Show 001: Steve Fox (MPP), Mason Tvert (SAFER), & Paul Armentano (NORML) discuss "Marijuana is Safer" book; NORML Exec. Dir. Allen St. Pierre; MMA Fighter Toby "Tigerheart" Grear

I am thrilled to be hosting our debut show tonight at 6pm PT / 9pm ET. I hope you all make it a regular Saturday night ritual.

You can listen to the show live three ways (and no, regular terrestrial or satellite radio is not one of those ways… yet):

1. Point your web browser to http://live.norml.org and follow the links to Show 001.  (Or use the link on the powder-blue BlogTalkRadio player you see there on the right…)
2. Point your mobile phone’s browser to http://m.blogtalkradio.com/norml.  Click the link at the bottom of the page for Shows and Blogs.  Click the link for Show 001. (I’m not completely sure the live show will play this way; it may only allow you to see the blog and comments.  If so, try…)
3. Call 347-994-1810 on your mobile phone.  (”347″ is a New York area code, so long distance charges, if any, would apply.  Probably only an option if you’ve got unlimited minutes and free domestic long distance.)

The show will also be archived about one hour following the live broadcast.  You’ll be able to hear it all week on the embedded player to the right or by subscribing to it as a podcast on iTunes.

Paul Armentano, Mason Tvert, Steve Fox

Guests for our premiere in the first hour are Steve Fox (MPP), Mason Tvert (SAFER), and Paul Armentano (NORML) discussing their new book, “Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?”.  Later in the hour, NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre joins the discussion.

Toby "Tigerheart" Grear from True Warrior Fitness

In our 2nd hour, mixed-martial arts champion Toby “Tigerheart” Grear of True Warrior Fitness discusses being banned from fighting professionally in California because of positive tests for his legal medical marijuana.

We’re also taking your calls at the bottom of each hour.  Dial 347-994-1810 to listen in on your phone and press 1 at any time if you’d like to speak to the host or guests.  Your call will be screened and we remind you to have a question ready, keep it short and to the point, and avoid profanity (we’re not FCC regulated on the net, but if we want to take this to terrestrial radio, we need to act like it.)

(Denver Post) Denver’s marijuana policy review panel agreed Wednesday to send a letter to the presiding judge of Denver County Court urging a $1 fine as penalty for possession of marijuana of less than an ounce.

The current fine schedule indicates a $50 fine for such offenses, plus a $100 drug surcharge required by the state of Colorado and a $10 “bureau fee.”

Mason Tvert, a member of the panel and the executive director of Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, which has pushed decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, said state law requires the surcharge and the $10 bureau fee.

He said that if Presiding Judge Marcy Celeste accepts the recommendations, the penalty would still stand at $111.

Tvert said lowering the fine would send a message to police “that it is not worth their time or the court’s to issue any more citations.”

The panel agreed to send the letter to the judge on a 6-2 vote.

What can be done about this state law “$100 drug surcharge”?  What’s that all about?

[UPDATE 1:01am ET: Climbed to #14... Glenn Beck's at #10... C'mon, Stashers, only two hours left on the Pacific clock!  We gotta dislodge the Beckhole from the Top Ten!]

[UPDATE 12:12pm ET: Up to #16 and it still says "1 day in Top 100", so maybe it goes by Pacific Time and not Eastern.]

[UPDATE 11:45pm ET:  Still at #17, but the price has dropped to $8.97.  Last chance to hit the bomb!]

[UPDATE 11:00pm ET: #17!!!  One hour to go... can we make the Top 15 at least?

[UPDATE 9:36pm ET: #20!!!  We did it!  Now keep pushing, West Coast, and let's aim for the Top Ten!]

[UPDATE 7:00pm ET: #22!...All right, West Coast, I'm calling you out to push it into the top 20!]

[UPDATE 6:02pm ET: #26... keep pushing to the Top Twenty!]

[UPDATE 5:15pm ET: #28 with a bullet!]

[UPDATE 4:20pm ET: #32 at 4:20]

[UPDATE 3:17pm ET: #38... I'm hoping Stashers getting off work on the East Coast will help push this into the Top Twenty.  West Coasters, when you get off work at 5pm, there will only be four hours left on the East Coast for the bomb, so buy early, buy often!]

[UPDATE 2:09pm ET: #47... keep on buying!]

[UPDATE 1:36pm ET: Up to #76 and rising!]

[UPDATE 12:42pm ET: The bomb is working!  "Marijuana is Safer" has risen from the #12,000's yesterday to above #200 already!  Make it happen!  Buy today!]

NORML’s Paul Armentano is the co-author of a remarkable new book, “Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?”.  It is available through Amazon.com and today, 8/20, is the Marijuana Book Bomb promotion.

