Associated Press: “Study Links Drug Enforcement to More Violence”

Just in case this recent CNN headline — “Government: More than 22,000 dead in Mexico drug war” — didn’t make this point crystal clear, we now have a scientific study published by the good folks at International Centre for Science in Drug Policy to drive home the painfully obvious.

Study links drug enforcement to more violence
via The Associated Press

The surge of gunbattles, beheadings and kidnappings that has accompanied Mexico’s war on drug cartels is an entirely predictable escalation in violence based on decades of scientific literature, a new study contends.

A systematic review published Tuesday of more than 300 international studies dating back 20 years found that when police crack down on drug users and dealers, the result is almost always an increase in violence, say researchers at the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy, a nonprofit group based in Britain and Canada.

… In 87 percent of the studies reviewed, intensifying drug law enforcement resulted in increased rates of drug market violence. Some of the studies included in the report said violence increases because power vacuums are created when police kill or arrest top drug traffickers. None showed a significant decrease in violence.

Predictably, Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske — like all prohibitionists — would rather stick his head in the sand than acknowledge the obvious.

When asked whether he believes that legalizing and regulating marijuana — the crop that, according to his own office, provides Mexican drug lords with over 60% of their present profits — would in any way stave this ongoing violence, he responded: “I don’t know of any reason that legalizing something that essentially is bad for you would make it better, from a fiscal standpoint or a public health standpoint or a public safety standpoint.”

Really? So does the Drug Czar favor outlawing alcohol, tobacco, red meat, trans-fats, soda, corn syrup, junk food, caffeine, sugar, and any one of thousands of other products and activities that are “essentially bad for you” too?

And what about those 20,000+ dead since 2006 — many as a direct result of the United State’s prohibitionists policies? The Drug Czar doesn’t believe that staving such violence isn’t benefiting the public’s health? (Answer: You can’t make someone understand when it is in their job description not to.)

Sickeningly, ex-Drug Czar John Walters does Gil K. even one better — reiterating the notion (previously expressed by pending DEA head Michelle Leonheart) that the soaring violence and death south of the border is a sign that U.S. marijuana prohibition is working!

According to the AP: “The former drug czar, John Walters, said the researchers gravely misinterpret drug violence. He said spikes of attacks and killings after law enforcement crackdowns are almost entirely between criminals, and therefore may, in a horrible, paradoxical way, reflect success. ‘They’re shooting each other, and the reason they’re doing that is because they’re getting weaker,’ he said.”

Yes, you read that right. In John Walters’ deluded mind, murder victims Lesley Enriquez, — who worked at the U.S. Consulate and was four months pregnant — and her husband must have been ‘criminals,’ and the rising death toll on the U.S./Mexico border is obviously a human billboard of our success!

It’s now apparent that only a fool — or someone who is paid to act like one — would fail to see that it is time to remove the production and distribution of marijuana out of the hands of violent criminal enterprises and into the hands of licensed businesses. Of course, the only way to do that is through legalization — yet this is a policy that, tragically, remains devoid from the Drug Czar’s, and the President’s, vocabulary.

Employees Should Be Judged By The Quality Of Their Work, Not On The Quality Of Their Urine

[Editor's note: This post is excerpted from this week's forthcoming NORML weekly media advisory. To have NORML's media advisories delivered straight to your in-box, sign up for NORML's free e-zine here.]

Workplace urine testing programs are a poor method for identifying employees who are under the influence, and do not significantly reduce job accident rates, according to a study published in the scientific journal Addiction.

Investigators at the University of Victoria in British Columbia reviewed 20 years of published literature pertaining to the efficacy of workplace drug testing, with a special emphasis on marijuana – the most commonly detected drug.

Researchers found: “[I]t is not clear that heavy cannabis users represent a meaningful job safety risk unless using before work or on the job; urine tests have poor validity and low sensitivity to detect employees who represent a safety risk; drug testing is related to reductions in the prevalence of cannabis positive tests among employees, but this might not translate into fewer cannabis users; and urinalysis has not been shown to have a meaningful impact on job injury/accident rates.”

