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Hemp Headlines

Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

1. NORML Attorneys file federal lawsuits in California to fight crackdown on medical marijuana
2. Maine’s 1st medical marijuana expo deemed a success
3. Rhode Island finds no greater teen use of marijuana following passage of medical marijuana law

Daily Toker Tunes

Roots Monday: Brought to you by “Radical” Russ

• Four Jumps of Jive – “Satchelmouth Baby”

NORML Legal Committee

• Attorney Matt Kumin explanins the legal arguments in his new suits against the federal government for the crackdown on medical marijuana in California

Radical Rant

• Online Resources for Drug Law Reformers: The SAMHDA and NSDUH

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Hemp Headlines

Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

1. Utah Attorney General welcomes legislative action to create medical marijuana law, just completed colon cancer treatments and “understands”
2. Korean rapper Crown J. gets 8 months in Korean jail for using marijuana… in Atlanta, Georgia.
3. Michigan reaps $8 million in medical marijuana program profits in just two years
4. Grants Pass woman rolls over in Portland-to-Boston trafficking scheme

Daily Toker Tunes

Brought to you by CannaBob and The Viper Hour on The NORML Network

• Roots Monday: Ian Moore Band – “Champagne and Reefer”

NORML Legal Committee

• Keith Stroup, NORML Legal Counsel and Founder, on Aspen Legal Seminar, Kentucky v. King, Washington State’s employment discrimination case against medical marijuana patients, update on federal legalization bills

Radical Rant

• Oregon legislators sneak 2X-4X fee increase on medmj patients into budget

FINALLY!  A Supreme Court decision this week I can wholeheartedly support!  Huge congratulations goes to NORML Legal Committee attorney Leland Berger who argued the case with assistance from another NLC’er, John Lucy.

(Albany Times-Union) GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon Supreme Court has ruled that retired bus driver Cynthia Willis can have her medical marijuana and her concealed handgun, too.

The court ruled Thursday that a federal law barring criminals and drug addicts from buying firearms does not excuse sheriffs from issuing concealed weapons permits to people who qualify, including those who hold medical marijuana cards.

Willis says she feels “like a big girl now” because the court found medical marijuana patients should be treated like everyone else.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Ore-court-rules-medical-pot-users-can-have-guns-1386735.php#ixzz1MoyeHdwg

"Counter-culture" activists for NORML (L-R) Keith Stroup, Assem. Tom Ammiano, PBS Host Rick Steves... crazy hippies!

From time to time on blogs I read a complaint about NORML, like this one:

NORML hasn’t accomplish­ed anything since the disco era!  They haven’t done a damn thing in the last 30 years!  Paul A is the only good thing NORML has going; aside from him, this movement wouldn’t even notice if NORML ceased existing.

I will concur that Paul Armentano is an MVP All-Star in marijuana law reform.  You cannot find a person better educated on the science of marijuana.

But to conclude Paul is the “only good thing NORML has going” is to disparage the incredible work being done by hundreds of grassroots activists working in the NORML chapter network.  To wit:

More "counter-culture" activists with NORML

Chris Goldstein, Anne Davis, & NORML NJ – instrumental in negotiations with New Jersey lawmakers to bring about Gov. Corzine’s signature on the law making it the nation’s 15th medical marijuana state.

Derek Rosenzweig & PhillyNORML – uncovered and published research on Philadelphia’s racial bias in marijuana enforcement leading to a change in policy to end arrests of low level marijuana consumers in the city.

Another couple of "hippies"

Michigan NORML and MassCann/NORML laid the groundwork for 2008′s medical marijuana and decriminalization, respectively, in Michigan and Massachusetts by passing numerous municipal measures in support of marijuana.

Madeline Martinez and Oregon NORML led negotiations with lawmakers to set medical marijuana limits to 24 ounces and 24 plants, the highest statewide statutory limits in the nation (along with Washington State).

The "grass" in "grassroots" - so counter-culture!

Dale Gieringer, Bill Panzer, and California NORML helped co-author Prop 215 in California, worked for the clarifications found in SB420, worked with Assem. Ammiano to produce the first legalization bill in decades, helped shepherd the latest California decrim measure to Schwarzenegger’s desk, and are organizing with Prop 19′s leaders for a new legalization initiative in 2012.

Kandice Hawes and Orange County NORML held the nation’s first medical marijuana conference specifically for seniors… across the street from Disneyland!