The idea is to drive up Amazon’s sales rankings (they measure daily) to make a book about marijuana law reform #1 on the charts for the first time ever.  It is available today for 32% off the list price (only $10.17).  If you don’t think marijuana is safer, this book will convince you.  If you do think marijuana is safer, this book will provide the knowledge needed to make that case to others.  It is one of my favorite marijuana books ever and I don’t just say that as a colleague of Paul’s – I read a lot of these books and this is one of the best-written most-informative easy-reads in the set.

Marijuana is Safer co-author Mason Tvert will be a guest on the popular nationally syndicated radio program, The Michael Medved Show, tomorrow (Wed.) at 4:00 pm EST/1:00 pm PST for a FULL HOUR. Listen live at http://www.MichaelMedved.com It is one of the 10 largest radio audiences in the nation with nearly 4 million listeners!

Also, help us make “Marijuana is Safer” the #1 book on Amazon.com by participating in tomorrow’s “Marijuana Book Bomb“. If you’re planning on purchasing the book, do it tomorrow (on 8/20) so we can jack up Amazon’s rankings and make a book about marijuana legalization #1 for the first time in Amazon’s hstory.

Download Link: Secret Stash - Register to access

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2009-08-03.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

1. Special Comment: NBC, CBS, ABC, & FOX happy to profit from marijuana, as long as nobody talks about legalizing it

Behind the Headlines with NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano

• Paul previews the book he co-wrote with Mason Tvert and Steve Fox: Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?, published by Chelsea Green (see details of tomorrow’s book signing at Oaksterdam U on NORML’s Calendar of Events)

Daily Toker Tunes by Marijuana Music Awards . com

• Message Monday – ‘Herbal Healing’ by Ras David

Grassroots Activism

• Clif Deuvall of the newly-formed NORML of Waco, Inc. (contact Clif at clif107 at yahoo dot com)

Paul Armentano's New Book, with Steve Fox and Mason Tvert. Click to pre-order!

(Reuters) Tough marijuana laws are driving millions of Americans to a more dangerous mood-altering substance, alcohol. The unintended consequence: violence and thousands of unnecessary deaths. It’s time, therefore, for a serious public debate of the case for marijuana versus alcohol.

How dismally that effort has failed is not in doubt. Marijuana is so easily available that around 100 million Americans have tried it at least once and some 15 million use it regularly, according to government estimates. The U.S. marijuana industry, in terms of annual retail sales, has been estimated to be almost as big as the alcohol industry — $113 billion and $130 billion respectively. On a global scale, marijuana is the world’s most widely used illicit drug.

The case for adding a compare-and-contrast dimension to the debate is laid out in a statistics-laden book to be published next month entitled “Marijuana is Safer, So why are we driving people to drink?” The authors are prominent legalization advocates – Steve Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project, Paul Armentano of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and Mason Tvert, co-founder of SAFER (Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation).

“The plain and simple truth is that alcohol fuels violent behaviour and marijuana does not,” Norm Stamper, a former Seattle police chief, writes in the foreword of the book. “Alcohol … contributes to literally millions of acts of violence in the United States each year. It is a major contributing factor to crimes like domestic violence, sexual assault and homicide. Marijuana use … is absent in that regard from both crime reports and the scientific literature. There is simply no causal link to be found.”

Columnist Bernd Debusmann has been a guest on the NORML Daily Audio Stash… and will be again!

From the Denver Post:

Coloradans say they are doing less hard drinking than they did in the past few years but say they are more likely to smoke pot, according to a two-year federal assessment to be released today.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health found Colorado was the only state to log a decrease in those who think they are at risk to binge- drink since the last study completed in 2006, from 29.8 percent in the previous study to 25.8 percent in the most recent.

Meanwhile, Colorado is one of seven states that notched “significant” increases in teens and adults who say they are more likely to smoke pot at least once a month than those who participated in the last government survey.

“We’ve been saying for some time that many adults want a safer alternative to drinking,” said Mason Tvert, executive director of the Denver-based pot-legalization group Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, which has passed two pro-pot public votes in the city since 2006.

The increase in stoners could logically be tied to the rocky economy, said Tvert, co-author of a book to be released in August that measures the economics of getting buzzed, “Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Do We Drive People to Drink?”

The report also puts Colorado among the top 10 states for:

• The highest illicit-drug use in every age category.
• Failure of teens and adults who need alcohol treatment to receive it.
• Survey takers using cocaine in the past year.

The report and raw numbers for each state, to be released today, will be posted at oas.samhsa.gov/2k7state/TOC.cfm.

Even though the previous drug czar, John Walters, commonly characterized Americans as stupid for choosing a safer alternative, it’s not stupid.

We all know that alcohol kills brain cells, impairs judgment, and has a measurable addiction rate. Alternatively, Cannabis – when consumed responsibly – can help one’s health and happiness.

I’m proud of you folks who live in Colorado for choosing a safer alternative! Lead the charge, Lead the Country and Free the Weed!