Authors concluded, “Urinalysis testing is not recommended as a diagnostic tool to identify employees who represent a job safety risk from cannabis use.”

Urinalysis detects the presence of inert, fat soluble byproducts of marijuana, the most common of which remains present in urine for days, weeks, or even months after past use – long after any psychoactive effects of the drug have worn off.

Oregon Supreme Court To Medi-Pot Patients: You Are Second Class Citizens!

[Editor's note: This post is excerpted from this week's forthcoming NORML weekly media advisory. To have NORML's media advisories delivered straight to your in-box, sign up for NORML's free e-zine here.]

An employer may terminate an employee for his or her off-the-job marijuana use, even if the employee is authorized under state law to use cannabis medicinally, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled last week.

In a 5 to 2 decision, the Court determined that an employee who uses marijuana in accordance with state law is nonetheless “engaged in the illegal use of drugs” and may be fired for his or her off-the-job conduct.  Because marijuana remains classified as an illicit Schedule I drug under federal law and may not be legally ‘prescribed’ by a physician, the Court opined that employers should not be mandated to accommodate workers who engage in its use.

“[T]he Controlled Substances Act must authorize a licensed health care professional to prescribe or administer the controlled substance,” the majority determined.  “As noted, under the Controlled Substances Act, physicians may not prescribe Schedule I controlled substances for medical purposes.  … Because employee did not take marijuana under supervision of a licensed health care professional and because the authorization to use marijuana found in ORS 475.306(1) is unenforceable, it follows that employee was currently engaged in the illegal use of drugs and, as the commissioner found, employer discharged employee for that reason.”

Commenting on the Court’s decision, NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: “This ruling isn’t about workplace safety; it’s about the Court upholding discrimination – plain and simple. It is absurd for the majority of the Court to argue that medical marijuana patients are allowed certain protections under state law while simultaneously arguing that these same patients lack the legal right to earn a living.”

Despite the Court’s ruling, the majority stated that the federal Controlled Substances Act does not preempt provisions of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act that exempt patients’ possession, manufacture, or distribution of medical marijuana from state criminal liability.

Writing for the dissent, Justice Martha L. Walters opined: “I do not understand why, in our system of dual sovereigns, Oregon must fly only in federal formation and not, as Oregon’s motto provides, ‘with her own wings.’  Therefore, I cannot join in a decision by which we, as state court judges, enjoin the policies of our own state and preclude our legislature from making its own independent decisions about what conduct to criminalize.”

The Court’s decision overturned a previous decision from the Bureau of Labor and Industries ordering the employer to pay damages, and a Court of Appeals decision affirming that judgment.

In 2006, the Oregon Supreme Court similarly ruled (Washburn v. Columbia Forest Products, Inc.) that employers may fire workers for failing a company mandated drug test for marijuana, even if their use is authorized by state law.

In 2008, the California Supreme Court issued a similar decision (Ross v. Ragingwire Telecom), finding:  “California’s voters merely exempted medical users and their primary caregivers from criminal liability under two specifically designated state statutes. Nothing in the text or history of the Compassionate Use Act suggests the voters intended the measure to address the respective rights and obligations of employers and employees.”

Full text of the Oregon Supreme Court decision (Emerald Steel Fabricators Inc. v. Bureau of Labor and Industries) is available online at: http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/S056265.htm.

Modern Athletes, Marijuana And Reefer Madness: Run Ricky Run

On Tuesday evening, April 27, in its heralded 30 for 30 sports documentary series, ESPN will broadcast in prime time the behind-the-scenes story—and tragedy—of Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams’ unfortuitous rise to pro football fame during this prolonged epoch of cannabis prohibition (which began in 1937).

For college and NFL football fans of the late 1990s, no player has grabbed more controversial headlines, over a longer period of time, for really nothing more than preferring cannabis to alcohol, than Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams.