No wonder "normal" people won't join... look at these two!

Mary Mackenzie (apologies for the original name misspell – I sure know what that’s like!), AZ4NORML, and Phoenix NORML were the foot soldiers gathering the signatures that got MPP’s Arizona Prop 203 on the ballot.

Kelly Maddy, Joplin NORML, Dan Viets, Missouri NORML, all worked in Missouri to pass lowest-law-enforcement and other municipal initiatives.

These guys have done nothing since the disco era...

Ben Masel, Gary Storck, Madison NORML all have lobbied intensively for the Jackie Rickert Medical Marijuana Act, moving it farther along in the legislative process every year.

Colorado NORML, Mile High NORML, have worked with SAFER on their initiatives, gathering signatures that lead to Denver’s legalization and other low-priority initiatives.

Obviously too tie-dyed and love-beaded to make any difference

Isaias Valdez and Idaho NORML are beginning the grassroots education and activism in one of the most anti-marijuana states in the nation; the state currently has a medical marijuana bill in the legislature and the group is following up with a citizen’s initiative.

John & Heather Masterson in Montana NORML, battling to mitigate the perception of abuse of medical marijuana created by unethical “ganjapreneurs” and most recenlty providing live coverage of the DEA raids in Montana.

Sure, they're doctors... but they're "pot" doctors!

Then there are the hundreds of attorneys who make up the NORML Legal Committee, who have donated thousands of hours of pro bono time helping average cannabis consumers avoid jail and retain voting rights, also working on new laws.  For example:

Jeff Blackburn, who kept an AIDS patient out of a Texas prison with an affirmative defense that a jury agreed with in only 11 minutes of deliberation.  The patients’ original public defender only offered a plea deal that would have meant six months of drug testing that would’ve left the patient without his medicine, wasting away.

And that whole "boobs and buds" issue turns women off to the cause...

Doug Hiatt, who fought for the life of Hep C patient Tim Garon, denied a liver transplant because his legal medical marijuana use in Washington State made him a “drug addict” in the eyes of the hospital.  Hiatt is now behind the Sensible Washington effort to fully legalize by citizen initiative.

Let’s not forget the national staff (like me) who constantly educate, advocate, interview, debate, advertise, litigate, lobby, and keep the conversation on marijuana legalization moving forward.

No wonder nobody wants to legalize pot - look at these people!

I’ve already written way too much for a comment and that is just reviewing my own memory of NORML Activism within the four years I’ve worked for NORML.  And remember, aside from the lawyers (sometimes), NONE of these activists made a single dime for performing these heroic acts.

As far as I’m concerned, all of the groups involved in marijuana law reform have an important role to play.  It’s like the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard – we have different jobs and different specializations in service of the same goal.  Sure, we have internecine grudges and rivalries.  Just as jarheads goad sailors, just as grunts tease flyboys, drug war reform groups may also grouse about each other, but when the rubber hits the road, we’re all fighting for the good ol’ U S of A.

For me personally, there are some important differences.  DPA is about drug policy – they think drug prohibition sucks.  MPP is about marijuana policy – they think marijuana prohibition sucks.  SAFER is about offering choice – they think alcohol sucks compared to marijuana.  ASA is about medical marijuana – they are silent on healthy people’s use.  LEAP is about cops’ expression of drug war failure – they think drug prohibition sucks.

NORML, of all the groups, is the one that doesn’t just think marijuana prohibition sucks, but that cannabis use is a positive.  We’re not just anti-prohibition, we’re pro-cannabis!

Finally, to the disparagement of the counter-culture you believe NORML represents: in actuality, most of our NORML Affiliate and Chapter leaders are far from what anyone would consider “hippie”.  Anne Davis, head of NORML NJ, is a successful attorney and mother of two.  Tonya Davis, head of Central Ohio NORML, is a disabled patient in a wheelchair.  Clif Deuvall, head of NORML of Waco Texas, is a disabled veteran.  Isaias Valdez, head of Idaho NORML, is a clean-cut college student.  I can’t speak to what you may have seen from NORML in the 1980′s or 90′s, but I know since my involvement I have never met a better representative group of average cannabis consumers.  In my tenure, we have instituted sixty new state, local, and college affiliates, so it seems to me plenty of people are eager to organize under the NORML banner.

