National Security” category, after 284,445 votes on 4,449 questions from 20,121 people, we find this question in the #1 slot:

“Our current war on drugs is failing America. Billions of dollars are spent on a losing campaign. Our prisons are overflowing with people that don’t deserve to be there. What is the government going to do in an effort to fix this major problem?”

And in the “Additional Issues” category, after 811,832 votes on 13,539 questions from 45,291 people, sitting in the #2 slot is this question (behind a question on appointing Patrick Fitzgerald to investigate the Bush Administration):

“The people of this country want marijuana decriminalization, when will marijuana be decriminalized? Why continue to spend billions of dollars to prohibit marijuana when evidence shows that the war on drugs is, as you said, “an utter failure”?”

Over at the other site, Change.org, not affiliated with the Obama transition team, we see a similar theme.  Their #1 issue as voted on by The People was “Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana”, which has now moved on to Round #2 of the “competition”.

Then there was that little public opinion poll called the election, where medical marijuana passed in Michigan by 63% and passed in every single county, even the ones that voted for John McCain.  We saw decriminalization of marijuana passed in Massachusetts by 65%, and in both states, the marijuana reform laws got more votes than Barack Obama did!

When will the politicians hear us?  What will it take for them to get the message that the people want new thinking in drug policy and they don’t think that marijuana use by adults is literally a federal crime?

² And when it comes to “legalize marijuana” the place looking for it the most is Orlando, Florida, followed by Denver, Portland (yay!), Tampa, and San Diego. Florida is really looking for some legal marijuana!