In a fascinating, multi-year documentary by Sean Pamphilon, a former ESPN producer, for the first time the general public and massive NFL fan base can watch the story that tracks Ricky’s amazingly erratic football career in Run Ricky Run, from his unwillingness to cut his dreads to play for the top-ranked and legendary University of Texas Longhorns (where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1998, college football’s top honor) to the New Orleans Saints where he was a top five draft pick, and finally the Miami Dolphins—all the while dogged by Ricky’s personal choice to continue to use cannabis while hugely influential and powerful institutions in American society (NCAA, U of TX, NFL and corporate sponsors) wrestled with his very personal (and consequential) choice, largely punishing him and making him something of a martyr in professional sports.

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing parts of this fascinating documentary in the past and recommend this final production’s viewing as a way for us all to better understand the intersection of professional athletes, morality, the law and corporate public relations.

*Premieres Tuesday Apr 27 8PM ESPN

-Tuesday Apr 27 (11pm ESPN 2)

-Wednesday Apr 28 (4:30pm ESPN U)

-Wednesday Apr 28 (11pm ESPN U)

-Thursday Apr 29 (7:30pm ESPN 2)

-Thursday Apr 29 (11pm ESPN Classic)

Upcoming Marijuana March Reaches Goal Of 300 Cities Worldwide

NORML hails the passage of another milestone for the Global Marijuana March with Georgetown, Guyana and Ryebrook, NY, as the 299th and 300th cities convening a march, rally, forum or benefit for the reform of cannabis laws on the weekends of Saturday May 1st and May 8th. NORML and numerous other reform groups called for more cities this year to participate so that organizers could meet and surpass their stated goal of more than 200 cities.

Worldwide action is necessary for any outright legalization, since cannabis is largely prohibited globally by a United Nations treaty known as the Single Convention, enacted in 1962 through the efforts of top anti-cannabis zealot Harry Anslinger, the original instigator of U.S. cannabis prohibition in 1937. The U.S. Justice Dept. has cited the UN treaty as one of its principle arguments against medical cannabis rhetorically and Supreme Court cases.

Local NORML chapters are responsible for almost 40 of the protests in the U.S., New Zealand NORML is doing several cities; Norway “NORMAL” is not only marching in Oslo– they’re doing an international website at www.globalmarijuanamarch.com.

NORML welcomes the participation of pro-reform advocates of all stripes. Of course, we’d like you to join NORML, but this is an ecumenical effort to legalize cannabis once and for all. The important thing is to get more cities to participate before next weekend.

There’s still a few more days to call 212-677-7180 or email cnw@cures-not-wars.org to get your city on www.worldwidemarijuanamarch.org.

The Global Marijuana March has events planned in almost every time zone on six continents, including most of the capitols of Europe and South America. Many cities are already signing up for May 7, 2011.

NORML congratulates Cures-not-Wars and worldwide participants for organizing no less than a global march in favor of ending the expensive and failed prohibition of cannabis for responsible adult use. Contact your local and regional media outlets to make sure they cover this global day of protest as a major media event because this many citizens, in over 300 cities worldwide protesting their own governments is by definition a major media event.

Call 212-677-7180 or check the city-by-city listing to get specific information about your region’s march and/or to get your city on www.worldwidemarijuanamarch.org.

Is your city on this huge list?

Abbotsford
Aberdeen
Albany
Albuquerque
Alicante
Alva
Amherst
Amsterdam
Anchorage
Ann Arbor

Arcadia
Athens
Atlanta
Auckland
Aurillac
Austin
Bakersfield
Bangor University
Barcelona
Basel
Belfast
Bellingham
Belmar
Belo Horizonte
Benton Harbor
Berlin
Bermuda
Berne
Bilbao
Binghamton

Birmingham
Birmingham
Boise
Boston
Boulder
Bozeman
Braga
Brasilia
Bridgeton
Brighton

Bristol
Brussels
Budapest
Buenos Aires
Buffalo
Bullhead City
Burlington
Cadiz
Calgary
Cali