There is a drug reform group for everyone.  I don’t care what acronym you want to associate with so long as you’re on this side of the battle over prohibition.  But to dismiss and disparage NORML’s role in the war is to vilify the most committed activists in the battle – the ones not doing it for some billionaire’s largess.  If you think someone might not support ending prohibition because someone in a NORML T-shirt might have long hair, piercings, or tattoos, then you aren’t very good at illustrating the need to end the drug war.

Russ Belville

NORML Outreach Coordinator

P.S. If you really want to know what is going on in grassroots reform, check out the podcasts from all around the nation and even England at The NORML Network – http://live.norml.org

Gov. Gary Johnson at NORML National Conference (Cannabis Culture Magazine)

More of the NORML National Conference Audio can be found at Thursday Plenary Audio and Friday Plenary Audio.  The Special Events RSS Feed is here.

Opening Remarks

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 01 – Allen St. Pierre – The Moral Imperative

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 02 – Gov. Gary Johnson – Keynote Address

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 03 – Dustin Sulak – Medical Marijuana Clinical Applications, Physiology and Patient Education

It Can’t Hurt to Ask — Research on Patient Experiences With Medical Cannabis

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 04 – Amanda Reiman, Ph.D, UC Berkeley, Berkeley Patients Group – Medical cannabis as a drug substitute

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 05 – Jenny Janichek, HHC Harm Reduction Clinical Consultant – Cannabis as an ‘exit’ drug

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 06 – Dale Gieringer, Ph.D, California NORML – Patient experiences with CBD-prominent cannabis strains

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 07 – Frank Lucido, MD, Berkeley – Cannabis and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 08 – Philippe Lucas, Vancouver Island Compassion Society – Research on Patient Experiences With Medical Cannabis

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 09 – Research on Patient Experiences With Medical Cannabis panel Questions and Answers

Not Your Father’s Medical Marijuana — Latest Breakthrough in Cannabis Science

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 10 – Mitch Earlywine, Ph.D (SUNYAlbany) – Cannabinoids therapeutics in psychiatric disorders, pros and cons

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 11 – Jahan Marcu, Temple University – Anti-cancer properties of cannabinoids and implications for clinical applications

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 12 – Paul Armentano, Deputy Director, NORML – Moving beyond symptom management

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 13 – Michelle Sexton, MD, U of WA School of Medicine – Anti-inflammatory properties of cannabinoids and implications for clinical applications

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 14 – Greg Carter, MD, U of WA School of Medicine – Cannabinoids as neuroprotectants

The Future of Medical Cannabis Distribution

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 15 – Rielle Capler, Canadians for Safe Access – Proscons of Canadian government distribution model

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 16 – Bill Panzer, Esq., NORML Board of Directors – Latest developments in CA, esp. LA ordinance and QPA v Anaheim

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 17 – Leland Berger, Esq., NORML Legal Committee – Procons of proposed Oregon dispensary measure

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 18 – Warren Edson, Esq., NORML Legal Committee – Proscons of Colorado dispensary regulations

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 19 – Matt Abel, Esq., NORML Legal Committee – Grey market for medical dispensaries in Michigan

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 20 – Cisco McSorley, New Mexico State Senator – Improvements needed in the NM distribution system

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 21 – Jill Harris, Director of Public Policy, Drug Policy Alliance – East coast, state regulated dispensary models (RI, ME, NJ)

Which Way For Medical Marijuana?

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 22 – Stephen Gutwillig, Drug Policy Alliance, California – Medical marijuana law reform inherently moves forward broader reform efforts

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 23 – Russ Belville – Do medical marijuana laws pose a ‘boxed canyon’ for broader reform efforts

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 24 – Stephen DeAngelo, CEO, Harborside Health Center – Where Is Flip The Switch Now

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 25 – Steph Sherer, Executive Director, Americans for Safe Access – Medical marijuana is, and should remain, a separate issue from broader reform efforts

Closing Remarks

NORML CON 2010 (SAT) 26 – Paul Armentano, Deputy Director, NORML – The Future of Medical Cannabis Moving Forward and Countering Our Critics

US Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) at NORML National Conference (©2010 by L.K.)

[UPDATE: Added Thursday Break-Out Audio] I’m editing and compressing the audio from NORML Conference as fast as I can. Below are links to our Thursday Plenary audio files, which you can also get by subscribing to our Special Events Feed with iTunes or other MP3 player.

