The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, in collaboration with noted travel author and NORML Advisory Board Member Rick Steves, is launching a multimedia public-education campaign to encourage communities take part in an “honest, candid discussion” regarding America’s marijuana policies.

ACLU Washington head Kathleen Taylor kicks off this new campaign with a heartfelt plea in today’s Seattle Times.

Let’s Talk About Marijuana
by Kathleen Taylor

As parents, we want to shield our children from harm and reserve certain choices for when they are old enough to understand the risks and repercussions. Certainly, this is as true of marijuana as it is of alcohol and tobacco. But just as certainly, and as most teenagers will tell you, it is easier for them to buy marijuana than beer or cigarettes. Our marijuana laws don’t work. I know it. You know it. Scores of our neighbors know it.

But no one is talking. Most of us have our own ideas about what should be done, but this has to be a decision that we make as a community. Too much is riding on this issue not to have an honest, candid discussion. Please join us in the conversation.

Read the full story here.

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 pled 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.

More after the jump…

Full Story

Below is this week’s summary of pending state legislation and tips to help you become involved in changing the laws in your state.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: On Tuesday, March 18, the House of Representatives will vote on House Bill 1623, which seeks to decriminalize marijuana possession. If you have not already done so, please contact your Representative and urge him or her to vote “yes” on HB 1623. Also, if you reside near the New Hampshire State House, you may wish to meet up with other local activists on Tuesday morning to watch the proceedings and show your support for sensible marijuana law reform.

RHODE ISLAND: Legislation seeking to authorize non-profit organizations to provide medical cannabis to state qualified patients was introduced in Rhode Island House and Senate. If passed, this first-of-its-kind law would provide patients with a regulated, legal market for medical marijuana. To learn how you can support this effort, please click here and here.

ALABAMA: Legislation seeking to make Alabama the thirteenth state to allow for the legal medical use of cannabis was introduced this week and referred to the House Judiciary Committee. If enacted, House Bill 679 (aka The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act) would allow patients with a doctor’s recommendation to grow up to 12 plants or possess up to 2.5 ounces of therapeutic cannabis. To get involved in supporting this bill, please visit NORML’s Take Action Center here.

ILLINOIS: A legislative subcommittee voted 5 to 5 this week to table a bill that sought to grant police the option of citing minor marijuana offenders rather than arresting them. A separate House committee also voted down legislation this week that sought to establish a statewide medical marijuana program. The Senate version of this bill is expected to go before the Illinois Senate in April. To help support this effort, please click here.

The British press enjoys a cozier relationship with their government than their American counterparts. Perhaps this is the reason why the British media has campaigned shoulder to shoulder with Parliament to recriminalize cannabis — just four years after bureaucrats made its possession a verbal infraction.

Just last week, NORML reported on a BBC television reporter’s absurd ‘documentary’ that purportedly showed the “dramatic” and “unpleasant” effects of marijuana by injecting herself with pure THC on film-a manner of administering cannabis that no recreational user would ever engage in.

With this in mind, we were hardly surprised to see this recent headline from across the Atlantic: Cannabis-smoking mum stabbed herself to death. Never mind that she was on meth and thought her dog was talking to her.

Excerpts after the jump.

Full Story

UN Drug Czar Antonio Maria Costa made a rare appearance before the drug law reform community last November when he gave the keynote address at the Drug Policy Alliance’s bi-annual conference in New Orleans. It appears that we made quite an impression.

Speaking in Vienna this week, Costa commented on his brief appearance with this ad hominem attack:

“I attended the meeting of the Drug Alliance [DPA] in New Orleans last December, 1200 participants, 1000 lunatics, 200 good people to talk to. The other ones obviously on drugs.” 

Of course, the idea of Mr. Costa — who just yesterday told the New York Times that pot use poses a greater danger to society than the use of cocaine or heroin — calling us crazy would be ironic if it wasn’t so insulting.

That said, unlike Mr. Costa, I’ve chosen not to articulate my thoughts with epithets. Rather, I’ve decided to simply post some of Mr. Costa’s previous statements and let the readers decide who is “obviously on drugs.”

Full Story

Reason Magazine has an excellent essay analyzing the rapid growth of workplace drug testing, and documenting how these odious programs have become a billion dollar industry.  Here’s a snippet:

The Golden Age — How Americans learned to stop worrying and love workplace drug testing

Observers still debate how much safer and more productive drug testing makes the workplace. But there’s at least one outfit that has no complaints about its efficacy. Forty million drug tests at an average of $30 a pop equals a $1.2 billion subsidy the federal government receives from the private sector each year to help prosecute its endless War on Drugs.

You can read the full text here.

I wrote a similar essay for Reason back in 2005 documenting the rise of DATIA, the Drug & Alcohol Testing Industries Association, which you can access here.

It’s the war on drugs!

Ending America’s Domestic Quagmire

via LewRockwell.com

In contrast to politicians who call for a review of the U.S. military’s Middle East policies, few lawmakers are demanding a timetable to bring about a cease-fire to the war on drugs – or are even calling for a reduction in the number of “troops” (i.e., narcotics detectives, DEA agents, et cetera) serving on the front lines. They ought to. If American lawmakers want to take a serious look at the United States’ war strategies, let them begin by reassessing – and ending – their failed war here at home.

Read the full essay here.

Are you planning to travel anytime soon on the beautiful highways and byways of Arizona? Were you planning on cannabis being part of that journey? Well, forewarned is forearmed! Cannabis consumers and medical patients who use cannabis need to know about law enforcement efforts in the greater southwest United States, notably in Arizona.

Full Story

Take a closer look at how the mainstream media lies about cannabis.

Full Story

When trying to make fair assessments and analysis regarding where at any particular place in time the now almost 40-year old public advocacy campaign to repeal cannabis prohibition laws is, while data, scholarly reports and budget priorities are all helpful, so too are tea leaves. Cultural ‘tea leaves’.

When reading the jaw-dropping column in Time this morning, penned by the award-winning team of writers from the provocative—and often spot on—‘The Wire’, broadcast on HBO, I had tears landing in my lap.

Full Story