Canfield
Cardiff
Cebu City
Champaign-Urbana
Charleston
Charlotte
Charlottesville
Chelyabinsk
Chicago
Chico

Chisinau
Christchurch
Cincinnati
Clemson
Cleveland
Coimbra
Colorado Springs
Columbia
Columbia Falls
Columbus

Comodoro Rivadavia
Concord
Constanta
Copenhagen
Cordoba
Cork
Corpus Christi
Corvallis
Dallas
Denver

Des Moines
Detroit
Dinuba
Dnepropetrovsk
Dover
Duluth
Dunedin
Durban
Edmonton
Elkins

Enid
Eugene
Fayetteville
Flagstaff
Flint
Florianopolis
Fontana
Frankfurt
Fresno
Ft. Bragg

Ft. Collins
Ft. Erie
Ft. Lauderdale
Ft. Meyers
Gainesville
Garberville
Georgetown
Glasgow
Grand Junction
Grand Rapids

Great Falls
Green Bay
Greenville
Hachita
Halifax
Hamilton
Hammond
Hartford
Helena
Helsinki

Hilo
Holland
Homer
Independence
Indianapolis
Istanbul
Jacksonville
Jakarta
Jerusalem
João Pessoa

Johannesburg
Kalamazoo
Kamianets-Podilskyi
Kansas City
Katmandu
Kiev
Kokomo
Lake Isabella
La Laguna
Lansing

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Las Vegas
Lawton
Leek
Lefkosia-Nicosia
Leicester
Lethbridge
Lexington
Lima
Lincoln

Lisboa
Little Rock
London
Longview
Los Angeles
Lyon
Madison
Madrid
Manchester
Manila

Mar del Plata
McAllen
Medford
Medicine Hat
Memphis
Mérida
Mexico City
Miami
Miamitown
Milwaukee

Minneapolis
Missoula
Montevideo
Monterey
Montreal
Montrose
Moscow
Nashville
Nelson
Netanya

Newark
New Brunswick
New Orleans
New York
Nimbin
Nottingham
Odessa
Ogden
Oklahoma City
Olympia

Omaha
Orange
Orlando
Osaka
Oslo
Ottawa
Paducah
Paia
Palm Springs
Paris

Parker
Penticton
Peoria
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Pineville
Pittsburg
Pittsburgh
Portland
Portland

Porto
Porto Alegre
Port of Spain
Potsdam
Prague
Pretoria
Prince George
Pueblo
Quincy
Raleigh

Red Deer
Redding
Regina
Rice Lake
Richmond
Riverside
Rome
Rosario
Rostock
Ryebrook

Sacramento
Salem
Salt Lake City
Salvador
San Diego
San Francisco
San Juan
Santa Barbara
Sao Paulo
Sapporo

Sarasota
Sarnia
Saskatoon
Savannah
Seattle
Sevilla
Simferopol
Sofia
South Bend
Southhampton

Spokane
Spokane Valley
Springfield
Stavanger
Steamboat Springs
St. Louis
St. Petersburg
Stuttgart
Susanville
Tacoma

Tampa
Tampere
Taos
Ternopil
Thessaloniki
Thunder Bay
Tokyo
Toledo
Topeka
Toronto

Traverse City
Tucson
Tulsa
Turku
Ukiah
Uniontown
Ushuaia
Valencia
Vancouver
Vero Beach

Vienna
Vigo
Vilnius
Virginia Beach
Visalia
Vitoria-Gasteiz
Waco
Warsaw
Warwick
Washington, D.C.

Wellington
West Kelowna
Whitehall
Wichita
Wilmington
Wilmington
Woodstock
Worland
Yakima
Zaragoza

NORML Advisory Board Member Rick Steves addresses over 100,000 at Seattle Hempfest

Call 212-677-7180 or email cnw@cures-not-wars.org to get your city on www.worldwidemarijuanamarch.org.