Sabrina Fendrick has also posted a new set of conference photos from the NORML Flickr account here.

Opening Remarks

NORML CON 2010 (THU) 01 – Steve Dillon

NORML CON 2010 (THU) 02 – Allen St. Pierre

NORML CON 2010 (THU) 03 – US Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)

Panel: Just Say Now: Full Legalization, Full Steam Ahead

NORML CON 2010 (THU) 04 – Craig Reinarman, Ph.D, Univ. of California/Santa Cruz

NORML CON 2010 (THU) 05 – David Nott, Executive Director, Reason Foundation

NORML CON 2010 (THU) 06 – Neill Franklin, Executive Director, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)

NORML CON 2010 (THU) 07 – Michael Whitney, FireDogLake.com

Panel: Pot Politics 2010 and Beyond

NORML CON 2010 (THU) 08 – John Sajo, VoterPower (OR Measure 74)

NORML CON 2010 (THU) 09 – Chris Conrad (CA Prop 19)

NORML CON 2010 (THU) 10 – Matt Abel, NORML Legal Committee, Detroit decriminalization initiative

NORML CON 2010 (THU) 11 – Dale Gieringer, CA NORML, CA SB 1449 (decrim)

NORML CON 2010 (THU) 12 – Chris Goldstein, Pennsylvanians for Medical Marijuana, PA medical use legislation

NORML CON 2010 (THU) 13 – Bill Piper, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, DC dispensary system

Breakout Panel: Tools for Activists

NORML CON 2010 (THU) 14 – Russ Belville, NORML Outreach Coordinator, Using Data to Make Your Case for Legalization

NORML CON 2010 (THU) 15 – Garret Overstreet, Executive Director Tulsa NORML – Leveraging the Power of the Internet and Social Networks

NORML CON 2010 (THU) 16 – Anthony Johnson, Co-Chief Petitioner Oregon Measure 74 – Ballot Initiatives, Local and Statewide, from Concept to Ballot

(Redding.com) Gun shop manager Patrick Jones says he wants to sell as many firearms as he can.

But Jones won’t do business with known medical cannabis patients, such as Army Spc. Sean Merritt, an honorably discharged and disabled veteran.

That refusal has drawn criticism from Merritt, [Executive Director of NorCal NORML,] and other medical marijuana advocates, who have twice gone to Redding City Council chambers to denounce Jones, who happens to be mayor, for violating patients’ rights.

“There is nothing in state law that says I cannot own or possess a firearm,” Merritt said at a recent council meeting. “And to be told as such is branding me as a severe mental patient or a felon. I am neither.”

NorCal NORML Executive Director Sean Merritt (photo by ANDREAS FUHRMANN)

Jones has said he is merely following the law – in this case, a federal law that forbids gun dealers from selling firearms to anyone who is “an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana.”

Would-be gun owners are required to fill out a federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) form that poses questions about the buyer’s criminal history, mental health, citizenship and drug use.

Along with marijuana, Question 11e on the ATF form asks about “any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance.”

If a buyer marks “yes” to Question 11e, the sale cannot go forward, Jones said.

I have long been pointing out to my conservative gun-owning family and friends back in Idaho that the War on Drugs is just a convenient way to disarm otherwise law-abiding citizens.  Any felony crime involving marijuana and guns – even when it is your lawfully-owned hunting rifle or “can gun” – invokes enhanced mandatory minimum penalties.

But now with legal medical marijuana in fourteen states, even law-abiding citizens are given the choice between their health and their Second Amendment rights.  Often these medical marijuana patients are growing their own, so as not to pay expensive dispensary prices or fund the black market.  These people, like Washington’s Steve Sarich, are the ones who most need their firearms for home protection from criminals who would rob them of their medicine.

(Volokh Conspiracy) The AP reports that Steve Sarich — who “runs CannaCare, an organization that claims 7,000 members in the state,” which among other things “provides patients with marijuana clones or starter plants and delivers about 50 patients a week with usable marijuana” — has been told by the King County Sheriff’s Office that he may not buy a gun.

The federal law underlying the prohibition is 18 U.S.C. § 922, which bars possession of guns by (among others) anyone “who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance,” and bars transfers of guns to such people. The sheriff’s office reported that the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System “informed us that possession of a medical drug card is sufficient to establish an inference of current use,” and that therefore the sheriff’s office can’t approve the transfer of a gun to Sarich.

