[The latest upgrade to WordPress 2.5.1 has wiped out my style sheets. So that’s why the Stash site looks funny today. I’m working hard on getting it fixed, please be patient.]
It’s Thursday, May 15th and it’s 4:20 somewhere in the world. I’m your host, “Radical” Russ Belville and this is your NORML Daily Audio Stash.
Don’t forget to get on the phone and call your Congress at 202-224-3121. Tell your representative to support Ron Paul’s HR5842, the bill to end DEA raids in medical marijuana states, and Barney Frank’s HR5843, the bill to end federal penalties for personal possession of marijuana.
Today on the Daily Audio Stash we’re speaking with NORML Founder and Legal Counsel Keith Stroup, who will update us on the outcome of his trial in Massachusetts on charges he smoked a doobie in public at the Boston Freedom Rally.
Cannabis Karri brings us more island beats with some reggae from Mikey Dread. This Jamaican dub hit is called “Dizzy (Herb Smoker)”. Though he passed from this earth in March, his music lives on and infuses us all with that irie vibe.
Then we’ll finish up with Charles Thomas from the Interfaith Drug Policy Alliance. He’s here to tell us about support for medical marijuana in Minnesota from the clergy of many denominations and their efforts to convince the governor to not veto the upcoming medical marijuana bill.
We’ve got a lot to cover, so sit back and relax with Bong Crosby and your favorite strain and enjoy your NORML Daily Audio Stash…
[The latest upgrade to WordPress 2.5.1 has wiped out my style sheets. So that’s why the Stash site looks funny today. I’m working hard on getting it fixed, please be patient.]
The Harvard Crimson :: News :: Law Prof Argues Marijuana Trial
Most marijuana users who get caught smoking a joint summarily pay a fine, but when an undercover police officer detained Richard E. Cusick and R. Keith Stroup, the two chose instead to challenge the constitutionality of Massachusetts laws banning marijuana for the first time in 30 years.
Arrested for sharing a marijuana cigarette at the annual Boston Freedom Rally in September, Cusick and Stroup turned to Harvard Law School professor Charles R. Nesson for legal counsel. Nesson and his clients acknowledged that they had used the illegal drug, and decided upon an unusual defense: they argued that the statute outlawing marijuana in Massachusetts has no “rational basis,” and that the jury has the power of jury nullification, or ruling a defendant innocent while recognizing that he or she had violated a law.
Both co-defendants built their careers around marijuana: Cusick is associate publisher of the well-known marijuana magazine, High Times, and Stroup is the founder of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. They said that they do not believe marijuana to be a social ill.
Nesson said he had hoped that several experts—including Lester S. Grinspoon, an associate professor emeritus at Harvard Medical School, and Jeffrey A. Miron, director of undergraduate studies in economics—would be allowed to testify to the harmlessness of marijuana.
But the defendants were not granted an evidentiary hearing, and the jury found them guilty of marijuana possesion after deliberating briefly. The judge sentenced them to one day in prison, which they had already served the day they were arrested.
“The idea that they were found guilty of a crime was just crushing to me,” Nesson said in an interview yesterday.
Although Nesson plans to file an appeal, it is unlikely that an appellate court will rule to change the verdict.
Be sure to download today’s Daily Audio Stash for my conversation with Keith Stroup about his sentence and conviction.
NORML Blog » Blog Archive » NORML’s Weekly Legislative Round Up
NEBRASKA: In a major victory for pot-law reformers, Legislative Bill 844 – which sought to recriminalize minor marijuana possession offenses in Nebraska — has been amended. Under current state law, first-time marijuana possession offenses are punishable by a non-criminal citation and a $100 fine. As introduced, LB 844 sought to impose a sentence of up to 90 days in jail for first-time marijuana offenders. As amended, the proposal would increase the maximum fine for pot possession to $300, but would not impose criminal sanctions. The bill now awaits action from full legislature.
CALIFORNIA: California’s Dale Gieringer submitted written testimony opposing Assembly Bill 2389, which seeks to require drug testing for recipients of certain state benefits or cash assistance. Gieringer will testify before the Committee on Human Services in opposition to the proposal at a legislative hearing on Tuesday, April 1. Gieringer will also testify at an upcoming hearing in support of AB 2279, which seeks to end state employment discrimination against qualified medical cannabis patients.
HAWAII: The House Judiciary this week passed an amended resolution (HCR 49) that seeks to allow for state-qualified farmers to provide medical cannabis to authorized patients. The Senate Judiciary is expected to vote imminently on a separate measure, House Bill 2675, which seeks to establish a legislative task force to study issues pertaining to the legal supply of medical marijuana for authorized patients.
And finally, in non-state related legislative news, several newspaper columnists and editorial boards this week have endorsed Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank’s pending legislation to strip the federal government of its authority to arrest responsible cannabis consumers.
NORML Blog » Blog Archive » High Times Publisher and NORML Founder Mount Legal Challenge to Massachusetts Pot Laws!
On Saturday, September 15, 2007, NORML Founder Keith Stroup and High Times associate publisher Rick Cusick were arrested for smoking a joint at the 18th annual Boston Freedom Rally on the Boston Common. This is an event held each year to protest the continued arrest of responsible cannabis consumers in that state, and depending on the weather, it attracts from 15,000 to 50,000 supporters to the Common.