Closing The ‘Gateway’ To Drug Abuse — With Cannabis

For decades opponents of marijuana law reform policies have falsely argued that marijuana is a ‘gateway’ to drug abuse — a guilt-by-association charge that implies that because tens of millions of people have used cannabis and a minority of these tens of millions have also tried other drugs that somehow it must have been the pot that triggered the hard drug use.

But while reformers have been consistent — and accurate — to point out that the so-called ‘gateway theory’ lacks any statistical support (for example, the U.S. government contends that more than four in ten Americans have used cannabis, yet fewer than two percent have ever tried heroin), few in our movement have publicized the fact that for many people cannabis can be a powerful ‘exit drug’ for those looking to curb or cease their use of alcohol, opiates, or narcotics. For instance:

A 2010 study published in the Harm Reduction Journal demonstrating that cannabis-using adults enrolled in substance abuse treatment programs fared equally or better than nonusers in various outcome categories, including treatment completion.

A 2009 survey published in the Harm Reduction Journal finding that 40 percent of respondents said used marijuana as a substitute for alcohol, and 26 percent used it to replace their former use of more potent illegal drugs.

A 2009 study published in the American Journal on Addictions reporting that moderate cannabis use and improved retention in naltrexone treatment among opiate-dependent subjects in a New York state inpatient detoxification program.

A 2009 preclinical study published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology demonstrating that oral THC suppressed sensitivity to opiate dependence and conditioning.

Based on this and other emerging evidence, investigators at the Harborside Health Center in Oakland, California are now enrolling residents in twelve-step-like classes that use cannabis to quit heroin, pills, cigarettes, alcohol, and other potentially addictive substances.

Oaklanders Quitting Oxycontin with Cannabis
via The East Bay Express

For years, there have been anecdotal reports about people using cannabis to quit harder drugs. The process is called “substitution”, and it’s a tactic that’s beginning to be endorsed by the “harm reduction” philosophy of mental health.

… So Harborside crafted a program that’s similar to traditional twelve-step programs, but ignores the pot smoking.

… Janichek is tracking the outcomes of Harborside’s free, cannabis-positive mental health services, with the goal of extrapolating the data into guidelines and replicating the services in other dispensaries.

It will be interesting to see the results of this program in the coming months — as well as the response (read: outcry) from the traditional drug treatment community.

One can expect that Harborside’s findings will further undermine the notion that cannabis is an alleged ‘gateway’ to hard drug use, and strengthen the argument that the plant may, in fact, be a useful tool for deterring the initiation or continuation of drug abuse.

CBS Polls Finds Majority Of Western Voters, Californians, Back Legalization

[Update: A version of this post is now live online at The Hill.com's Congress blog. Please take a moment to leave some feedback for your members of Congress about the rising popularity of marijuana legalization by going here. PS: And thanks to all of you who helped make my 4/20 Hill.com post the most read, most e-mailed, and most discussed story on The Hill's Congress blog!]

A majority of west coast voters, and Californians specifically, believe that the adult use of marijuana should be legal, according to the results of a pair of polls conducted on behalf of CBS News.

Fifty-six percent of Californians believe that “the state of California (should) legalize the use of marijuana,” according to a SurveyUSA poll of 500 adults conducted for CBS. The survey results come less than a month after state election officials certified the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 for the November ballot.

The measure would allow adults 21 years or older to possess, share or transport up to one ounce of cannabis for personal consumption, and/or cultivate the plant in an area of not more than twenty-five square feet per private residence. It would also permit local governments the option to authorize the retail sale of marijuana and/or commercial cultivation of cannabis to adults and to impose taxes on such sales. Personal marijuana cultivation or not-for-profit sales of marijuana would not be taxed under the measure, nor would it amend any aspect of the California Health and Safety code pertaining to the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Among poll respondents, support for the proposal was strongest among males (65 percent), ‘liberals’ (77 percent), and those between the ages of 18 and 34 (74 percent). Support was weakest among self-identified ‘conservatives’ (39 percent) and those 65 years of age or older (39 percent).