Sarich had been trying to buy guns to replace ones seized by investigators who were investigating a burglary and attempted robbery at Sarich’s home; Sarich had shot one of the robbers. Sarich is also being investigated by the Sheriff’s Office “for potential violations of the state’s medical-marijuana law.” The sheriff’s office “insists he was making a handsome profit selling marijuana and starter plants and charging patients for attending the clinics,” and claims that Sarich has had many more plants than he is allowed to possess under state law. But the ostensible reason for the background check coming up with a no-sale result was the possession of the card, not any past conviction — Sarich has not been convicted of the drug crimes that the sheriff’s department is investigating.

Here in Oregon, we’ve reported on the case of Steven Schwerdt, who was denied his concealed handgun permit by Washington County Sheriff Rob Gordon.  He’s the sheriff who also thinks of the medical marijuana laws as “advice” and regularly posts the general locations of the medical marijuana grow sites in his county.

(The Daily News) Sheriffs from Washington and Jackson counties say, though, that they want clarification from the court on whether federal gun laws prohibiting illegal drug users from possessing handguns applies to people who have permits to use marijuana for medical reasons. Marijuana is still classified as a controlled substance under federal law, they said.

Lower courts had twice ordered the two sheriffs to give weapons permits to people who had lost them because they are medical marijuana users, and both appealed those rulings.

Medical marijuana users who meet all other criteria cannot be deprived of the right to a concealed handgun permit, said [NORML Legal Committee Attorney] Leland Berger, who helped write Oregon’s medical marijuana law.

“What this is about is that the sheriffs don’t like the medical marijuana law. Twelve years after it was approved by voters, the sheriffs want to discriminate against patients,” he said.

Steven Schwerdt said he had a concealed handgun permit for six years before the Washington county sheriff’s office revoked it when he became a medical marijuana user.

“I’m no criminal; I’m just a guy who can’t physically run away from dangerous situations,” said Schwerdt, who uses medical marijuana to relieve the symptoms of severe arthritis and gout.

(WestWord) Today should turn out to be a very good St. Paddy’s Day for Colin Olmstead, since he’ll be getting a whole lot of green from the Arapahoe County DA’s office — and by green, we mean two pounds of pot.

Olmstead had the marijuana confiscated in Arapahoe County over a year ago during a routine traffic stop. His lawyer, Rob Corry, says he was in the process of delivering the pot to a dispensary called Cherry Creek Health, but didn’t say anything about that to the officers at the time out of respect for his patients’ confidentiality.

Soon after, however, Corry says Olmstead told the authorities the contraband was medical marijuana and produced paperwork showing enough patients who had previously designated him their caregiver to justify the amount of weed he had in his car. While it apparently took them a while to make a decision, it was enough for the DA’s office to drop the case and return the cannabis.

Whenever police are forced to give marijuana to people, another little crack forms in that wall of prohibition.

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Hemp Headlines

1. Robert Whaley, former NBA Utah Jazz player, gets pulled over at 4:30 in the morning and has ten bags of weed in his butt
2. Illinois preacher on the warpath against blunt wrappers
3. K2 story – now the chemist that created JWH-018 speaks out against its use

Daily Toker Tunes

Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

• Roots Monday: Canadian Celtic Cowboy – “Green Man”

Grassroots Activism – Oregon NORML’s Cardholder Meeting

• Oregon NORML Executive Director Madeline Martinez
• NORML Founder Keith Stroup
• Oregon NORML Legal Counsel Paul Loney
• NORML Legal Committee attorney John C. Lucy IV
• NORML Outreach Coordinator “Radical” Russ Belville

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Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2010-02-23.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

1. New Mexico’s veterans experiencing federal VA offices that won’t allow doctors to assist a patient receive medical marijuana in any way
2. Michael Mineo’s case against NYPD officers he claimed sodomized him with a baton over a pot smoking offense ends in acquittal for all three officers
3. California’s Bryan Epis runs out of appeals and is headed back to federal prison for growing medical marijuana

Daily Toker Tunes

• electric Tuesday: Ris Paul Ric – “Purple Blaze”

Cannabis Conversations

• Alison Holcomb from ACLU of Washington explains why the ACLU will not be supporting the I-1068 legalization initiative
• Douglas Hiatt from NORML Legal Committee rebuts ACLU’s position on his I-1068 initiative

California Marijuana Report with Eric Brenner