Keith and Rick have candidly acknowledged that they were sharing a joint, but they have pleaded not guilty and announced their intentions to challenge the constitutionality of the Massachusetts marijuana laws, and to argue for a jury instruction informing the jurors of their common law power to refuse to convict an individual, if they do not believe the offense should be a criminal matter. This long-held power of jurors is generally called jury nullification.
Marijuana Laws on Trial - NORML WHAT: A Press Conference on a Constitutional Challenge to Massachusetts’ Marijuana Laws and a Request for a Special Jury Instruction
On March 20, 2008, Keith Stroup, founder of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), and Rick Cusick, associate publisher of High Times magazine, will discuss the constitutional challenge they are mounting to the marijuana laws of Massachusetts. This challenge is part of their defense against the charge of possessing a joint on Boston Common last fall at a public gathering to protest marijuana’s prohibition. Stroup and Cusick will also discuss their plans to request a special jury instruction on the right to jury nullification.
Their attorneys — Professor Charles Nesson of Harvard Law School, Matthew Feinberg of Feinberg and Kamholtz, and Steven Epstein from Georgetown, Massachusetts — will join Stroup and Cusick at the press conference. Retired Harvard Medical School Professor Lester Grinspoon, M.D., who is providing expert medical testimony in support of the constitutional challenge to the state’s marijuana laws, will also be available to answer questions.
WHEN: Thursday, March 20, 2008 — at the conclusion of the pre-trial motions hearing, which is scheduled to begin at 9:00am in Courtroom #10 at the Boston Municipal Court, 24 New Chardon Street, Boston, MA 02114.
WHERE: The press conference will take place less than a mile from the Courthouse, at the Batterymarch Conference Center, 60 Batterymarch Street (inside the Hilton Financial District Hotel), Second Floor, Boston, MA 02110.
Tuesday is Government at Work day on the podcast, and coming up after the news, we’re going to look at the marijuana bills in Massachusetts with Steve Epstein of MassCann/NORML.
After that we go across the pond for some rock’n'roll with The Joint Conspiracy from England and their song “Homegrown”.
Lawmakers consider marijuana legalization
BOSTON — The Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary meets today for a hearing on whether to decriminalize marijuana.
The Legislature is constitutionally required to conduct a hearing on the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy (CSMP) initiative that creates a civil penalty and fine system for individuals possessing up to an ounce of marijuana.
The initiative, House bill No. 4468, is titled “An Act Establishing a Sensible Marijuana Policy for the Commonwealth.”
According to Whitney A. Taylor, the CSMP campaign manager, “by creating a civil penalty system for possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, the initiative will greatly reduce the human and financial costs of current laws. Massachusetts’ taxpayers spend $29.5 million a year just to arrest and book these offenders. Even more costly is the creation of a criminal record for the approximately 7,500 offenders arrested every year.”
Criminal records are entered into the Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) database and result in lifelong punishment, potentially making an individual ineligible for student loans, creating barriers to employment, and barring individuals from many housing opportunities, Taylor said.
Interesting choice of headline, huh? “Marijuana Legalization”, even though lawmakers are considering “decriminalization”. Last I checked, you don’t get a “civil penalty” - a.k.a. “a fine” - for doing something legal. That’s just one of the subtle ways traditional media shows bias against reforming marijuana laws. A large majority of Americans favor “fine only” penalties for recreational marijuana use, but less than half favor “legalization”.
Dr. Earleywine on cannabis and impotence, student drug testing; Paul Armentano on Sen. Kennedy's cancer and cannabis; WA debates medmj limits; music by The Hot Rocks.
Tonya Davis on Ohio medmj bill; Prof. Geraint Osborne on "typical" Canadian cannabis consumers; ABC News picks up transplant story; music by Machine Love.
Chris Fowlie from New Zealand NORML on "J-Day"; Paul Armentano returns with Israeli research on cannabis vs. alcohol and driving; music by Julian Fauth.
Pot’s Effects On Driving Performance Contrast Alcohol’s, Study Says; Survey: One In Seven Public School Districts Drug Test Students; Hawaii: Legislature Approves Medical Marijuana Task Force Measure; Dale Geiringer on CA bills; Jesse Stout on RI bill.
UK Parliament to vote on stiffer pot penalties; Inhaled cannabis reduces neuropathic pain; Keith Stroup goes to trial Monday, will argue constitutionality of Mass. pot laws; interview with Douglas Hiatt, attorney for Tim Garon.
Hepatitis C Patient Denied Transplant Based on State and Doctor Approved Medi-Pot Use; New Study Indicates Cannabis-Associated Psychosis Risk Is Minimal; More Than 230 Cities, 35 Countries To Hold Marijuana Rallies This Weekend
Part 1 of Marijuana Law Reform 2007: State Legislative Reforms and Future Efforts panel at the NORML 2007 Conference. Panelists: Mikki Norris, Joshua Schimburg, Alison Holcomb, Esq., Keith Stroup, Esq., Jesse Stout, Ray Warren, Ethan Nadelmann, Ph.D. Panel chair: Paul Armentano