In a separate national CBS poll of 858 adults, 55 percent of respondents residing in the west coast said that they back legalization, and only 41 percent oppose the idea.

Nationwide, the poll reported that 44 percent of Americans favor legalizing the use of cannabis, and 51 percent oppose it. Among respondents in the northeast, 44 percent said that they back legalization, versus 40 percent in the south and only 36 percent in the midwest.

A majority of those Americans under age 35 said that they support legalization. Those respondents over age 65 expressed the strongest opposition to legalization (61 percent).

A previous poll by Zogby International reported that 58 percent of west coast voters believe that cannabis should be “taxed and legally regulated like alcohol and cigarettes.”

In December, a national poll of 1,004 likely voters by Angus Reid reported for the first time that just over half of all Americans endorse marijuana legalization.

By contrast, a separate poll published this week by the Associated Press and CNBC reported that 55 percent of Americans opposed the “complete legalization of the use of marijuana for any purpose.” However, 56 percent of respondents also stated that they believed that “the regulations on marijuana (should) be the same … or less strict … (than) those for alcohol.”

The Hill: It’s High Time To End Marijuana Prohibition

We’ve celebrated 4/20; now it’s time to tell Congress to end marijuana prohibition once and for all.

It’s High Time To End Marijuana Prohibition
via The Hill

By any objective standard, marijuana prohibition is an abject failure.

Nationwide, U.S. law enforcement have arrested over 20 million American citizens for marijuana offenses since 1965, yet today marijuana is more prevalent than ever before, adolescents have easier access to marijuana than ever before, the drug is more potent than ever before, and there is more violence associated with the illegal marijuana trade than ever before.

Over 100 million Americans nationally have used marijuana despite prohibition, and one in ten – according to current government survey data – use it regularly. The criminal prohibition of marijuana has not dissuaded anyone from using marijuana or reduced its availability; however, the strict enforcement of this policy has adversely impacted the lives and careers of millions of people who simply elected to use a substance to relax that is objectively safer than alcohol.

NORML believes that the time has come to amend criminal prohibition and replace it with a system of legalization, taxation, regulation, and education.

Read NORML’s full commentary here.

The Hill’s ever-popular Congress blog ‘is where lawmakers come to blog.’ It’s also where lawmakers come to gauge the pulse of the public. It’s 4/21; tell your member of Congress that it is time to replace prohibition with legalization and regulation. You can make your voice heard by leaving your feedback here.

Now spread the word!

Special 4/20 message from NORML’s Executive Director Allen St. Pierre

April 20, 2010

Dear NORML supporters and fellow lovers of liberty,

Happy 4/20!

While the ravages and costs of cannabis prohibition are largely defined by one’s geography — these days America is a hodge-podge of varying cannabis penalties, ranging from West Hollywood California where a medical cannabis patient can access the herb 24/7 from a vending machine; in Indiana, if caught with just a little cannabis on one’s person, they’re getting arrested, prosecuted and likely going to jail — this ’4/20′ celebration in 2010, as is NORML tradition, is a combination of both the serious and silly!

There will be dozens of major 4/20 ‘protestivals’ today from New York City to Seattle, to the expected largest one in the nation I’m speaking at in Denver Colorado. Major newspaper articles and stories on TV will abound by day’s end. In fact whole television networks such as G4, Comedy Central, Spike and Current TV will devote some or all of their programming today to celebrating cannabis and, implicitly, the herb’s reform.

Also today, NORML launches a new advertisement for 4/20 on Times Square’s largest electronic billboard calling out New York City politicians and law enforcement for having one of the highest — and most racially disparate — cannabis arrest rates in the United States. The advertisement will run 18 times a day until late May, and will be seen by an expected 1.5 million Times Square visitors.