[I'll testify - these Coloradoans are not only smoking more pot, it's really good pot! -- "R"R]

The Colorado-based Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), which drafted the document, contends that the criminalization of marijuana is inconsistent with the legal status of alcohol. The organization argues that the high penalties colleges and universities dole out for marijuana use force students to revert to alcohol as a recreational alternative.

“[Colleges and universities] are sending a dangerous message that fosters and perpetuates a ‘culture of alcohol’ on campuses nationwide, and drives students to drink rather than make the rational, safer choice to use marijuana instead,” the Emerald Initiative website, safercampuses.org, states. “Marijuana is safer than alcohol. It’s time we treat it that way.”

The Emerald Initiative is a more radical offshoot of the Amethyst Initiative, a national petition circulated last summer which called on college and university presidents to support lowering the drinking age to 18 in an effort to curb high-risk binge drinking.

Following the passage of the Drug-Free Student Loan Act of 1998, students convicted of possessing or distributing marijuana or any other type of narcotic stand to lose federal student loans.

Such government legislation is based on “entirely arbitrary reasons” that foster dangerous recreation patterns, SAFER executive director Mason Tvert told The Daily Pennsylvanian. “The government and universities clearly acknowledge that alcohol is a problem on campuses, but all their policies to prevent it — ‘Drink Responsibly’ campaigns, for example — just promote the notion that students should be drinking.”

via – The Daily Princetonian “Emerald Initiative fights marijuana use penalties“

You will never find an activist quicker to jump on a media opportunity than Mason Tvert of SAFER.  Yesterday I told you of the campus controversy at the University of Georgia, where our NORML chapter there made a “Legalize” t-shirt featuring the Georgia bulldog and the famous Arch (click link for pics).  I hadn’t even considered the fact that UGA logos appear all over alcohol-related products…

ATHENS — Controversy erupted at the University of Georgia late Wednesday afternoon after university officials threatened to throw a student organization off campus for producing T-shirts that call for the legalization of marijuana and feature a drawing of UGA mascot Hairy Dawg smoking a marijuana cigarette. Students responded Wednesday evening by teaming up with a national non-profit organization to launch a “Stop the Hypocrisy” campaign in defense of the shirts and their political statement, and highlighting UGA’s use of its logo and mascot to promote alcohol use. More information is available at the campaign’s Web site.

Georgia NORML at UGA will hold a news conference and demonstration Thursday at 12:15 p.m. in front of the UGA Campus Bookstore in Tate Plaza, at which students will be wearing the controversial T-shirts and displaying examples of officially licensed UGA alcohol paraphernalia purchased by students in the campus bookstore.

Statement from SAFER Executive Director Mason Tvert:

“Hairy Dawg is a public figure, and these T-shirts clearly constitute political satire. Surely UGA’s lawyers are aware of the sound legal precedent that protects the freedom to such political speech. The administration simply dislikes the marijuana-related content of that speech.

Every objective study on marijuana has concluded that it is far safer than alcohol both to the user and to society. Alcohol contributes to overdose deaths, injuries, sexual assaults and date rapes, whereas the use of marijuana does not. Why is it okay for UGA put its logos on shot glasses and other alcohol-related paraphernalia — and sell it to students and visitors at the campus bookstore — but not okay for Georgia NORML to depict Hairy Dawg making the safer choice to use marijuana instead?

UGA officials should leave Georgia NORML alone and stop sending a dangerous ‘alcohol-only’ message to students.”

This just in from Mason Tvert at SAFER Choice:

Thousands of serious crimes take place every year in Richland County, South Carolina, including murders, rapes, assaults, and robberies. And although the Web site for Richland Sheriff Leon Lott lists dozens of unsolved homicides, his office has been spending vast amounts of time and resources pursuing a case against U.S. swimming star Michael Phelps… for SUSPECTED MARIJUANA USE!

Click on the link below today to send an e-mail to Sheriff Lott, telling him to stop pursuing a case against Michael Phelps and start focusing on serious crimes. It will only take about 30 seconds!

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5559/t/4030/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=2552

The Richland County Sheriff’s Department has arrested eight people who attended the University of South Carolina party where Phelps was photographed smoking out of a bong. Sheriff Lott publicly vowed that Phelps would not receive special treatment because of his celebrity, but a former prosecutor and defense lawyer for one of the men arrested said the sheriff is clearly targeting Phelps. “There’s no question that this would not have occurred the way it did if Michael Phelps was not involved,” said defense attorney Dick Harpootlian, a former Richland County district attorney who oversaw many drug cases. “It’s silly that they’ve taken eight kids and arrested them like this. I don’t think it’s a valid use of very limited law enforcement resources.”

If you agree that Sheriff Lott’s pursuit of Phelps is ridiculous and a waste of time and resources, please click on the following link and tell him to drop the case immediately:

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5559/t/4030/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=2552

Thank you for taking action and “Leaning on Lott” in support of safer marijuana laws and policies!