These protestivals and public celebrations of cannabis culture in North America is a greatly anticipated and celebratory annual event at NORML since the mid 1990s, but the serious political message of this wonderfully creative day (beyond the obvious one of ‘re-legalize cannabis now!’) for this specific year is to direct as much NORML membership and public attention as possible to donate and support the voter initiative on the ballot in California this very November that will effectively legalize cannabis for adult use, cultivation and sales.

Going into our 40th year, NORML’s staff and board of directors have made the passage of California’s voter initiative to legalize cannabis the number #1 political priority for the organization.

To this end, the thousands of donations and $4.20 memberships received today by the NORML Foundation (or NORML) will be donated to TaxCannabis2010, the organization behind California’s legalization ballot.

I’m personally donating $420 in support of this very important political initiative in California — the state where 1 out of 8 Americans live, the 7th largest economy in the world if it were a country and with by far the largest delegation in the US Congress — in memory of my friend, the recently passed author-activist Jack Herer, the ‘Emperor of Hemp’.

TaxCannabis2010 has a goal of raising $42,000 by the end of today, with committed support from stakeholders from NORML like you and I, we can reach this unique dollar amount.

Become a member and send a special 4/20 animated e-card to a friend, family member or sweetie.

Thanks for all of your enduring support for NORML, cannabis law reform and for this important 4/20, TaxCannabis2010!

Please have a safe and hempful 4/20!

Cannabem liberemus,

Allen St. Pierre
Executive Director
Member, Board of Directors
NORML / NORML Foundation
Washington, DC
director@norml.org

CNBC — The Marijuana Lobby: All Grown Up

Just in time for 4/20, cable news titan CNBC has launched “Marijuana & Money: A Special Report” — a comprehensive online collection of features and commentaries covering all things cannabis.

Headline stories and featured videos include:

The Cost-and-Benefit Arguments Around Enforcement; Tax Potential For Government; States With The Most Liberal Pot Laws; States With The Toughest Pot Laws The Confused State of Pot Law Enforcement; and The New Pot: No High, No Pain, No Problem.

There’s also commentaries in favor of marijuana law reform from political heavyweights like: former Republican Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson (The War On Drugs Has Failed, So Tax And Regulate Marijuana); ex-New York City Democrat Mayor Ed Koch (Let’s Get The Facts About Marijuana And Move On From There); Rhode Island Democrat State Senator Joshua Miller (Rhode Island’s Drive for Sensible Marijuana Laws); former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper (Legalization Will Reduce Crime, Free Up Police Resources) and U.S. Republican Congressman Ron Paul of Texas (End Insanity Of The War on Drugs—Start With Decriminalizing Marijuana at The Federal Level).

Naturally, for the sake of ‘balance,’ the rantings and ramblings of a handful of prohibitionist ‘flat Earthers’ like Drug Free Kids’ Joyce Nalepka (My ‘Addiction’ To Fighting Drugs) and former DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson (Legalizing Marijuana Not Worth the Costs) are thrown in for good measure, but by this time it’s unlikely that anyone is listening.

Arguably the centerpiece of the collection is a feature entitled, “The Marijuana Lobby: All Grown Up,” which examines the history and progress of the marijuana law reform movement — and profiles NORML’s role in particular. Here’s an excerpt:

The Marijuana Lobby: All Grown Up
via CNBC

What a difference 20 years has made for the head of the pot lobbying group, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Norml.

In the old days congressmen would ask Allan St. Pierre about males developing breasts as a result of smoking marijuana–a la the government propaganda movie “Reefer Madness”. Now St. Pierre has legislators calling him to help write bills.

“I wrote five last year,” says St. Pierre.

… “Prohibition is a luxury we can no longer afford, lawmakers tell me now,” St. Pierre says. “And just as the Great Depression sped up the repeal of the Prohibition on alcohol by decades, the current recession appears to be really speeding things up with respect to marijuana.”

… “We’ve got the baby boom generation in power, a crushing recession and an Internet that allows us to get around a lap-doggish national media,” he said. “We’ve never had the support of more powerful people in this effort.”

Read the full story here. And, of course, have a happy 4/20!